Donna Brown

Background

Donna Brown is a passionate community strategist, youth advocate, and founder of Making Changes, a grassroots organization that uses organizing as a tool to combat social injustice and drive systemic change. With deep roots in activism and healing-centered engagement, Donna has spent over a decade working at the intersection of youth empowerment, substance use prevention, and community transformation. Her work is grounded in the principles of undoing racism, equity, and collective liberation.

Donna played a pivotal role as a founding member of the Campaign for Justice, Safety, and Jobs, launched in response to the death of Freddie Gray in 2015. She continues to advocate for systemic reform and accountability, particularly in policing and youth justice. As an organizational partner with the Citizens Policing Project (CPP), she trains youth organizers to challenge systems that disproportionately harm young people, while also uplifting the voices and rights of incarcerated youth, women, and returning citizens. Her advocacy extends into prison reform and the protection of survivors—drawing from her lived experience as a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence to support others on their path to healing.

Donna is also a respected leader in youth substance use prevention, developing equity-driven initiatives that foster resilience, self-awareness, and belonging. Through her coalition work, she builds protective environments where youth can thrive free from the harms of tobacco, marijuana, and other substances. She is especially adept at weaving personal and community narrative into strategy—drawing on principles of complexity science to help communities understand and shift the systems that perpetuate inequity. Whether leading community-based initiatives or mentoring the next generation of change agents, Donna continues to bridge story, strategy, and solidarity to co-create healing and transformation from the ground up.

At the School of System Change

Donna is a contributor on the Story, Narrative and Systems Learning & Practice Series in 2025.