What We Do

CREATING A COLLEGE GOING CULTURE.

At Brown Issues, we meet you people exactly where they are—at school, on social media, and within community spaces—turning each into a hub for cultural pride and mentorship. Our signature program is our after-school Brown Issues Chapters. Today, we host over 20 Chapters that serve as sanctuaries for our young people. Here, we provide social and emotional support, male role models, offering a counter narrative to the confrontational messages often received by our young people.

These spaces have been co-developed with youth participants and are led by a team of dedicated volunteer mentors who bring rich lived experiences and a passion for coaching Brown youth. When young people join Brown Issues, they discover they are not alone. We bring together youth from very diverse backgrounds — from students on probation to 1.0 GPA students at continuation schools to 4.0 GPA students — and engage them in our community events and our Policy Bootcamps. Our loving peer-to-peer strategy is a force!

From college visits to healing retreats, we set high expectations and support our young people through very complex challenges, helping them graduate, own their stories, and inspire others. Through our athletics program, youth art show: reimagine justice, and field trips we deepen bonds with our youth and a sense of community.

Our involvement in schools often starts in moments of crisis—either responding to violence or through invitations from teachers or principals who are eager to bring rich cultural insights to their schools. We seize these moments as opportunities to ignite change within the educational system. Most of our mentors in the Brown Issues Chapters are volunteers, passionately returning to their communities to provide the cultural and emotional support they themselves once missed. Some of our mentors have decided to pursue careers in education–that’s a pipeline grounded in love.

At Brown Issues, we recognize that education is not just about what happens inside the classroom. It’s about nurturing the inner world of our youth and the influences that shape them. Many young people spend a significant amount of time on social media, similar to the previous generation that watched TV. That’s why we’ve created a powerful social media platform to ensure that Brown youth see themselves as the heroes of their own stories. We intentionally use these platforms to inform, inspire and to mobilize our young people to take meaningful action.

Our impact is felt all across the State and nation. Young people see themselves on our platforms, are inspired by our poetry slams and campaigns. At Luther Burbank High School in South Sacramento, our after-school Brown Issues Chapter has transformed into a class taught during the school day by Miguel Campus, who mentors young men and inspired the “South Sac Give Back” community event led by youth.

TESTIMONIALS

“I help young people flip the script—it’s not just about grades or performative activism; it’s about finding purpose and making a real impact in our community. When I was at Sac City College, I was broke, hungry, & living out of my car. Brown Issues became my home—a place that inspired me to pursue a career in education. Now as a teacher for nearly a decade, I’ve poured love and pride into my students, using my own struggles to uplift and inspire them… all while healing my own heart.” – Advisor, Manuel Favela

“Brown Issues provided me and my comrades a community within higher education where people of color can feel isolated. And, through this community, I was able to grow and co-lead organizing efforts that took us beyond the classroom. I deep-heartily hope that this org continues to expand to provide radical learning and
collaborative space for the Latinx students at Cal. I am forever grateful for the love and joy we have cultivated and will continue to cultivate!” – Former Co-Chair at UC Berkeley, Daisy Flores

CIVIC LEADERSHIP AND POWER BUILDING

At Brown Issues, our civic leadership initiatives are fundamental in inspiring Latino youth to turn their passion into action and their ideas into policy changes. Our activism isn’t just about making noise; it’s about making a difference in our communities. Our VOTER campaigns have significantly increased youth participation in voting, census activities, and discussions on critical issues like police brutality and immigration reform.

OUR WINS

Counselors Not Cops

We led the campaign to end the $3 million contract between the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento Police Department. This effort redirected resources towards fostering a more supportive and safe educational environment.

Advanced Health4All:

Our advocacy was crucial in securing universal healthcare coverage in California, ensuring that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, regardless of immigration status.

Repealed Cruising Ban:

We successfully overturned a decades-old ordinance that unfairly targeted the Latino low-riding community, reaffirming the dignity and cultural significance of our traditions.

These victories are part of our broader strategy to mobilize youth from passive online scrolling to active, impactful participation. Through leadership conferences, policy bootcamps, and advocacy training, we equip our young people with the tools to lead change. We continuously center our youth in these social change efforts and reflections.

Young Latinos are passionate about shaping the future of this country—they’re not sitting on the sidelines. Through every campaign and workshop, we’re not just changing laws; we’re starting a movement. Latino youth are stepping up, taking charge, and working hard to shape a society that includes our dreams and values.

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

At Brown Issues, narrative change is at the heart of our mission.

We have cultivated one of the most influential social media platforms with over 350,000 followers. Through our Instagram, we actively dismantle harmful stereotypes and position Latino youth as the architects of their own stories. This platform is not just a medium for sharing content–it’s a powerful tool for healing and cultural organizing. Our goal is to transform passive observers into active participants, driving forward a movement that celebrates diverse cultural identities and inspires civic leadership.

Brown Issues engages in narrative change work because we believe that shifting perceptions can shape culture, which in turn influences policy. By changing how stories are told and heard, we can change hearts and minds. This cultural shift is critical—it lays the groundwork for more inclusive and just policies.

Recognizing the youth’s hunger for creative expression, we curate poetry slams, art workshops, mural development, and statewide cultural pop-up events. Many participants lack access to arts programming in schools, come from neglected neighborhoods, and parents who work multiple jobs to make ends meet. Our arts programming profoundly impacts their lives, transforming their pain into purpose.

For decades, aspects of Latino culture, such as lowriding, have been criminalized and misrepresented in the media. Brown Issues champions the celebration of these cultural practices, showcasing their true spirit centered on family, community, and Chicano pride. Our efforts extend to organizing the lowrider community to ensure they are not only recognized but also actively engaged in voting and civic participation.

CULTURAL ORGANIZING

Over the years, we’ve learned that one of the best ways of showing someone they belong in a process, is to show people who look like them deeply engaged within the process. Identity Matters.

This is why in 2016 we designed and spread widely a shirt that said something simple, yet, powerful – Voter. We wanted Latinos, especially young Latinos to embrace their roles as voters who help shape their own and collective future. We took pictures of Latinos, within their communities wearing their Brown issues Voter. T-shirts, and amplified their voice for why they have and will show up to the voting polls.