Job search program "28 Days to Employment" helps people find their skills and passion to find not just a job, but a career. After being homeless and losing all his money, C.J. Brown II created this program based from the employer's perspective after Brown conducted research through personal experience, job developers, social workers and employers.  

“Every night, I stood on a bridge, debating, ‘Do I jump or not?’” C.J. Brown III, of Tyler, said as he reflected on his time as a person without a home.

Depressed, hungry and going through hot and cold weather changes, this was the life Brown lived as he experienced homelessness in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

His home was a freezer box, an extra-thick cardboard box that he said provided warmth through the cold nights.

Brown was once the head of an international corporation, he said. With success in a company he started, Brown had built a good life for himself. Between making the mistake of trusting the wrong people with his finances and losing everything, the Navy veteran ended up on the streets.

While experiencing homelessness, he found the population of people like him was a community or a family, and they took care of each other.

“That’s why I became so focused on helping these people in addition to others, but the homeless are my team,” Brown said.

Brown made it his mission to do something to get himself off of the streets, and along the way, help others in the same position.

He would visit his local library to use resources, like computers and books, to study and research to put a program together. In the process, he interviewed homeless people, caseworkers and local nonprofits.

Six months later, he began writing “28 Days to Employment,” and completed it one year later.

The program is a 28-day workbook that allows participants to find their passion, their career interests, and how to apply and find careers. Brown said the study program benefits the unemployed and veterans.

Publishers noticed Brown and were excited to pick up his book, he said. Brown declined their offers, keeping his word that he wanted the program to be free.

Local nonprofits heard of Brown and his work, and offered a contract to him, leading to his first class of 42 students, all of which were hired into careers and retained their positions.

As a result, Brown entered a three-year contract with the local nonprofit until funding for the program was defunded.

Brown then launched People Power, LLC, a dedicated business that trains for career readiness through online courses, workshops and workbooks.

In addition to his 28-day program, Brown has successfully written and published supplement programs, specifically for veterans and high school and college students.

Through his journey, Brown has become a motivational speaker, where he talks about overcoming the trauma of unemployment and poverty.

Brown said he has successfully worked with a total of eight nonprofit organizations that have used his program to address homelessness.

“People don’t realize the homeless are not bums,” Brown said. “There are teachers, there are doctors, there are lawyers, there are business people on the streets. Not by choice, but the system doesn’t look at it that way. You don’t want to do anything? It’s not that you don’t want to do anything, it’s that you can’t afford to do anything. You need help, and that’s where we can come together and partner with the city and the county and nonprofit organizations and churches, and get this moving. Poverty is a nasty thing.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, classes were paused to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to stop the virus spread.

Brown hopes to roll his program back out ahead of a camping ban, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed on June 15 and will be effective on Sept. 1. He hopes to address homelessness in the city of Tyler with churches, nonprofits and schools.

The program could help up to 24 people at a time and provide a 95% hiring rate and a 98% job retention rate.

“We have to come together as a team. Not one group can do it all. We have together as a team,” Brown said.

Brown can be reached at ceo@peoplepowerllc.com or at 903-920-2521.