Collective Impact Initiatives

A leader in conversations of historical empathy, Brown is a collector of over 15,000 historical freedom artifacts that date as early as 321 AD and concentrates on stories of resilience. Brown passionately leads annual Underground Railroad study tours for educators and leaders that are inspired to learn from the heroic voices of this period of time in history. 

As the emeritus chairman of the Black Voice Foundation, Brown leads conversations on empathy and history with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students where learners gain knowledge and power of Freedom Movements. Bringing our combined story makes us stronger when we learn stories of those that fought together for change. As a two term policy maker, Brown represented 33 school districts and over 400,000 students in many roles including the California School Boards Association, State legislative affairs committee , Board policy committee, Golden Bell winner and President of the San Bernardino County Board of Education.  Brown was very supportive of National History Day, Mock Trial, Academic Decathlon, and reading in schools.  Working with our county Superintendent, Brown led in the development of the county’s first department of Equity, which inspired multiple districts to create an equity plan to address the needs of their students.

Brown is the curator and storyteller of the major collection of rare documents helping people to understand and explore the institution of enslavement and the inspiration of freedom fighters around the world.  “The Gore Collection has a focus on building historical empathy by immersing you in a world where people were considered objects - a prejudice that was entirely based on the color of one's skin.” Our traveling exhibits have been viewed by over 250,000 people at the California State Capitol, California African American Museum (Los Angeles), University of California Riverside, and the San Bernardino County museum along with multiple schools in the region. We challenge visitors to ask themselves, “In 150 years, what will history say about you?”, and share that we are more alike than different. 

Brown has over 25 years experience in Social Impact, Research, Fundraising, College Career Development, and the solicitation of major gifts for multiple national and regional organizations such as United Way of Orange County and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).  An alumnus of the nation’s first HBCU owned and operated by African Americans (1856), Wilberforce University, Brown recently returned to school after 24 years to completed his Masters of Arts degree from Claremont Lincoln University. He studied the effects that touring the Underground Railroad had on a teacher’s ability to teach empathy and citizenship in the classroom.  One of Brown’s goals was to teach young scholars, including his daughters, that it is okay to become a lifelong learner. Published in multiple publications, Brown has volunteered his time as a board member for the Girl Scouts and United Way, and serves on the Board of Advisors for Executive Education at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Brown has been a diversity columnist for the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the Black Voice Newspaper.  

2020/2021, Brown served as President of The California Association of Black School Educators where the organization has achieved an impact that will support millions of students in the state of California. Under our support and leadership, CA Diversifying the Teaching Workforce Grant Program, was promised to be addressed through the budget – specifically using two different avenues (Teacher Grants and Educator Effectiveness). 

• Firstly, the legislature included $350 million for the Teacher Residency Grant Program, with priority consideration given to applicants who demonstrate a commitment to enhancing the diversity of the teaching workforce (i.e., candidates of color).  As part of this appropriation, the state authorized one-time grants for local efforts to recruit, develop support systems for, provide outreach and communications strategies to, and retain a diverse teaching workforce that reflects the diversity of the community that a school district serves.

• Secondly, among the provisions “Coaching and mentoring of staff serving in an instructional setting and beginning teacher or administrator induction, including, but not limited to, coaching and mentoring solutions that address a local need for teachers that can serve all pupil populations with a focus on retaining teachers, and offering structured feedback and coaching systems organized around social-emotional learning, including, but not limited to, promoting teacher self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and responsible decision-making skills, improving teacher attitudes and beliefs about one’s self and others, and supporting learning communities for educators to engage in a meaningful classroom teaching experience.”  Not only was this historic – as a state, California has never seen this kind of targeted intervention for teachers of color (AB 520).

Hardy has been married to his wife Sonietta for 25 years, and together they have two daughters, Peyton, a 13 year old scholar, and Jordan, 23, Alumna from Spelman College and a Phd student at The University of California, Riverside.