Meet Terrell Brown | Hillside Connection Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Terrell Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Terrell, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Hillside Connection (HC) was founded in March of 2017 and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) public charity in March of 2019 as a way to give back to the Southeast Colorado Springs community.

HC uses the game of basketball to connect with youth. However, it delivers outcomes that far surpass sport. HC serves youth from grades 1st-8th with a strategic goal of enhancing program opportunities for our 9th and 10th grade youth. Most youth represent a minority group. Many come from single parent and/or low-income households with multiple siblings. Of these youth, 90% qualify for free or reduced lunch. Their primary caregivers usually receive public assistance and/or work multiple jobs while living paycheck to paycheck. Due to their lack of income, our participants experience a lesser quality of life, food insecurity, mental health challenges, and unhealthy lifestyles.

Our guiding principle is the belief that all children should be afforded the opportunity to participate in high quality programming. All youth receive a full scholarship to participate and these programs would not be available without HC.

What should our readers know about your business?
I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the Hillside neighborhood. Families in this neighborhood often come from difficult backgrounds that include low-incomes, drug use, and incarceration. From 1999 to 2008, my father, Nathan Brown, served as a youth basketball coach/mentor for at-risk youth in the Hillside Community Center. Growing up, the Community Center and the game of basketball saved me from falling victim to the environment in which I grew up. After overcoming several obstacles athletically and personally, I became determined to use sports as a medium to empower youth in Southern Colorado Springs. I saw the impact negative choices had on my family and in my community. I wanted to create something bigger than sports and myself that could serve youth and families for generations to come, therefore Hillside Connection was created to realize this dream.

Since inception, Hillside Connection has served over five hundred underserved boys and girls. Our biggest accomplishment is the change made in these children’s lives. Hillside Connection helps youth build discipline, resiliency, teamwork, commitment, character, responsibility, and work ethic.

Comparatively to other nonprofits our budget does not match our impact. We are still grinding hard for true sustainability and equity. We are so grateful for the support of our part-time program coordinator, sponsors/donors, a dynamic board of directors and the local community for helping us execute our vision thus far. Why not Hillside Connection? We started out with $350 (in kind donation), a vision, and gym space years ago and are now positioned to help mold the next generation of diverse leaders in our community (doctors lawyers business owners etc).

The greatest lesson I have learned today is that everything worthwhile is uphill!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
God willing I would like to give recognition to the entire “Southside” Colorado Springs Community both past and present residents/natives. I am a by-product of the mentorship that was around me during my formative years and the highs and lows it took for me to navigate my circumstances to be where I am today. Growing up my father (Nathan Brown) and mother (Mae Edwards) instilled in me the importance of a work ethic and understanding where I came from. Outside of my immediate family there were positive role models placed in my life that helped me stay on the right path as well.. In return for free gym time, I remember Mr. Kenny Callum and Ms. Joan Clemons at Hillside Community Center would have me clean up the gym and help the elderly. I remember working hard in the summers via car washes in order to play in competitive tournaments. I saw the impact Mr. Sam Dunlap had on the entire southside community. Quincey Harding providing  Southside kids with the necessary attire for prom and homecoming dances growing up. Things like this made a huge difference and kept us on the right path. The list goes on! I would not be where I am today today without a positive circle of people, the successes and challenges .Everything worthwhile is uphill…

Website: https://www.hillsideconnection.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillsideconnection/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hillside-connection/?viewAsMember=true

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hillsidestrong_?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillsideconnectionCOS/