Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Brandon Johnson cares passionately about his community and the young people whom he feels are future leaders. Brandon began as a Program Director of Family Services Institute in 2005, he oversaw two programs: “Responsible Youth Life Skills and Job Training” and the “Teen Pregnancy Reduction Program.” Those programs were conceived under a “Responsible Youth” campaign effort. The program consisted of weekly sessions covering topics such as dealing with peer pressure, drug and sexual abuse, responsibility, leadership, and proper dress attire with the intent of increasing student success rate.
For more than six years, Brandon assisted with creating real job opportunities for hundreds of Wichita area youth. He takes pride in teaching life skills such as financial literacy, how to obtain and maintain a job, and what makes a good job interview. He serves as a role model and mentor for at-risk youth.
Brandon was influential in laying the foundation for a community garden at Grant Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He has been a member of Grant Chapel for twenty seven years. During his time at Grant Chapel Brandon has served on the Usher Board and is currently a church trustee. The success of this community garden has benefited the church and most importantly the community. The harvested food has been given away to families in the community, but most noteworthy is the fact that much of the food has been served in the church’s kitchen ministry, which feeds 75 to 100 people each week.
As if those efforts don’t tie up most of his time, for the last eight years Brandon has served as a member of the Kansas Advisory Group for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency. A position he was appointed to by then Governor Sebilius of Kansas, and since reappointed by Governors Parkinson and Brownback. He has also given his time as a board member of a non-profit organization in northeast Wichita, which empowered middle and high school-aged youth to positively think, act, and speak for themselves.
Brandon believes in continuing to hone his craft by being a part of the Kansas Leadership Center, where he is a participant of the Art & Practice for Kansans in their twenties and thirties, as well as Advance Kansas Class V at Butler Community College. Brandon is also an alumnus of the inaugural class of the Community Leadership Development Program.
Brandon represents a genuine care about the empowerment of community members and the Wichita city as a whole. It is with this care, that he has taken it a step further by creating his own non-profit organization Community Operations Recovery Empowerment (CORE). By doing so, Johnson is making sure that he leaves his legacy by spear heading several initiatives that will empower the citizens of Wichita both young and old.
“I believe that as community members, we should feel responsible for doing as much as we possibly can to improve the quality of life for the young people who will inherit it when we’re gone,” said Brandon. “I can’t do everything, but that’s why it’s important to engage young leaders who will eventually become adults who give back, like I have. That’s how you make an impact.”
