OKLAHOMA CITY – Diversion Hub, a nonprofit serving Oklahomans impacted by the criminal legal system, has launched the Breakfast Hub, a food truck and social enterprise program created in partnership with the NBA Foundation. This program provides justice-impacted young people with paid, hands-on job experience, real-world skills, mentorship, and opportunities for their future that support economic mobility.
Clients who are justice-involved come into Diversion Hub, sign in on the screen, and start their day with the STAND-UP Initiative, which is a peer support and mentorship program designed to help clients ages 18 to 24 navigate away from the criminal legal system.
Cecil is one of many clients whose morning looks like this. He is part of the very first STAND-UP cohort to be integrated with the Breakfast Hub. He spoke to Free Press about his experience.
“I was incarcerated, and, with this program called STAND-UP, they told me that when I get out, I can come to Diversion Hub and have a job,” Cecil said. “So I came up here, and I was a client at first. Now I’m employed through the social enterprise program. We’re seven weeks in and are trying to get the food truck up and running.”
Skyler Jenkins, social enterprise program coordinator with Diversion Hub, said the STAND-UP curriculum includes not only basic career readiness but also provides them with social awareness and confidence, which is important especially for folks who have been out of the workforce and have a lot to relearn.
“I was justice-involved, so I can relate really to these guys and picture myself being at this age and at this stage and thinking, ‘what does it take to change your soul and change your path?’” Jenkins told Free Press.
He said they teach accountability, discipline, mentorship, and the idea of reaching toward a goal. Clients learn hands-on entrepreneurial skills and even develop a business plan over the 26-week course. Jenkins said one of his goals is to provide them role models like Larry Miller, who was incarcerated and is now chairman of the Jordan Brand Advisory Board at Nike and founder of JUMP (Justice and Upward Mobility Project).
“Just think of what the possibilities are,” Jenkins said. “Don’t think that you can’t do anything. When you’re living this kind of life, you don’t know the possibilities. That doesn’t have to be your identity.”
Many Diversion Hub clients also will work toward their GED.
“I think maybe two out of these five participants have completed high school, so they’re learning pretty much everything from age 18 to 24,” Jenkins said.
And now a new goal to work toward is the Breakfast Hub. Although the food truck is not serving food quite yet, the goal is to start in October. Clients are still getting hands-on experience with food service, getting ServSafe certified and even attending restaurant expos. Clients will also get experience working in a high-pressure and fast-paced job like food service.
Joshua McDaniel, director of client services for Diversion Hub, said the goal, like other social enterprise programs like Curbside Chronicle, an employment program for people experiencing homelessness, is to “fill the gaps of people that are coming out of the system or are still in it.”
“The system itself really creates these barriers,” McDaniel said. “We can argue about whether that’s good, bad, or just different, but at the end of the day, it still creates barriers for people trying to sustain employment and reintegration.”
The Breakfast Hub concept started about a year ago. Diversion Hub then pitched it to the NBA Foundation, a nonprofit with a mission to drive economic opportunity for under-resourced youth.
“They were super on board with it because one of their initiatives is social justice,” McDaniel said about the NBA Foundation. “We appreciate their input and them helping us in this.”
By July 2026, the Breakfast Hub was in motion. Now, this first cohort is working in real time to create a small business from scratch, from drafting SOPs to securing permits and licensing.
“It’s really evolved from just building a curriculum to focusing on skills and mentoring with the breakfast truck,” McDaniel said about the Diversion Hub’s programming. “In a lot of ways, the Breakfast Hub is really secondary. The main goal is that we’re changing mindsets and trying to build people up.”
Zoe Elrod covers events and happenings around Oklahoma City for Free Press bringing her skill as a reporter and photographer. Zoe has spent her career covering local musicians, artists, politicians, and everyday folks.
