“A More Powerful Yes”

How does a wayward teen from Detroit evolve enough to turn a near-certain jail sentence into a world-renowned culinary institute and 5-star French Restaurant?  Passion, Perseverance and Purpose!

Brandon Edwin Chrostowski is on a mission to change the face of re-entry in the United States. In 2007, he founded EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute, a free 6-month culinary arts program in Cleveland, Ohio that caters to men and women recently released from prison. In 2013, EDWINS Restaurant, featuring classic French cuisine and 50 formerly incarcerated students, opened to rave reviews and has been changing lives ever since.

Hailed as a national model for re-entry, the institute, under Brandon’s zealous guidance and advocacy has gone on to graduate over 250 students, placing them in jobs all over Northeast Ohio while Brandon himself has been electrifying audiences nationwide with his story of redemption, his philosophy of second chances and his mission to give voice to the voiceless. In the process, Brandon Chrostowski has earned dozens of awards, including CNN Heroes, Crain’s 40 under 40 and The Richard C. Cornuelle Award from the Manhattan Institute for Social Entrepreneurship and became the subject of the Academy Award nominated documentary film, “Knife Skills”.  He’s been chronicled by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Steve Harvey Show, TD Jakes, CNN, NBC, ABC, NPR, Food Network and more.

His lectures have inspired, awakened, motivated and thrilled university and corporate audiences alike, while garnering more than a few emotionally rousing standing ovations. Presently, Brandon Chrostowski continues to work tirelessly towards the mission of providing everyone, regardless of their past, a fair and equal future.  In addition to student housing and the life skills campus that have become safe havens for program enrollees and alumni, Brandon has opened EDWINS Butcher Shop and Training Center, with a bakery coming in the near future.  Brandon has invested his money, heart, time and soul into erasing the stigma attached to returning citizens.  His reward?  Watching his students become future leaders in the hospitality industry.

Location:
The City Club of Cleveland
850 Euclid Avenue, 2nd Floor 
Cleveland, OH 44114

Time:
11:30 a.m. – Register & lunch buffet open
Program begins at noon.

REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED