A decade before EDWINS, there was a dream. That dream belonged to Brandon Chrostowski, an impassioned hospitality professional who believed that everybody deserved a second chance, just as he had enjoyed as a youth. Since launching EDWINS in 2013, 150 formerly incarcerated citizens graduated from the program and went on to find gainful employment. None have relapsed into criminal behavior and returned to prison.

Despite his incontrovertible successes, Chrostowski has bigger dreams still. Those dreams all revolve around helping as many people as possible. Toward that end, he announced to Scene that he is running for Mayor of Cleveland.

“If I didn’t have the courage to open EDWINS, then I wasn’t serving my purpose of helping others in this world,” he explains. “This is the same feeling.”

Chrostowski said that out of respect, he notified Mayor Jackson of his intentions before reaching out to this publication.

“I’m not going to knock the job he did,” Chrostowski explains. “He’s a great shepherd. But I believe my ideas can be stronger for Cleveland than the current ideas. These are ideas, but they are ideas that are more than possible, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Many of those ideas involve scaling up the tactics and strategies that Chrostowski already is doing and succeeding at.

“I’ve been studying the accounting and economics of Cleveland,” he says. “The biggest costs for both the City and the County is corrections – not enforcement and safety, but simply corrections. The biggest income for the City of Cleveland is income tax. If you’re telling me that the biggest expense is corrections, and the biggest income is people’s income tax, then building training centers like EDWINS in neighborhoods where it can help area businesses grow is the key to changing the city and helping it grow. That’s it.

“You’re taking people who want to work but don’t have the skills and giving them work, which keeps the streets cleaner and keeps revenue coming in, and the cost savings would be monumental.”

In promotional material forwarded to Scene, Chrostowski expounds on his vision for a better Cleveland:

“As I travel through the city, I see acres of unfulfilled promise. I see the potential of our exuberant youth and the wisdom of citizens who have remained loyal to the idea of what Cleveland could be. I see businesses fighting to hang on and serve communities that have supported them for generations. I also see a broad disconnect between what our citizens need and the policies enacted to provide it. I see clearly, as do many others, that it is now time for a change.”

This article appears in Feb 1-7, 2017.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

12 replies on “Brandon Chrostowski of EDWINS Announces Run for Mayor”

  1. Interesting. But 3/4 through this article, I’m wondering WTF is EDWINS. Are you assuming everyone knows about it already? You forced me to leave your article to google it. You could have included a hyperlink, mouseover, popup, anything, that didn’t force me to leave your website to figure out what you are talking about. Just sayin’.

  5. Let’s not focus only on food though. let’s create new career centers for electricians, plumbers, carpenters. not everybody wants to be a cook or a waiter

  7. It’s good to see someone who isn’t a career politician, but who has ideas, run for the office. I don’t think Frank Jackson is a bad guy, but he is a career politician.

  8. None have relapsed into criminal behavior and returned to prison.

    Actually he has said around 1.2% actually have re-offended. Still a great feat, but please check your facts scene.

  9. I’m excited to hear his platform.. I think training people and helping them find employment after being institutionalize is one of the bast things urban communities can do to make their city a better place .part of why he chose food industry as main focus is that it’s one of the few professions that are fully open to people with felonies…professions are often ruled by governing board or union or license and there is a lot of bias against individuals with criminal histories…

  10. Have we not learned from Trump? Stick to the restaurant biz. Business and government have almost zero in common.

  11. What does Trump have to do with a small business man running for mayor of Cleveland? The job of the top world leader is vastly different than the mayor of a midsize midwestern city.

    Also, I have no problem with a business leader running for President. I had a problem with THAT business leader.

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