KALAMAZOO, MI -- Walnut & Park is the name of a new coffee shop and cafe that is set to open Monday, March 6, in downtown Kalamazoo.

Located at 322 W. Walnut St. (the corner of Walnut & Park), the business is a project of the Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program and will put to work men and women who are participants in KPEP's culinary arts program.

KPEP is a private nonprofit residential and outpatient rehabilitation program that serves state and federal criminal offenders, probationers and parolees.

It has spent about $300,000 to demolish an unused former office building that was on the site and build a 1,262-square-foot structure to house the coffee shop. Including construction, it expects to have paid a total of about $500,000 to get the business up and going.

"We're in the business of helping people stay out of prison or reintegrate into the community," said Bill DeBoer, president and chief executive officer of KPEP. "Part of that is to teach them some jobs skills. In order to live independently you have to have employment. ... To that end we developed a 10-week culinary arts program. And in addition, we've opened a coffee shop to help people get jobs, teach them skills and hopefully go out in the community and be employed with other agencies."

Walnut & Park will be managed by Tara Staten, a former sales director at Water Street Coffee Joint, and Casey Grisolono, a former production manager there.

Walnut & Park will serve coffees ground by the Water Street Coffee Roaster along with homemade baked goods, and breakfast and lunch dishes. At any time, it will be staffed by a food prep worker, a barista, an expediter, a cashier, a dish washer and a floater.

The shop seats 32 people inside and expects to have seating in fair weather months on its outside deck for at least two dozen others. It also has a private conference room available for use and offers free WIFI.

Planning for the culinary arts program began about two years ago, DeBoer said. It got going on Sept. 1, and is a vocational program developed in partnership with Canteen Services and the Michigan Career & Technical Institute.

Graduates of the program earn certifications in culinary arts and ServSafe, a food safety and protection program that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute-Conference for Food Protection. Those certifications enable them to work at Walnut & Park and other restaurants or venues in the hospitality industry.

Walnut & Park is immediately south of the KPEP Park Street location. It is one of five KPEP residential locations that house a total of about 450 men and women. The others are on Chicago Avenue and on Olmstead Road in Kalamazoo, and in Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and Muskegon.

"The (Michigan) Department of Corrections is moving in the direction of vocational training," DeBoer said. "We're taking that to the next level."

On Jan. 9, KPEP started as custodial building maintenance program and has eight people enrolled. It is also working to get a construction program going to help train people for jobs in the construction trades. That hopes to include work with the Kalamazoo County Land Bank, rehabilitating homes and building houses.

Business hours for the coffee shop will be 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. The business many be contacted at 269-903-0578.