New Conference of Churches chief was guided by faith
Rev. F. Lydell Brown breaking barriers as the 1st Black man to hold the position in 123-year history
A clergy member and community leader is making history as the first Black man to become the chief executive officer of the Conference of Churches and its social enterprise, The 224 EcoSpace.
The Conference of Churches, founded in 1900, is the parent organization of The 224 EcoSpace, which calls itself “a gathering place for creatives; the underserved; thought leaders; social and business entrepreneurs; and those in search of health and wellness.”
Before this promotion to CEO, the Rev. F. Lydell Brown was the The 224 EcoSpace’s chief operations officer for more than 20 years and has played a critical role in helping to expand the organization’s mission of building social and economic gains and strengthening its growing community on a day-to-day basis.
Conference of Churches Board
Chair Mary Crean said she considers Brown a natural leader and an integral member of the organization. Brown is the first Black man to have held the CEO position in the conference’s 100-plus-year history.
“He’s the right person to help us expand on this promise to the surrounding community to help innovators, changemakers, visionaries and creative entrepreneurs build, launch and scale their business here,” she said.
Brown began working at the 224 in 2002. The former CEO, the Rev. Dr. Shelley
A 20-year journey:
D. Best, called him to train her community organizers, which Brown agreed to do.
When he arrived to do the work, however, Brown informed her the organizers did not have the proper training needed to do what she wanted them to do in the community. This led to Best asking Brown to join the organization on a parttime basis as a community organizer.
As he began to work and they developed a professional friendship, they realized they were committed to many things when it came to building up the 224.
Two months later Best hired
Brown to work with her full time at the 224.
From there, he moved up the leadership ladder from community organizer to strategic partnership, through which he would go out and build relationships on behalf of the Conference of Churches, including working with its fatherhood ministry, partnering with the state Department of Children and Families to get families of color prepared to adopt children out of foster care and working with the City Foods program that had churches working with bodegas to
get more healthful produce inside of stores for community residents and their neighborhoods.
He continued to progress to other leadership positions in the organization — even as it eventually moved to 224 Farmington Ave. , where it has stayed for years, becoming the director of operations due to his background in physical plant structure and running a physical plant.
Brown was promoted to chief operating officer, where he was able to really work closely with Best.
He said that when the organization acquired what is now the 224 EcoSpace building on Farmington Avenue with a grant from the state, it came up with a plan to revitalize it, as the building was vacant for 10 years and white was the primary color throughout the building.
“It was a consensus, that what we wanted to do was make sure that we have something that neighborhood folks could partake of, that they never would have gotten the chance to partake in if they were in another place, such as ballet, along with [being] able to come into the building and partake of the programs that we had,” Brown said. “Me and Dr. Best, we did that for six years.”
With the community connections Brown had, he also was able to help gain additional support for the 224, such as Community Partners In Action, which helped the organization to open its building to residents and helped with renovations and painting.
“I would say 90 percent of the building was done by community,” Brown said.
Before he was elected by board members to this position permanently, Brown had been acting as the CEO on an interim basis since April 2022, as . Best left the job to accept the position of the chief executive officer of the Greater Hartford Arts Council.
It was “because of the institutional knowledge that I had and [after being] here for almost 21 years, the board asked me if I would be interim CEO,” Brown said. “S, we did that for a while, and then I just made up in my mind. … I would like to put my hat in the ring as far as to be the permanent CEO.”
“Radical hospitality”: Brown said he is very excited to be in the position of the permanent CEO for the 224.
“Just knowing the shoulders that I’m standing on over the last 100-plus years [for] the Conference of Churches along with our social enterprise, the 224 space, and then on top of that knowing that I’m the first man of color to hold [this] position, it motivates me,” he said. “But it also lets me know how fortunate I am to be able to hold this title.”
He said that while he is not trying to really change the successful foundation he and Best have built, Brown does have plans to enhance it as he moves the organization into the future.
Some of these things include opening up its large space to the community for events, such as celebrations and off-site business meetings/retreats.
“That is definitely something that I want to get back off the ground, but the problem was during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Brown said. “By being a venue, people were not coming together. … We’re just making sure that things are in place, people feel safe [and] we have the right people working here.
“We have this thing we call ‘radical hospitality,’ where the customer is always right. And we go over and beyond to make sure that people are comfortable and they have a great experience … being here. When people come here to partake of anything in this building, we want to create good memories. When you create good memories, they go and tell other folks about their experience.”
Brown also has plans to create more awareness for the 224’s new Business Growth Center, which is its co-working space.
He said that the organization has partnered with the Women’s Entrepreneur Center, which is located in front of the building. They will be offering technical assistance to businesses seeking to build their capacity.
Brown said he also wants to have their physical arts instructors and community members feel safe as they make their way back into the building.
“We have four ballet companies here right now, we have hip-hop, we have a tap-dance company, we also have Playhouse on Park, [which] does most of their rehearsing here,” he said. “We have two churches here. We also give back to the community [by having]... an AA group here on Sunday morning for a meditative group that hosts about 70 people.
“On Saturday, we have a Narcotics Anonymous group that we give space to.”
Brown said his faith has guided him throughout both his personal and professional life as he considers each of the programs in the 224 organization a personal work of ministry.
“I’ve always lived with my faith,” he said. “We were building this business with no straw. The Bible says that ‘he built brick with no straw.’ We had to build this business without a straw because when we bought the building [there was no] capital campaign plan.
“We didn’t have money in reserves. There were some really lean times. There were times when me and Dr. Best [would forgo] our salaries to make sure that other staff would get paid and that the business could continue… So when it comes to faith, our faith definitely works.”
Best said that she is “profoundly happy” for Brown and feels that this is the best possible outcome.
“He deserves this,” she said. “There’s a lot of people that would sacrifice their life for a friend’s dream, and that’s what he did when he worked with me.
“He sacrificed his own life for my dream and vision because what we did at that the 224 EcoSpace was radical and never existed before. We were creating a new business model and a new approach to work. People said it couldn’t be done, that we couldn’t bring that building back to life.” Brown agrees.
“It’s just great to know we have that type of collegial, relaxed relationship where we are not trying to outshine one another but just happy that God has allowed both of us to be in positions that are definitely going to help to create a harmonious community,” he said.