Meet Christi Brown | Executive Director of Judah Brown Project and Judah’s Momma

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

Hi Christi, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Judah Brown Project started because of the drowning death of my 3-year-old son, Judah in 2016. When I was in the hospital with him, while he was on life support, one of the many impossible things running through my mind was that I didn’t know. I didn’t know that drowning is the number one cause of death for children under 5 years old. I didn’t know all of the ways I should have been keeping him safe in the water. I didn’t know that the things I thought were keeping him safe were actually teaching him things that made it more likely that he would try to go to water without me and drown. I felt that if I didn’t know (and I am a mom that consults pediatricians, parenting books and teachers on everything), then it was very likely that many other moms wouldn’t know this information either. I didn’t want this to happen to any other family. That is why Judah Brown Project was born.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work at Judah Brown Project (a 501c3 charity organization) centers around keeping children safer from drowning. We do this in many ways:

Education: We have developed a water safety curriculum that has been used in 10 school districts (and growing) in the Houston, TX area, as well as school districts in 15 states with our online curriculum We have also taught and continue to teach countless parent and caregiver classes on water safety and drowning prevention, as well as just as many professional trainings for organizations such as Parks and Rec, Health Departments, Teachers, School Counselors, Pediatricians, pool service providers, pool builders, and so many more. All of our curriculum is available free and online. We are also currently translating all of it into Spanish to better serve our community.

Pamphlets: We created a water safety pamphlet that has all of the layers of protection that keep children safer around water and we have asked schools and pediatricians to give these pamphlets to the families they serve. We also have our pamphlets with pool builders, pool service companies, realtors and various other pediatric settings. To date, we have over 437 offices nationwide that carry and pass out our pamphlets.

Scholarships: We believe all children should have access to life saving swim lessons. Being involved in quality swim lessons is associated with an 88% decrease in childhood drownings. We believe cost should not be a barrier to a child becoming skilled in the water. Every year we work to provide as many scholarships as we can to families who can not afford these lessons. We have currently given out over $49,657 in scholarships to families and have skilled over 176 children in the water through this program. We give scholarships for survival swim lessons to children under 6-years-old and traditional swim scholarships to children 6 and over.

CPR classes: Judah Brown Project hosts CPR classes at low cost to no cost for anyone 8-years-old and over, so that they can be prepared in case a drowning does occur. We have given 11 classes and have taught 119 people how to save someone’s life.

Honoring Families: We know that the hardest thing anyone will ever have to go through is losing a child. We also know that families who do lose a child are very fearful that people will forget their child. Because of this, we honor every family we are told about, who has lost a child to drowning in various ways. We also provide bereavement resources for these families.It is a simple way that we say, “Your child is not forgotten”. We currently honor nearly 200 families this way.

Advocacy: We work to help advocate in our community for better water safety programs. We successfully helped pass HB67 (Judah Brown Drowning Prevention Act) that stops Homeowner Associations from telling homeowners that they can’t put pool safety fences around their pools.

We live by our motto, “Be a voice: Don’t Let Them Drown!”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was visiting Houston, I would take her to an Astros game, NASA, The Museum of Fine Arts, The Galleria, a walk down the Buffalo Bayou, The Houston Premium outlets, and the Holocaust Museum.

For food, I would take her to the original Ninfas, Pho Dien, Bellagreen, the Aquarium Restaurant, Frank’s Pizza, Ta’ Bueno Mexican Kitchen, Monk’s Indian Bistro.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout Annette Courtney, Judah’s preschool teacher and my amazing Angel, who founded Judah Brown Project at a time when I was learning how to breathe again, after my son’s death. She worked tirelessly to get Judah Brown Project officially started and running. Today, she and I work side by side to help children be safer from drowning.

Website: Judahbrownproject.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judahbrownproject/

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

Other: Tik Tok Username: @judah.brown.project