Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Alfonso Brown.
Dr. Alfonso, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
A popular notion in the U.S. is that education is a great equalizer. In 2014, I was entering my fourth year of homelessness and decided to test that theory. I started at a technical college. I selected Human Services because the objective of the program focuses on meeting human needs through interdisciplinary knowledge that focuses on prevention as well as remediation of problems.
For my undergraduate degree I studied social science. From my understanding at that time, social science was the scientific study of human society and how social relationships, and strong engagement can create collaborative partnerships that are focused on impact.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
After completing the associate’s and undergraduate degree programs, I was still unable to secure housing or a stable income, so I enrolled in a Master of Education program in leadership. Unfortunately, ten days before the program began, I was sleeping on the street. The staff at the flophouse where I slept kicked me out because you can only stay once, and they found out it was my second time. It was at this very moment that I became angry and resentful, because I finally realized that I was wrong about the world, and for the first time, I was afraid. Nevertheless, I took advantage of my full-time status and completed the program in just over a year.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Let’s Get to Work is dedicated to bridging the divide between the haves and have-nots in our community. Our mission is to unite people and inspire lasting, meaningful change based on real experiences.
As a researcher and writer, I like to believe that I am a man with steadfast determination. Recently, I earned a Doctorate despite being homeless for almost a decade with the hopes of someday becoming a future New York Times best-selling author. My research is featured on the Social Science Research Network, and I also released a memoir, Homeless: Against All Odds, that can be found on Amazon.
This is the story of persevering through homelessness and adversity, challenging an unfair system, and finding hope and growth along the way. If you feel like an underdog, this story is for you.
Any big plans?
Personal and structural obstacles are both factors for people experiencing extreme hardship. Public attitudes toward homelessness influence local policies and services for individuals living with this experience.
Those Project Homeless initiatives that seek to explore and explain their region’s diverse problem of homelessness to highlight what is working and what is not working narratives do not align with the economic or social roots of homelessness as it is related to governance.
Also, those social service organizations that are credited with surpassing sympathy and support for the plight of the homeless have become known to be something closer to a vulture or a pickpocket.
They appropriate their language and sell their services as effective and reliable representations of the political and social realities around them. All the while inhabiting subjective positions that are different from their own.
My plans are to continue to explicitly examine the effectiveness of current homeless support strategies with the hope of devising policies to support equity that embrace broader social justice issues. This is critical to improving educational outcomes and changing the cycle of disadvantages for children and their families.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alfonsobrown.journoportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acabrown512/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfonso-brown-a35a7984/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@albrown6702
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/91-3kbcs/homeless-but-not-hopeless-how-riding-the-bus-to-a-better-future
- Other: https://www.pbs.org/video/al-brown-9x2ixg/
