Coach in Focus: CJ Brown, Founder

CJ Brown is the Founder and namesake of the CJ Brown Foundation. As a former Major League Soccer (MLS) player and captain for the Chicago Fire FC, his passion for the game and love for the city of Chicago intertwined to build a strong groundwork for the organization.

Born in Oregon and raised in California, Brown comes from a very sports-oriented family. He and his sister both grew up playing soccer, leading their father to become a coach. “I think our life was basically based around soccer growing up,” Brown said.

His connection to Chicago began when he moved to the city to continue his professional soccer career. After retiring from the Fire in 2011, he continued his involvement with the sport by coaching several MLS teams, ultimately ending his coaching career back in the Windy City, where his plans for the CJ Brown Foundation began when he began to wonder how he could transition his passion into something meaningful for others.

“I think soccer is an opportunity. It’s a way for kids to stay out of trouble, it’s a way for kids to stay active, it’s a way for character building,” Brown said. “But I thought soccer could be bigger than that, and it can help communities.”

After working with fellow Chicagoans to plan a free clinic on the South Side, Brown was amazed by the overwhelmingly positive responses from the community. While those running the clinic were hopeful that five to ten children would attend, an astounding 50 players showed up ready to learn. From that point on, Brown knew he had to continue his efforts on a wider scale. 

Driven by a passion for helping others and giving back to the community, Brown has led the Foundation to great success. After a fruitful pilot program at Holy Angels Catholic School in Bronzeville, a strong connection was built, and the Foundation continued to take off. Today, the Foundation hosts after-school soccer programming at Holy Angels and St. John de la Salle Catholic Academy in Roseland. From there, the Foundation also developed a relationship with Tuley Park in Chatham, thus blossoming into weekend programming. 

Brown has continuously received positive responses from the parents within the communities in which the Foundation has become involved. “I feel like it’s been a great experience with the community because we’ve been able to bring families to connect. We bring kids out to connect and have a good time” Brown said.

Although creating a Foundation was never Brown’s original goal, he is ecstatic that his work has brought communities together in new and unique ways by using soccer as a shared language. “The more we start to understand what goes on in other people's communities and cultures, the less afraid we are, the less naïve we are to hearing certain things, and that will stop a lot of the violence,” Brown said. “It'll stop a lot of the accusations because now you understand what different communities and cultures are going through, or doing, or why they teach their kids certain ways and stuff like that. So it just becomes more understanding.”

Brown highlights the importance of giving back to communities on every possible level, which is why he also works with Malcolm X College’s Men’s Soccer Coach, Jesse Rosen, to recruit players from Malcolm X College who have grown up in these communities as coaches for the Foundation’s programming. “We're providing an opportunity for them to better themselves for the future,” Brown said. “To hear the coaches talk about the players and say that they're learning about where they're from, their family life, that, to me, is rewarding because that is what we're trying to get. We're trying to get young adults to understand what younger kids are going through and how to adapt, change, and work with them in training sessions.”

As the Foundation grows, so will its abilities to help children, coaches, and their communities. Looking ahead to the future of the CJ Brown Foundation, Brown is hopeful that its efforts will continue to expand, unifying more communities and providing opportunities for more children. “I think of the Foundation as something I should have done a long time ago,” Brown said. “Right now, the first phase is soccer. We are introducing soccer to the communities. We want to build it, we want it to be free, accessible, and fun for the kids. From there, we want to take it a little bit further.”

“Seeing happy people, parents, and kids, people working with each other, that, to me, is rewarding,” Brown said.