Cleveland Nonprofit Launches Four-Week Cooking Program for Teens Amid Street Violence
EDWINS is pairing culinary skills with grief counseling to help young people find stability after a series of local shootings.
By Pablo Kuznetsov ·
A dozen restaurants and hospitality businesses in Cleveland have committed to hiring graduates of a new four-week culinary training program that begins November 9.
The initiative is led by EDWINS, a nonprofit that provides job training for formerly incarcerated individuals. CEO Brandon Chrostowski stated that the program is a direct response to recent shootings that have claimed the lives of several young residents.
Participants must be at least 14 years old. They will learn kitchen techniques alongside workplace fundamentals, including resume writing and communication skills.
Community partners will provide mentorship, grief counseling, and conflict resolution to support the students emotionally.
Chrostowski said current students and alumni have been directly affected by the loss of peers. "We can't keep watching young people die in our streets and act like there's nothing we can do about it," he said. "We're not living in a war zone, yet we're losing young people to violence at a heartbreaking rate."
Applications are available online or in person at two locations. One is at 13024 Buckeye Road in Cleveland, and the other is at 12383 Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights.
Source: WVIZ
