Aja Brown

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Aja Brown (2013)

Aja Lena Brown (* 17th April 1982 in Altadena , California as Aja Lena Clinkscale ) is an American politician who since July 2, 2013, the Office of the Mayor of Compton , a suburb of the metropolis Los Angeles , dressed.

Live and act

Youth and education

Aja Brown was born Aja Lena Clinkscale on April 17, 1982 with her dizygoti twin brother Jonathan Clinkscale in Altadena, Los Angeles County . Her mother, Brenda Jackson, worked at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , or Caltech for short , and was a single parent . Her parents were married at the time of her birth, but divorced when the twins were very young. Her maternal grandmother fell victim to widespread gang violence in the city in 1973 when she was ambushed, raped and murdered in her home. While her twin brother in later years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was a member of the American football team of the Wisconsin Badgers , the university's own sports department, and played briefly as a professional in the United States and Germany , Aja Clinkscale attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles . Before that, she had successfully graduated from John Muir High School in Pasadena in 2000 at the side of her brother . She was the class representative during her senior year in high school and served on the school's women's volleyball team for the entire four years.

With tuition fees of around $ 30,000 per year (as of Freshman Year 2000), she received scholarships and grants to study urban planning and public policy at USC . During her college years, she did not gain traditional college experience and did not belong to any of the partying or networking student groups. Despite the financial support, she had to work parallel to her studies. In 2004 Brown graduated - in 2003 she had married her childhood sweetheart Van Brown - the University of Southern California, where she received a full scholarship, with a Bachelor in Policy, Planning & Development . The following year, 2005, she did her Masters in Planning & Development , which included urban planning with a focus on economic development and business promotion. In her master's thesis , she dealt with the failed development of a Walmart super center in Inglewood in 2004.

Activities in Gardena, Inglewood and Pasadena, as well as first work in Compton

While still at USC, Brown took a job in 2004 for the Los Angeles metropolitan city ​​of Gardena , where she worked as an economic development analyst. In 2006 she moved to Inglewood as an urban planner and high-ranking planner for economic development, before moving to the up-and-coming and well-managed Pasadena the following year. There she was entrusted with the tasks of the planning commissioner of the city and thus a very influential position. After a two-year tenure, she resigned in 2009 and instead moved to the city of Compton's revitalization office. In her mother's hometown - she grew up in East Compton - she concentrated as a project manager on the revitalization of the city, which had been shattered by decades of high crime (especially gang crime with many murders). After she and her husband had last moved from Pasadena to Gardena, the two decided to move to Compton in 2009. Before that, the two were already members of the local Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church and had spent a lot of time in Compton. As a project manager, she was responsible for creating welfare laws, initiating municipal revitalization action committees for Downtown Compton, and overseeing the city's urban planning and economic development initiatives, among other things. She also started and implemented a city education program that focused on job creation for local people from city funded or Capital Improvement supported projects.

In 2011 Brown founded the so-called Urban Vision Community Development Corporation , a Compton-based non-profit organization dedicated to community economic and youth development - with an average age of 25, Compton is one of the “youngest” cities in the United States ( In comparison: the median age in the United States is around 38 years) - dedicated. In parallel, Brown also supported numerous other re-branding programs that were running successfully in numerous other cities. For your Yes! Campaign, she was awarded the Best 2012 Communicator Design Award in 2012. Brown was also instrumental in marketing the city's buyers program, which aimed primarily at first-time home buyers. In addition, she increasingly supported programs in the field of agriculture and transport, especially in the field of public transport and its expansion.

Election for the youngest mayor of Compton

In October 2012, Brown presented a new mission statement for the city, which she called New Vision for Compton , and which she used in the election campaign for Compton's mayoral office. A freshman in politics, Brown stood up to twelve other candidates, including former Mayor Omar Bradley and incumbent Mayor Eric J. Perrodin , and won the June 4, 2013 elections with a landslide victory. On July 2, 2013, she was sworn into her office as Mayor of Compton and at the time of her inauguration, at the age of 31, was the youngest female mayor and the second woman in this position in the 125-year history of the city. Through New Vision for Compton , she created a 12-point plan to strategically advance Compton's development. She made this plan available to the public so that residents can follow the progress in the development of their city. She also sought government support for Compton through the United States Department of Justice's new violence prevention program , the Violence Reduction Network .

In 2014, following mediation by former members, she contacted the management level of the two dominant gangs in the region, Bloods and Crips , and entered into peace negotiations with them. As a result, Brown and the gang leaders met regularly. Brown focuses on conflict mitigation rather than strict surveillance and policing. Since the beginning of the regular meetings, at which more than 50 leaders of dozen local gangs are often present, the crime rate has been reduced by around 65 percent compared to the record level of 25 years ago (as of December 2016). The Compton Empowered program, launched by Brown , also contributed to the reduction in gang crime. She also initiated a weapons buy-back program ( Engl. Gun buyback program ) were sold in the hundreds alone when returning action in 2014 weapons, the police paid for each weapon 200 US dollars to the dispenser of weapons. In January of the same year, Brown was honored with the Young Alumni Merit Award from her alma mater , the University of Southern California, for her commitment to date . It was around the same time that she received the National Action Network Martin Luther King Award .

