Taj Brown

Taj Anton Brown (born November 14, 1978) is the Senior Manager of Capacity and Development in the Freedom Schools division of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) in Washington, DC.

CDF Freedom Schools are literacy and cultural enrichment summer and after-school programs CDF operates in partnership with community based organizations. Modeled after the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, CDF Freedom Schools have served more than 60,000 families across the United States since 1995.

Background
At 13, Brown became one of the youngest members ever elected as President of the Pennsylvania Youth and College Division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). At 17, he was elected unanimously to the the NAACP's National Board of Directors where he served for two terms. At 18, he was appointed by NAACP Chairman Julian Bond to the Executive Committee and as Vice-Chair of the National Education Committee. Every summer since 1997 he has helped manage Camp Dreamcatcher, an annual retreat for children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. While still a teenager, Brown was enlisted by Pennsylvania State Senator Andy Dinniman (then a Commissioner in Chester County, Pennsylvania) to help reduce elder abuse in communities of color and launch a gleaning program to unite food growers with under resourced food providers across the County.

Brown joined CDF in 2002 and coordinated a wide variety of initiatives in the roles of New York Senior Field Organizer including Youth in the Movement which engaged over 7,000 New York City young adults in civic education, policy advocacy and community organizing, and Deputy Manager of National Field Operations including CDF's first voter empowerment project in 2004 which registered over 30,000 new voters entitled "Children Can't Vote. You Can." Following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in September 2005, he relocated to Jackson, Mississippi on special assignment as Director of the CDF Freedom Schools Katrina Project, an emergency response initiative that provided 37 weeks of after-school care and wrap-around services for over 600 displaced children and families through 9 sites in Cleveland, Columbia, Jackson and Metcalfe, Mississippi. Backed by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, this project piloted the program's after-school model and launched the spread of sites throughout Mississippi and Louisiana.

Education
Downingtown Senior High School; Political Science, Lock Haven University; Social Enterprise, Executive Education Program, Harvard Business School; Spanish Culture and Language, International Program of Spanish Studies, University of Málaga at Ronda (Spain).

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