“The Urban League of Greater Madison is a major place to go for people who need bridges to connect them to work, educational outlets. It’s a place for people to go to be recharged,” says Anthony Brown. “It’s my hope that the Urban League will always be there to greet every person that comes into Madison. That should be the first stop for every person, regardless of background.”
As volunteer coordinator, Brown leads the recruitment, screening, training, management, and retention activities of the Urban League of Greater Madison’s volunteer program. The Urban League’s mission is to ensure that African Americans and other community members are educated, employed and empowered to live well, advance professionally and contribute to the common good in the 21st Century. Brown emphasizes that he serves as volunteer coordinator.
“Since I’ve started back in 2016, I’ve identified, interviewed and placed several hundred volunteers to tutor middle school students across Madison, Sun Prairie and Oregon in the school districts,” says Brown, who started in April of last year. “I have met people all over this city. We have over 500 volunteers that are tutoring between the 12 sites for Schools of Hope. We’re serving about 1,140 students right now.”
All told, there are over 600 volunteers who serve annually, the majority of whom volunteer as school-based academic tutors through the Schools of Hope Middle School Program, a unique collaboration with United Way of Dane County and Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) to work with school staff to increase the academic performance of students of color and those from low-income families.
“My year in a snapshot has been everything and anything including recruiting and tabling at different volunteer fairs, meeting people one on one and interviewing people,” Brown tells Madison365 in an interview at Barrique’s on South Park Street. “It’s really been a chance to see what makes up Madison. The pool of tutors is pretty diverse – college students to retired community, people coming from different parts of the world with different academic backgrounds.”
As volunteer coordinator, he works closely with a team of 12 site coordinators and other Urban League program staff who provide direct supervision of volunteer activities and play a key role in the other volunteer management functions. Brown is also part of the planning committee for different Urban League events like the Unity Picnic, the Urban Cabaret, the Economic Diversity Summit (coming up on Thursday, May 11).
Brown’s family has deep ties to the Urban League of Greater Madison. Brown’s father, Anthony Brown Sr., was involved heavily with the Urban League and with the community as his mom, Brenda Brown, has also been.
“I find my life in a full-circle format. I call myself an Urban Leaguer because I grew up in the Urban League. Although my dad never formally worked at the Urban League, he was always a big advocate,” Brown remembers. “By association, I was also working for the Urban League running around in that ugly, yellow house on Gorham. I do remember the importance of that space and being down in the community.
“The new building versus the old Urban League house is definitely a shift of community. With the Urban League being on the south side now it’s a little bit away from the downtown hustle and flow but it’s exactly where it needs to be to serve the people,” Brown adds. “A lot of people think that John Nolen [Drive] is the entryway to the city. That’s not true. Park Street is the entrance into the city.”
Brown knows a lot of Urban Leaguers from the past and looks up to those Urban Leaguers who have been with the organization for a long time that he currently works with.
“I’ve been learning a lot from the leadership at the Urban League,” he says. “I think any time you’re at an organization you should really take time to learn from the people who are leading. I’ve enjoyed learning from the leaders and I know that I will take the things that I have been learning wherever I can go so I can be the best leader that I can be when I’m called to be in that type of position myself.”
Brown hopes to one day be a leader not only at the Urban League, but in the greater Madison community.
“I was born in this community – at Madison General [Hospital], back when it was called Madison General. I grew up here and I came back here and I’m fascinated and amazed that I’m still learning this city,” Brown says. “It’s a cool thing. To know that this city is so vast and that the possibilities are endless.”
Born and raised in Madison, Brown is a graduate of Edgewood High School and earned a bachelor in Theater Arts from the University of Minnesota. Since he was young, Brown’s passion has always been performance. He got his start as a singer and producer for the a Capella group Not From Concentrate, a group of eight individuals who released two albums giving Brown his first taste of creating, producing and recording music. Brown has six albums as a solo artist, as well as seven Madison Area Music Awards (MAMAs), including Song of the Year in 2011 for “My Tomorrow” and Pop/R&B Performer of the Year in 2014. Brown is also a talented actor and entertainer.
But music and theater have taken a back seat for Brown. For now. “They are probably sitting somewhere in a box in storage,” he smiles. “My life has moved all over the place at this point and that’s happening with music, too. I’m trying to keep it alive.
“But I am tired of hearing that there are no career paths for the arts. The arts have a purpose. There’s a purpose to me getting a theater degree like I did back in 2006 from the University of Minnesota,” he adds. “People spend a lot of money to see these films and concerts. There’s a need for that and a purpose. It’s more necessary than people know. I’m still trying to figure that part out in my life. I’m not doing that aspect as much as I’d like to, but I’m really enjoying what I do right now.”
As he enters this next phase in his life focused on social justice and community empowerment, Brown is making sure that he still has a foot in both worlds and maintains all of his contacts from his music, theater, and arts worlds.
“We have a steady number of volunteers who are helping with the different events and it continues to grow. Coming from the music world, I knew a lot of people who didn’t know about the Urban League who now know about it now,” he says. “A lot of my music friends, I’ve had them volunteer. It’s fun to bring worlds together and it’s been fun to share the Urban League with other parts of my life.”
Brown hopes that some of the important work being done by the Urban League continues to get noticed by the greater Madison community and that one day, Madison really starts to be that city that lives up to all of its nationwide accolades.
“We need to recognize that not everybody feels good about being here in Madison. So, one of my greater goals for Madison is that we be more honest with each other,” he says. “My perspective is that Madison is not a warm and welcoming place for every person. It’s taken me a long time to realize that fully. With that being said, Madison has the potential to be a really great space. That’s what we are working towards.”
Brown is happy to be on this next phase in his career.
“For me, it’s been kinda hard to understand what to do or where to go next as a career. I was fortunate enough to watch both of my parents work really hard in this community,” he says. “For a little bit, I was in my dad’s shadow, I’ve had to get my own footing as an adult. Especially, as a person who has come from the arts community and the faith community. I haven’t been able to really find my footing. My hope is that I’m finding that right footing and I will be able to serve the community to my best of my ability.”
