Sharif Brown was born and raised in Queens, NY. He is the youngest of nineteen children. Sharif started as a Direct Care Support Specialist and advanced to Fiscal Manager, Program Manager, and Quality Assurance for Respite Program and Director of Group Homes. In 2016, he relocated to NC and began work with ADA (Alliance of Disability Advocates) in the Raleigh area. Sharif became the only Certified Travel Training Instructor in the state. In 2017, he began Reentry work at Butner Federal Corrections Institution through ADA.
Sharif implemented the Individualized Reentry Plan (IRP) philosophy at Butner and assisted 200 inmates, of which only 2 reoffended. Following his success, ADA was presented with a grant from NCCDD (North Carolina Committee for Developmental Disabilities) to implement the same IRP process in state prisons. The NC State prison’s overall re-offense rate for is 45%. Sharif and ADA have not had a single re-offense among program participants so far. Now the best part: Sharif is a father of 5 sons, including a son with Autism. Always a Proud DAD!
