2025 Seeding Growth Recipient
EDWINS awarded $17,000!
EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute is a 501(c)(3) organization that offers formerly incarcerated adults a foundation in the culinary and hospitality industries and a support network necessary for long-term success.
Located in Cleveland, Ohio, and founded by Brandon Chrostowski in 2007, the driving principle behind the organization is that every human being, regardless of their past, has a right to a fair and equal future. In 2011, Culinary Club classes began at Grafton Correctional Institution, and shortly after, EDWINS Restaurant opened in Shaker Square on Nov. 1, 2013.
In 2025, EDWINS expanded and moved its award-winning fine French restaurant to the
historic Nighttown location, continuing its mission in a vibrant new space.
While enrolled in the program, EDWINS students receive intensive training and hands-on work experience. They are also provided with free housing, legal services, basic medical care, clothing, job coaching, literacy programs, and more at the Second Chance Life Skills Center (est. 2016), a 30,000-square-foot campus.
Today, EDWINS has grown to include not only its flagship fine dining restaurant at Nighttown but also a Butcher Shop, Bakery, and EDWINS Too—a culinary incubator, community kitchen, event, and makers’ space. The Institute graduates 75 students a year, many of whom gain employment in dining establishments across the country.
EDWINS was the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Knife Skills by Academy Award Winning director, Thomas Lennon.
There is a quote on the back of each menu at EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute: “At Edwins, we believe in second chances.” Its founder Brandon Chrostowski, himself the recipient of a 'second chance', used his to help to change the face of prison re-entry in Cleveland.
-Tara Jefferson, Anisfield-Wolf
Memorial Award
Located in Cleveland, Ohio, and founded by Brandon Chrostowski in 2007, the driving principle behind the organization is that every human being, regardless of their past, has a right to a fair and equal future. In 2011, Culinary Club classes began at Grafton Correctional Institution, and shortly after, EDWINS Restaurant opened in Shaker Square on Nov. 1, 2013.
In 2025, EDWINS expanded and moved its award-winning fine French restaurant to the
historic Nighttown location, continuing its mission in a vibrant new space.
While enrolled in the program, EDWINS students receive intensive training and hands-on work experience. They are also provided with free housing, legal services, basic medical care, clothing, job coaching, literacy programs, and more at the Second Chance Life Skills Center (est. 2016), a 30,000-square-foot campus.
Today, EDWINS has grown to include not only its flagship fine dining restaurant at Nighttown but also a Butcher Shop, Bakery, and EDWINS Too—a culinary incubator, community kitchen, event, and makers’ space. The Institute graduates 75 students a year, many of whom gain employment in dining establishments across the country.
EDWINS was the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary Knife Skills by Academy Award Winning director, Thomas Lennon.
There is a quote on the back of each menu at EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute: “At Edwins, we believe in second chances.” Its founder Brandon Chrostowski, himself the recipient of a 'second chance', used his to help to change the face of prison re-entry in Cleveland.
-Tara Jefferson, Anisfield-Wolf
Memorial Award
