Darius Brown and Becoming Better Boys/Grow Girls
Darius Brown and Becoming Better Boys/Grow Girls:Cultural Wealth Solid Gold Neighbor
Cuevas Peacock, Assistant Director of Community Relations-Cultural Wealth
Listen, if you want to see a change, you have to be the change. Each day Darius Brown embodies this statement through both his profession and passion for serving his community. Darius, a native of Hillsboro and 2010 graduate of Waco ISD, is employed with the district as a police officer, a career path that he set for himself as a child, wanting to change the narrative on how males within his family interacted with the criminal justice system. Darius's service to the community extends far beyond his place of employment as he is often found volunteering at Meals on Wheels and Glory Bell Church, where he leads their youth ministry. In 2017, Darius, alongside his fiance Micah Root, started the youth mentoring organization Becoming Better Boys/Grow Girls.Becoming Better Boys/Grow Girls meets every Thursday at the Doris Miller YMCA in East Waco, where Darius and his team of volunteers provide mentoring to neighborhood youth. "We give our boys group an opportunity to pray and the kids say that they hope the boys group never ends. Our kids run to the van to go to the YMCA for mentoring every Thursday!" In a recently released documentary, Officer Brown, Darius shares with us his reasoning for wanting to create a mentoring program. "I believe in the process of mentorship, my pastor discipled me for many years. It taught me discipline, it taught me service, it taught me hard work, it taught me how to become a strong man of God. I know the end result of mentoring because I'm a product of it." His efforts have not gone unnoticed as he frequently receives positive feedback from East Waco residents and area school staff, and has been able to benefit from partnering with neighborhood organizations such as Restoration Haven and the Doris Miller YMCA. "I want to go beyond my normal duties to ensure these kids succeed because these kids are our future."
Darius is the ultimate definition of a Solid Gold Neighbor showing daily the impact that one who desires to make a difference can have on their community. He is a faithful servant leader who possesses an infectious passion for helping others, and we are honored to have been given a chance to highlight his good works!