Coach Derek Brown knows firsthand the hardships of growing up on Chicago’s West Side. Known in his younger days as “Shotgun,” he joined a gang at just 13 and spent many of his early years cycling between the streets and jail. By his twenties, he had been shot, and his best friend had been lost to gun violence.

Now, Coach Brown walks those same streets with a radically different mission: to build up the very community he once helped tear down. In 2009, he founded Boxing Out Negativity (formerly the North Lawndale Boxing League) as a grassroots effort to reach young people where they are—starting with meeting youth after school outside Penn Elementary for physical training and mentorship. As he puts it: “You want to fight? Well, bring your bad self over here.”

Boxing is the hook, but not the heart of the program. Youth who come for the sport stay for what Coach Brown calls “sneak discipline”—the self-control, hard work, and personal responsibility it takes to grow both inside and outside the ring. The goal isn’t just to fight — it’s to foster self-respect, confidence, and purpose within a culture of positivity.

Under Coach Brown’s leadership, Boxing Out Negativity has grown into a nationally recognized youth violence prevention organization combining boxing, mentorship, civic engagement, and community anti-violence events. Thousands of young people have been reached through this mission since inception. What began with a few kids and a borrowed set of gloves has blossomed into a movement — one that’s helping the next generation survive, thrive, and lead.