Earlier this week, 2014 OSI Community Fellow Van Brooks, who founded SAFE (Safe Alternative Foundation for Education) to help young people from the Franklin Square neighborhood where he grew up by promoting education and life skills, visited the White House to celebrate the 31st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
He was also reappointed by Governor Hogan as the Chair of the Maryland Commission on Disabilities, a role he’s held three times. Brooks founded SAFE in 2012, after a football injury at 16 that left him paralyzed from the neck down.
“It’s a true honor to be an advocate and model for the many Marylanders living with or caring for those with disabilities,” he said in a post on LinkenIn. “My goal is to show that people with disabilities are assets and deserve equal opportunities… If me, a kid from West Baltimore, can do it so can you and your loved ones.”
