Our nation is in pain today and we don't have to pit Americans against each other. I see many patterns repeating themselves as I read about the responses to the recent tragic events. I see fear driving bad decisions. I see a new coat of paint on old, failed ideas being presented as bold, new visions. I see a national election that is often focused on asking the wrong questions.
America has always found a path forward together. This isn't about us vs. them. Against this backdrop, I feel a renewed urgency to share my stories and lessons.
While I don't have all the answers, I've learned powerful lessons in my 25 years of violence reduction work in Boston and around the country. The common thread in all the progress and solutions I've been part of started with finding the courage to listen. By listening, closely and empathetically, we were able to bring traditionally conflicting groups together, find innovative and lasting solutions and engage all of the stakeholders in the solution.
This campaign will help me to complete my book, The Courage to Listen. I'm writing to help leaders and community members find new solutions, build stronger neighborhoods and accelerate the much need healing process from violence.
Here are some examples of the local and national coverage of the work I've been involved in over the years: The Economist, The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Newsweek and many others. This work was also featured in a Harvard Business Review Case Study.
I hope to bring you inside the dynamic, complex systems of inner city violence in poor neighborhoods. Far from a sanitized version of events, I want you to understand how I faced my own fears, prejudices and inadequacies to embrace all members of a community even, maybe especially, those I did not initially consider part of my community.
That personal transformation of perspective about who formed my community allowed me and other leaders to change ourselves and our approach to impacting our communities. It eventually impacted the lives of an entire city. Here's an example that I'm including in my book:
Check out my TED talk about my experience as one of the architects of "The Boston Miracle." The transforming work marked a dramatic reduction in youth violence and a 29 month period of zero juvenile homicides.
This crowdfunding campaign will help me pay for professional editing and publishing. I hope to deliver an everyday practical guide to dealing with "the gangs" in all walks of life. This book will help traditionally conflicting members of a community find a way to listen to each other, and listen in a way that generates the change the whole community longs for.
Listening requires courage. It takes real courage to listen respectfully and deeply to generate change.The urgency today is greater than ever to find a path to solutions that are so desperately needed. As I said at the beginning I certainly don't have all the answers, but I have learned that the right ones inevitably come from having the courage to listen.
I appreciate your consideration, thank you for listening and THANK YOU for your support!
Reverend Jeffrey Brown
Thanks to www.studioworksvideo.com for your generosity!
Risks and challenges
The book is largely written at this point, but the editing process has not begun yet. There is some risk that the editing process will require substantial re-writing. While I've allowed extra time for the editing process, it could take longer than expected.
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