A new bakery has emerged in the heart of Chicago.

Starting Nov. 1, Sweet Miss Giving’s, a non profit bakery operated by former homeless people with disabilities and Chicago House, a housing and social service organization, will open their online store, offering wholesale baked goods, catering services and gourmet gift baskets, at SweetMissGivings.com.

The bakery offers clients of Chicago House an opportunity to receive job training and support in a pastry-school internship setting with the goal to be hired full-time. The bakery itself, in Goose Island, 1229 N. North Branch St., opened on Oct. 22 to an official ribbon cutting by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

The bakery, which chief operating officer Stephen Smith describes as “a social enterprise designed to help the public good,” took two years of planning, development and market studies before manifesting into a factory bakery. He said the bakery wasn’t created solely to generate revenue for Chicago House’s social services, which primarily help those infected with HIV and AIDS, but as an opportunity to train formally homeless clients seeking a second chance at entering the work force.

“It’s really impressive to see the sacrifices folks make to get a stable job they can believe in … and to gain confidence,” Smith said.

Interns, many of whom have never worked before or have a minimal educational background, enter the six-week training program to learn skills in baking, packing and delivery, said Stan Sloan, CEO of Chicago House.

He said it is important for Chicago House to not only offer housing and social services to the homeless population and people with HIV and AIDS, but to offer job training and placement as well.

“There’s a growing population of HIV-positive and disabled people in the unstable housing arena that will only get worse with this economy and the rise in HIV infections,” Sloan said. “God only knows what’s going to happen, but we are hopeful.”

The venture is 51 percent wholly-owned and 49 percent owned by private investors. Profits will mostly be donated back to Chicago House and to expand on the growing business itself, which currently has about 20 interns, Sloan said.

Over the past two years, more than $600,000 was raised from private investors by Chicago House, while the city of Chicago contributed $97,000 from its Small Business Improvement Funds project, according to Chicago House.

Assistant baker Stanley LongBey, who is HIV positive, first came to Chicago House seeking employment after being incarcerated a few years ago. As an intern with the bakery, he said he has been given the opportunity to re-enter the work force doing something he loves-baking.

LongBey, who bakes everything from scones to zucchini bread, said at Sweet Miss Giving’s he is treated like family, a trait he values greatly from the program.

“Each one of us, all the interns and the staff, everybody here is like a little family,” he said. “I think I value that more so than anything. It’s like an extended family and a friendship.”

Sloan said the bakery has been in talks with the CTA to possibly set up small shops or kiosks at various train stops, as well as having pastries sold at retail shops such as Pastoral Wine and Cheese shops and Whole Foods. As early as next summer, Sloan said he hopes to have a few boutique storefronts set up in the city as well.

“We want to make sure our interns are ready, we’re ready and we’ve got good products in place,” Smith said. “The main focus right now is to get the bakery off the ground, make sure we get the best products in the city and get precise on our methods and our quality.”

For more information and to read the success stories of the bakery’s interns, visit SweetMissGivings.com.