Center student takes community organizing skills to hometown

March 18, 2022

Erica Browne ‘22, a Neuroscience and Behavior major, first became involved at the Center for Social Concerns when she joined Organizing, Power, and Hope, one of numerous courses the center offers on current justice-related topics. In the course, students explore the field of community organizing by engaging leaders from neighborhood organizations and faith communities, participating in social action campaigns, and learning skills that will help effectively advocate for issues they care about. It was in this course that Browne first began to understand what can be accomplished when people work together for a common purpose. “Through that course, my eyes were opened to the power and strength that exists in a collective community and the ways in which organizing makes use of those powers,” Browne said. 

The following semester, Browne participated in the Act Justly seminar which examines the American Civil Rights movement in light of racial justice questions today. “There I was able to use my new knowledge of organizing to engage with and observe current efforts with lessons in mind from civil rights history.” Over the next few years, she continued her involvement with the center, participating in several other courses, the Summer Service Learning Program at a behavioral health clinic, and the Seminars Core Team, a group of student leaders who engage their peers on justice topics.

Though Browne is still a student at the University, her efforts for the common good have already extended beyond campus. She has already served as a field organizer for a congressional re-election campaign where she used skills she learned in center courses. More recently, she founded and continues to serve  as the Co-Executive Director of Boiling Point Organization, a community organization focused on racial and social justice in Oklahoma City. “My neuroscience studies have provided me with an important perspective and understanding of how the injustices in our society truly affect every one of us. It is my hope that as I graduate and start the next chapter of my life, I am able to combine my neuroscience studies and experiential organizational learning in order to open the doors to lasting change in my home community.”