A lot of businesses in Oakland give back to their communities, but few embody that mission as deeply as East Oakland’s Corners Café. 

Nestled inside the nonprofit Youth Uprising’s leadership development center on MacArthur Boulevard, Corners Café is part hang-out spot, part job-training laboratory ... and part delicious.

The cafe’s youth staff cooks and serves up hearty, affordable food, including breakfast specials that can have you full for under $5. On Wednesday and Thursday, the cafe offers a sit-down lunch with waiter service and a salad bar. 

Part of Corners’ mission is to provide nutritious food to the community, so you won’t find any soda. Still, the menu seems to have the teenage palate in mind — with a twist.

“We don’t do beef burgers, we do turkey,” explains Clive Harrison, the director of social enterprises at Youth Uprising. 

Corners and its associated catering business make up one prong of Youth Uprising’s social enterprise project, which works to create jobs for youth ages 14-24. The other branches include a janitorial services, a media production wing and a data services branch. Harrison explains that each enterprise is designed to provide training for youth in both soft skills, like showing up on time, and hard skills, like food preparation. 

At any given time, Corners employs about five people full-time and another half dozen who are part of the various job training programs Youth Uprising offers. All the employees, including the managers, are youth. 

“Our main goal, unlike most businesses, is to try and find our employees work elsewhere,” says Harrison. “This a place to train and move on.”

Corners’ hours vary, but Harrison says they’re open roughly from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Free wireless also is available.

When you visit, he adds, “expect top-class customer service, tremendous value and a lively, stimulating environment.”