Welcome to the team

Anthony Cherwinsky brings years of experience working in refugee resettlement. Originally from Michigan, he moved to Denver in 2009 after graduating with a political science degree from the University of Michigan. Shortly thereafter, Cherwinsky and his wife relocated to Mongolia to serve in the Peace Corps. There, he first became exposed to working with an international population on various social issues. As a community youth developer, his biggest initiative was starting an NGO with the local government to help youth with disabilities. After coming back to Denver, Cherwinsky secured a position with the Ethiopian Community Development Council’s African Community Center (ACC). The ACC is the refugee resettlement agency with which Fritz Knoebel has partnered for six years on a food service-focused refugee training program that has received national and international recognition. The program is now called Ready for American Hospitality (RAH). Cherwinsky recalls his time at the ACC as being truly amazing and describes refugees as very special people who have gone through trials and difficulties few can imagine or relate to.

As a result of a highly successful fundraising effort to support RAH, Fritz Knoebel was able to bring Cherwinsky on to its team in fall 2016; since that time he has managed RAH under DU’s umbrella, but still in partnership with Anthony Cherwinsky the ACC. He admits that working as a DU team member has helped grow the Program Director, Ready for American Hospitality program tremendously. Whereas before, the focus was on figuring out ways to keep the program in existence, now the main goal is its development. In the RAH class, refugees learn about food safety, acculturation, integration and job readiness for the U.S. job market. One of the biggest challenges Cherwinsky has encountered while running the program is bridging the gap between refugees and the U.S. workforce. RAH is meant to address this gap while also teaching Fritz Knoebel students about working with a diverse workforce. As a result, both refugees and hospitality students feel empowered and more prepared to enter the workforce. This collaboration has been highly successful, with an 86 percent employment rate for refugees over its six years. For Fritz Knoebel students, it is unparalleled preparation for managing the workforce they will encounter in the hospitality industry.

During his time at Fritz Knoebel, Cherwinsky hopes to conduct studies that record and measure refugees’ empowerment as a result of being in the program; he wants to harness refugees’ experiences in a quantifiable way. In addition, he looks forward to enhancing the collaboration between DU and the ACC and setting it as an example for other potential partnerships in the industry.