On July 10, 2015, two years after her inauguration, Brown, who is keen to attract young families and financially strong companies to the city, gave her first State of the City Address (English for “address on the state of the city”; cf. State of the Union Address ). The so-called “address on the situation of the city” and its orientation as a benefit event was perceived by the population and persons in public offices with divided opinions. She was accused of having used her position in public to generate profit for herself. Brown later issued a statement that that evening, Urban Vision Community Development Corporation , of which it was CEO from 2012 to 2014, raised $ 57,665 in donations, more than half of which went to hosting the event was paid to the city, an additional US $ 5,000 was donated to Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum's youth program , and additional donations were made to other projects. With a donated total of $ 17,500, Brown Husband was the largest donor to the event. In 2015, Leadercast recognized her with the Brave Ones Leadership Award after seeing a 50 percent year-over-year decrease in the homicide rate. It was also able to reduce unemployment from 18% to 9% between July 2013 and December 2015.

From late 2014 to 2016, Brown was a member of the California State Delta Stewardship Council . In December 2016 she was presented as the winner of the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award . In the following year, Brown, who in achieving her goals also turned to the help of prominent figures from Compton such as Venus and Serena Williams or Dr. Dre sets, re-elected as mayor after four years in office, with 62 percent of the votes received, about as much as in her first election. On March 8, 2018, Brown announced that it was running for California's 44th Congressional District in the 2018 Congressional election. The Democrat met her colleague Nanette Barragán and the republican party actress Stacey Dash . Less than a month later, Brown withdrew her candidacy and announced her pregnancy at the same time. Daughter J'ael Lena Brown was born on September 23, 2018.

Family & personal

Aja Brown with her husband Van (2013)

She got the first name Aja from her mother, who named her after one of her favorite songs, the song Aja from Steely Dan 's album of the same name from 1977.

Since 2003 she has been married to Van Brown, who is now a safety inspector in the oil and gas industry. The two met as children, but only got together in 1999 when the then Aja Clinkscale needed help with refueling and Van Brown, who was working at the gas station at the time, asked her out on a date.

Their daughter J'ael Lena Brown was born on September 23, 2018.

Awards & honors

Web links

Commons : Aja Brown  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g Can Aja Brown, Compton's Hip, Refreshing Reform Mayor, Turn This Woeful City Around? (English), accessed March 5, 2019
  2. a b Aja Brown Wants to Turn Compton Into the "New Brooklyn" , accessed March 5, 2019
  3. Jonathan Clinkscale on the official Occidental Tigers website , accessed March 5, 2019
  4. ^ A b Aja Brown, Compton's new mayor: 'I see it as a new Brooklyn' , accessed on March 5, 2019
  5. a b c Mayor Aja Brown delivers 'State of the City' address, Friday ( Memento of July 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on March 5, 2019
  6. ^ Aja Brown Wants to Turn Compton Into the "New Brooklyn" , accessed March 5, 2019
  7. The 12-point plan on the official website of Aja Brown (English), accessed on March 5, 2019
  8. ^ Official website of "New Vision for Compton" (English), accessed on March 5, 2019
  9. a b MAYOR OF COMPTON, CA AND CEO OF COUNTRY'S LEADING COLLEGE PRISON INITIATIVE RECEIVED 2016 JOHN F. KENNEDY NEW FRONTIER AWARDS , accessed March 5, 2019
  10. a b c Straight into Compton: house prices soar as murderous gangs reach truce , accessed on March 5, 2019
  11. USC Alumni Association to honor Price graduates Ronnie Lott, Aja Brown , accessed March 5, 2019
  12. ^ National Action Network to Honor Compton Mayor Brown , accessed March 5, 2019
  13. a b c d Compton mayor's charity tie-in to State of the City talk raises eyebrows , accessed March 5, 2019
  14. Aja Brown on the official Leadercast website , accessed March 5, 2019
  15. AJA BROWN 2016 (English), accessed on March 5, 2019
  16. Aja Brown, Compton's Youngest Mayor, Sworn In For Second Term , accessed March 5, 2019
  17. a b Compton Mayor Aja Brown Announces Run For Congress , accessed March 5, 2019
  18. Compton Mayor Aja Brown Withdraws from Congressional Run , accessed March 5, 2019
  19. Compton Mayor Aja Brown drops congressional bid , accessed March 5, 2019
  20. a b Compton Mayor Aja Brown Shows 1st Pic Of Her Beautiful Baby Girl , accessed March 5, 2019
  21. a b c You Can Call Her Mayor Brown: How Aja Brown Is Transforming the City of Compton , accessed March 5, 2019