As a first generation graduate at the high-school and post secondary levels, traditional public schools never allowed Jimmy Brown (founder of A.I.P) to realize his full potential as a leader in his schools and communities. Through nontraditional pathways, Jimmy Brown achieved completion of his post-secondary education at the age of 29 and during his tenure in college he was a professional mentor for opportunity youth in South King County.

 

From 2008 to 2016, Jimmy Brown worked in three public school districts, mentored close to 3000 youth to date and held various positions within the field of education. Two things remained consistent during this time:

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1. Youth of color were being underserved in their traditional public schools in multiple ways with limited access to innovative curriculum, inability to connect real life experiences with their current learning, and kept being introduced to inconsistent levels of support (social and emotional programs, and adults that represented their cultures).

 

2. Students of color, specifically Black and Hispanic youth had no real way to understand leadership and their individual potential as leaders in school and their communities, and they didn’t have strategic steps to understand the importance of self-advocacy and how their empowerment can help them effectively advocate for the needs of the communities they live in. Realizing this is truly the catalyst for terms such as the achievement gap, Jimmy Brown created Ambition Is Priceless Consulting, LLC.