Constituent Spotlight: Emory Brooks

Emory X. Brooks, LCSW, is the President/CEO and Founder of Community Counseling & Mediation, best known as CCM. He created CCM in 1982 in response to the overwhelming problems facing poor, minority and disadvantaged children and families in New York City. CCM was one of the first minority led agencies in the City, operating under the premise that cultural sensitivity coupled with strong programs can make a significant difference.

Under Mr. Brooks’ leadership, CCM has grown into a multi-functional organization built around a strong mental health core. It currently provides a holistic range of services – mental health, social support, health, youth development, youth employment, education, child abuse prevention, family counseling and supportive housing in some of Brooklyn’s most troubled neighborhoods.

Mr. Brooks, a licensed clinical social worker, is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Social Work and received a certificate from the Harvard Business School’s executive management and leadership course in non-profit management. He is also a graduate of Columbia University’s Non-profit Management Program and has attended post graduate studies at Teachers College (Doctoral Program) and the William Allison White Institute.

Prior to establishing CCM, Mr. Brooks was the Deputy Executive Director at the Queensborough Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (now Safe Space) and served as a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and unit director of the Hawthorne Cedar Knolls School (operated by the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services for 15 years, recognized as one of the best residential treatment programs for severely emotionally disturbed youth in the US.

Among his many achievements at CCM, Mr. Brooks established two supportive housing facilities: Rico’s Place, one of the nation’s first supportive housing facilities for families in which a member has AIDS, and Georgia’s Place, a supportive housing facility for the homeless mentally ill.