CLEVELAND — A unique Cleveland cafe is back in business after temporarily closing for renovation.
At Comeback Cafe inside the Virgil E. Brown building in downtown Cleveland, the staff there is serving-up second chances and helping big dreams come true.
Andrianna Parham is one of the women who run the Comeback Cafe inside the Virgil E. Brown building in downtown Cleveland.
The women who work at the cafe are all currently incarcerated.
"It provides women with confidence and pride and that's contagious," said Charmaine Bracey, Warden at Northeast Reintegration.
The women take full accountability for their crimes and want to start new after they're released.
"They all know they made a mistake, they've taken ownership for that, but they're ready to turn it around now and provide those skills out there in the public," said Ian Marks of Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry.
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry helps oversee the culinary workforce development program.
"Since 2016 we've served over 150 women and of those individuals less than 3% have returned to prison because of giving them those skills and these opportunities," Marks said.
Parham is excited for what awaits her when she's released in five months.
“I'll be a manager at McDonald's, so it will be my stepping stone," Parham said.
From there, her goal is to open her own soul food restaurant.
"The kind of food that makes you go to sleep after you eat it," Parham said.
In Cuyahoga County, more that 4,000 people are re-introduced into society each year, all with dreams—and now, a way to make them come true.
