Maya Brown

New York

Associate Reporter at NBC News

storytellers reporter @nbcuacademy I M.A. @nyu_journalism B.A. @stonybrooku l secretary @NAHJ_NYC l words in @cnn l afro-latina l [email protected]

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Articles

Free Vocational Training Program Helps Youth Get Aerospace Jobs

1 month ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

As a teenager, Aaron Valencia didn’t think much about his future. He struggled with drug addiction, homelessness and family members in and out of prison. He wouldn’t have guessed that one day he would be running a free vocational training center for youth just like him. In 2014, Valencia created the Lost Angels Career Center, formerly known as the Lost Angel’s Children Project, to provide at-risk youth with stability and set them on a clear career trajectory.
Children Overcome Grief and Family Loss at Free Support Center

1 month ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

Lucia Isabel De Jesus lost her father when she was just 7 years old. As the days and months passed, she wondered if she would ever stop feeling overwhelmed with grief. Relief came in the form of the Imagine Center, near her town of Mountainside, New Jersey. There, counselors and other grieving kids made her feel less alone.
Hip-hop therapy is helping high schoolers cope with loss, generational trauma and teen stress

1 month ago | msn.com | Maya Brown

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Hip-hop therapy is helping high schoolers cope with loss, generational trauma and teen stress

1 month ago | nbcnews.com | Maya Brown

In the past three years, Tre’Von Johnson-Stearnes’ three aunts died and he didn’t know how to cope with the loss. He would find himself trying to shop, sleep or eat the grief away but nothing worked. He tried traditional therapy but couldn’t open up to his therapist, so he stopped. But then the Cleveland student took a new approach that felt a little more accessible: hip-hop therapy. After a few weeks, the 17-year-old student said he’s been able to begin the healing process.
Hip Hop Therapy is Helping Bridge the Black Mental Health Gap

1 month ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

Hip-hop has always been an outlet for pain and triumph. So it makes sense it’s also a form of therapy. The Cope Dealer program in Cleveland, Ohio, is a 14-week mental health awareness workshop using hip-hop therapy to help students deal with daily stressors and trauma. Teens learn coping skills like journaling and breath management and apply them to a song they write together.
The RVs Providing Shelter to Survivors of the LA Wildfires

2 months ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

Ever since their Altadena home burned down in LA wildfires in January, Myesha Kelley and her two sons had been living in hotels, in their car and with friends. That is until a Colorado man and his daughter drove to California to deliver a free RV to Kelley and her family. Sign up for our newsletter! “I love to know that there are people out there that want to genuinely help you,” Kelley said.
The Black Barbershops Helping Boys Fall in Love With Reading

2 months ago | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 82% of Black fourth-grade boys in the U.S. are not proficient in reading. Alvin Irby’s mission is to lower those numbers by filling Black barbershops with free books. The former first-grade teacher was inspired when he saw one of his students looking bored, then antsy, while getting a haircut.
With Bad Bunny's 'Debí Tirar Más Fotos' album, nostalgia goes viral on TikTok

Jan 22, 2025 | nbcnews.com | Maya Brown |Zoya Wazir

When Nicole Ortiz saw Bad Bunny's "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" album cover for the first time, the Florida resident thought back to her visits to Puerto Rico and the huge parties where her relatives would play dominoes at the table and that feeling of love and togetherness. “I see my grandmother in that chair playing dominoes with my uncle and dad,” Ortiz, 48, told NBC News.
First-Generation Latinas Break Free From Family Expectations

Jan 21, 2025 | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

Scroll through the #FirstGenLatina hashtag on TikTok and you’ll find a community of young Latinas pushing back against gendered cultural expectations. Areisy Lopez, a Mexican American from California, said she was almost disowned by her parents for moving out for college. Leslie Olvera, who lost her mother at a young age, said she always felt like she had to put her family and everyone else’s needs above her own.
This Van Is Curbing Recidivism Rates for Women

Jan 10, 2025 | nbcuacademy.com | Maya Brown

When Reverend Dr. Michelle Simmons was released from prison in 1999, she found herself without a home, a job and no one to help her get her kids back. She felt stuck and had a hard time locating resources. Just two years later, she founded Why Not Prosper, a nonprofit dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated women become contributing members of their community.