When we came across today’s non-profit organization, we were surprised at what we found. We saw the name Sylvan Beach Foundation and expected an organization focused on environmental conservation – something like saving sea turtles or preventing land erosion. Instead, we found an organization that is changing the lives of marginalized young men through social enterprises. We’re not sure where the name Sylvan Beach Foundation came from, but we can’t see how it relates to the small town in upstate New York called Sylvan Beach which was founded by a pirate named Captain Steamer (that name is funny, right?).

Based out of Baltimore (not upstate New York), the Sylvan Foundation has started a number of businesses that give inner-city men between the ages of 18 and 22 a chance at a better life. Students (that’s what they call their participants) are provided with a place to work, a place to live, a weekly stipend, and educational opportunities – all of which are funded by the profits from the businesses. These businesses include Taharka Brothers Ice Cream Company, Sylvan Beach Cafe, Mt. Washington Scoop Shop, and a catering company. So if you love ice cream, don’t expect a great salary, and want to change the lives of young men, Sylvan Beach Foundation might be a great place for you to work.

They are currently hiring a Human Resources Manager for Taharka Brothers Ice Cream. This person will have major responsibilities including recruiting and developing students , managing employee relations, and being a community leader. The full job description is listed at Idealist.org, but not on Sylvan Beach Foundation’s website, which is really bare bones.

The lack of a good website left us yearning for more facts, so here’s what we were able to find. According to Baltimore Magazine and the City Paper, the Sylvan Beach Foundation makes the best ice cream in the city (we heard something about a key lime pie flavor, mmm). There’s also a great article in the University of Baltimore Post which did a good job of telling the Sylvan Beach Foundation story. We also found a social entrepreneurship profile that was pretty informative. That’s all we’ve got.

And in case you’re not interested in today’s job, you can buy term papers on the Sylvan Beach Foundation. Now we definitely don’t recommend ever buying a term paper on the Internet, but this was the first time our research turned up something like this, so we thought we’d share it with you.

Note: On April 27th we revisited entry-level jobs at the Sylvan Beach Foundation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• The Sylvan Beach Foundation Home Page
• The Sylvan Beach Foundation Jobs on Idealist.org
• UB Post Article on Sylvan Beach Foundation
• A Social Entrepreneurship Profile on Sylvan Beach Foundation

Would you take a lower salary for free ice cream? Tell us in the comments.

We've identified Sylvan Beach Foundation as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• human resources
• Maryland
• non-profit

---

Jobs Near You

---

One response to “Sylvan Beach Foundation”

1. Sabree Akinyele says:

   June 17, 2009 at 12:38 pm

   This is great! I learned of the Taharka Bros from one of our Hopkins volunteers. I would love an opportunity to learn more about your organization and the work that you do for the community. At Partnership for Learning, we run a diversion program for first-time juvenile offenders. Understanding the link between juvenile delinquency and education, we offer tutoring in lieu of prosecution. Our goal is to reduce the recidivism rates. However, many of our former students asked about getting jobs–even some of their parents needed jobs, too. I am hoping that we can form a partnership to help not only our students but also the community-at-large. Can you let me know how we can connect.

   Reply