Fred W. Brown, Jr., serves as the President & CEO of The Homewood Children's Village in the Pittsburgh, PA neighborhood of Homewood. Prior to joining HCV, Mr. Brown served as the Associate Director of Program Development for the Kingsley Association, a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire and promote our community growth as a physical anchor; social, wellness, and service program provider and thought leader. The Kingsley has serving the community for over 120 years and is an anchor organization in the East of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania reaching over 160,400 people annually. Mr. Brown’s current projects include; the development of the Imagine Larimer Software-A Green/Sustainability web-based Technology program that allows community members to envision and develop a new sustainable/green community; the Urban Leadership Institute (1-II-II) -A grass roots community empowerment model that trains community residents in the green collar economy, focusing on weatherization, green technology, resource management, entrepreneurial development, and financial literacy, energy auditing. Retrofit design and NetZero house design; the Junior Urban Leadership Institute- A green technology and civic engagement program that trains urban youth in greening principles, civic engagement, conflict resolution, and workforce development skills. Co-Founder of the Omega Carter G. Woodson Leadership Academy- focusing on STEM teaching to urban youth through reverse engineering practices. Mr. Brown has worked in the non-profit arena and in the public education sector for over 25 years; he has served in a variety of leadership capacities, including the roles as an Executive Director, Associate Director, supervisor, social worker, executive coach, consultant, conflict resolution and mediation specialist, coach and mentor roles.
Mr. Brown has continued to invest his time, energies, and expertise in assisting a variety of communities and organizations to develop new and innovative programs that seek to empower at-risk populations. In addition to working in the aforementioned areas, Mr. Brown is actively involved in other aspects of the professional development including Dean of students, school teacher, adjunct professor, and project manager. A specific focus of Mr. Brown’s work includes working with African American males to reduce minority dropout rates in post-secondary environments and bridging the divide between minority communities and their knowledge regarding energy reduction planning, carbon footprint analysis, and environmental justice leadership.
In recent years, Mr. Brown’s contributions in the areas of community organizing, youth leadership, and violence prevention have been recognized by various organizations. In 1989, he received his professional certification for teaching. In 1995, he helped to develop the mission statement for Allegheny County Juvenile Court's probation department. That same year, he received a Proclamation from the City of Pittsburgh for his outstanding community organizing work and completion of the Community Technical Assistance Center (CTAC), Core Series Program. In 1996, he successfully completed the Train the Trainers Developing Skills course, a court service trainer’s course at the University of Nevada in Reno. He also received the Outstanding Community Organizer of the Year Award from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1997, Mr. Brown was one of four individuals responsible for developing the Keep it Real Curriculum for gang intervention and mediation which was a collaborative between Duquesne University, the Pittsburgh Mediation Center, and Allegheny County Juvenile Court. In 1998, he received the Session Volunteer of the year award from Urban Youth Action for providing outstanding presentations and workshops. In 2000, Mr. Brown was one of 13 participants chosen from around the world by the PRASI institute to conduct indigenous research on conflict mediation and resolution models that were culturally specific.
In 2002, Mr. Brown was named a 21st Century Environmental Justice Leaders by the Ford Foundation and in 2003 he was trained in the Climate Justice Corps. In 2012 Mr. Brown was named to the Federal Environmental Justice Climate Change Roundtable for the 13 Federal departments signing the Presidents MOU on Climate Change; he is currently published in four books. A frequent public speaker, Mr. Brown has taught courses and delivered presentations at local and statewide conferences and workshops. Mr. Brown has a Bachelor of Science in Education and Masters Degree in Social Work and a recent Doctoral Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh where he focused on a PH.D. in Social Work and a Masters Degree in Public Health.