Dr. Annette Sills Brown and Leroy Brown became the proud founders of TheEduCtr which was established in 1988. Annette became a business and technology teacher, she also repaired PCs and MACs to give to the underprivileged and for more than 16 years, this husband and wife team began establishing mini-computer summer camps at daycares, churches, and libraries throughout the Denver Metro area.

The Browns also established an online school in 2005 for kids that were dropouts, kicked out, pregnant, or pushed out of public schools. The school was known as The Education Center (TheEduCtr) Business and Virtual Academy. TheEduCtr helped many students return to their home school and graduate. Much of their work was done via one-on-one tutoring, motivating students and parents, and collaborating with other organizations to advocate for the educational rights of all people, especially African Americans and other people of Color. TheEduCtr also had a radio program “Focus on Education” on KLDC Crawford Broadcasting Station, to discuss the challenges parents of Color face while educating their children.

In 2010, the couple’s passion for the rights of educators led them to develop a way to honor African American educators in the State of Colorado. This had never been done before! With the miracle strength from God and the support of many educators & friends, the Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala was born and celebrated its 11th year in March 2020 with over 400 educators & their guests in attendance, just before the first wave of the pandemic. TheEduCtr also offers in-service classes for educators renewing their State teacher’s licenses.

Dr. Annette Sills Brown taught in Denver Public Schools & was an Adjunct Professor at Community College of Denver and Leroy Brown is a retired educator from Denver Public Schools. The Browns are happy to say that TheEduCtr has survived over 35 years of commitment of educational services to the Denver Metro area and has honored over 200 educators of Color throughout Colorado. They offer many educational classes for all age groups in a pandemic. TheEduCtr has been an enormous “labor of love” and commitment to the community of Colorado.