UofL News: How does it feel to be a first-generation graduate?

Brown-Lewis: It feels both humbling and an honor! I have been afforded many privileges in my life despite having many other shortcomings. I was fortunate to have a village made up of family, friends and mentors that aided in my success over the years. Yes, I am a first-generation graduate, but this success speaks more to my family’s ability to love me through this journey. It’s been an honor to represent my family in these spaces and chart the path to being a good ancestor.��

UofL News: What were the biggest challenges you overcame during your educational journey?

Brown-Lewis: The biggest challenge I had along this journey was losing my grandparents in April 2021 and October 2021. My grandparents raised me while my mother worked during my childhood and early adolescence. Losing them was so hard because they had a ninth��and 11th-grade education and sacrificed everything. They wanted to raise a family and I am the fruit of their labor. They won’t get to see what they produced and that to me is heartbreaking. My grandmother said to me during the summer of 2019 when I was living with her as she was going through chemo, “I never dreamed I graduated high school, but I did dream I graduated college.” I am her wildest dream.

UofL News: What drove you to complete your degree?

Brown-Lewis: I have a duty to see these degrees through because of all the hard work and sacrifice of my village, especially my mother. I wanted to ensure the seeds they planted in me did not die because the journey was too rough. I was driven by my family and Brielle, my cousin-niece, because she must see that achieving great things is possible and that nothing can stop her except herself. It has been hard, but I, too, must sacrifice as my grandparents did to plant the seed in the next person to go and be as great as they imagine.

UofL News: Why did you choose UofL?

Brown-Lewis: The Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work and Family Science was always a dream of mine. Being a social worker and a licensed therapist was always my dream, and when I came out of UK, I knew exactly where I wanted to go and what I wanted to study – social work at the Kent School.

UofL News: You have a passion for youth and are engaged in some amazing work in the city. Tell us about that.

Brown-Lewis: I am the youth engagement specialist for the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods in the mayor’s Office of Innovation. I engage with the mayor’s youth implementation team which teaches youth social-emotional and political development through the application of social justice youth development. The youth engage in this type of development to work toward creating policy resolutions. One of these policy resolutions is then taken to the National Conference of Mayors. I also work with other youth-serving organizations to coordinate services for youth across Louisville.��

UofL News: What is next for you?

Brown-Lewis: Continuing work in youth development and the macro applications of policy work and social justice youth development. I will be starting my career as a therapist and work diligently to fuse both the macro work and micro work. Next for me is rest! The last seven years of schooling has been a challenging journey and I have reached the end. One day I will pursue a higher degree in public health or family sciences.��

UofL News: What advice do you have for other social work students?

Brown-Lewis: Follow your dreams despite naysayers. Find the gap in services and fill it, be creative, don’t do something unless you love it. Intentionally invest in your personal and professional life, and get a therapist!

UofL News: What are the main struggles for youth transitioning to adulthood?��

Brown: It is important that we not only think about young people as “the future.” They hold a lot of power now, whether adults want to acknowledge it or not. For example, we have a number of youth across the country currently advocating for safer school environments related to both the COVID-19 pandemic and censorship bills being passed that prevent them from learning about the history of the world we live in. I believe that one of the biggest barriers youth experience today is related to systemic racism and oppression. These are the root causes of a lot of the issues we see youth experiencing today.

UofL News: How can we make it easier for young people to succeed throughout life?��

Brown: Adults, especially those in positions of power, should learn about the importance of understanding how critical it is to have youth who come from historically excluded backgrounds at the table when making decisions that directly impact them and their communities. These young people should be able to have a say in what policies are created and enforced, not just in the realm of education but in every single system that impacts their wellbeing. This includes our political, social, economic and education systems.

UofL News: You hold a PhD in recreation, park and tourism sciences with a concentration in youth development. Some of your work examines recreational healing spaces. Can you explain the meaning and how these spaces are so important for youth development?��

Brown: When it comes to youth development, we tend to only view it through the lens of education. However, what we know is that the education system does not always have the capacity to support youth within the context of their communities. We also have a great deal of evidence on certain groups of young people, such as Black and Brown youth, being pushed out of school into the criminal legal system due to inequitable policies and practices that exist within the education system. With that knowledge, I focus my work on community spaces where youth find safe havens and safety. These spaces, like a community center, boys and girls club, summer camps, have the power, resources and abilities to cultivate healing spaces for youth to recover from the oppression they experience in school or in their communities.

UofL News: Tell us about the professional development program you are creating.

Brown: The professional development program utilizes the Social Justice Youth Development (SJYD) framework, an approach focused on the adoption of principles and practices that work to close the gaps created by inequities and access to opportunities for youth.

First coined by Shawn Ginwright, a researcher at San Francisco State University, SJYD is an approach to engaging in youth work that shifts the focus from changing youth behaviors to acknowledging the role that systemic racism and oppression play in the lives of youth who come from communities who have been historically excluded.

Since its inception in 2010, a number of youth development researchers and practitioners, including myself, have adopted this framework as a tool to cultivate social change in their communities by engaging with youth in a way that redistributes power between youth and adults. SJYD creates opportunities for youth voices to be placed at the center of decision-making about ways to address issues that directly impact them and their communities.

UofL News: Before joining the SPHIS faculty, you completed a post-doc at UofL, working with the Youth Violence Prevention Research Center (YPPRC). How did that work build your current research?��

Brown: My work with the YVPRC focused on integrating SJYD into youth violence prevention research. This helped to support the team at YVPRC to shift the narrative about the cause of youth violence being interpersonal behaviors to focus more on structural violence. During my postdoc with YVPRC, I learned that a number of youth development professionals wanted to use SJYD approaches in their work with youth but did not have the tools, resources or supports needed to integrate it into their day-to-day activities. They needed not only training support but also funding which is why the professional development program we are building is focused on both youth development professionals and youth serving organizations and funders.

UofL News: Long-term, what do you hope will be the outcome of your research?��

Brown: My hope is that youth development professionals, youth serving organizations and funders of youth development work integrate more equitable approaches in their policies and practices in order to integrate SJYD throughout the whole system of youth development. My hope is also that through this process of creating room for more equity within the youth development system, the voices of youth are not just heard but also have decision-making power.

UofL News: Anything else you’d like to share?����

Brown: We are currently to help us lead the work of developing the professional development program for youth development professionals in Louisville. Additionally, I’m always trying to amplify youth voices whenever I am given the opportunity to. I would like to take this opportunity to uplift the work of the youth at the Food Literacy Project in Louisville and encourage everyone reading this to check out their .