Chicago Soul Café in Woodlawn provides training and help for those returning after incarceration

A new café on Chicago's South Side offers food and help for the community.

Chicago Soul Café opened Monday at 6248 S. St. Lawrence Ave., right off 63rd Street and about halfway between the King Drive and Cottage Grove Avenue Chicago Transit Authority Green Line stops.

The café serves fresh food and signature coffee, and favorites like barbecue potato chips with hot sauce and pickles with peppermint sticks in the middle, but its mission goes well beyond that. The café also offers job training for people impacted by the criminal justice system.The café is part of Bridge to Freedom, an organization that helps people reentering the community after being incarcerated.

"We have vocational training, paid programs for men and women who come home from prison, and then Chicago Soul is part of the workforce development," said Dr. Mica Battle of Bridge to Freedom and the Chicago Soul Café. "This is where they will be working and learning culinary."

The café is decorated with historic murals and other memorabilia. For the first month, the café will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and after that, hours will expand.