Brother Edward Tate: Putting Heart Behind the CREWS Movement.

Brother Edward Tate on healing, unity, ownership, and the work required to rebuild our communities. A BLXCR Exclusive

There are interviews where you learn about an organization, and then there are interviews where you begin to understand the heart of the person behind the work. Our conversation with Brother Edward Tate was one of those moments.

For years, Brother Edward has poured his time, energy, and spirit into community service, including his work through Message in the Music.

Now, that commitment continues through CREWS — Communities Respecting Everyone’s Will to Survive, an organization built around a simple but powerful belief: our communities already contain people, organizations, businesses, faith institutions, elders, parents, and young people with something valuable to contribute.

The challenge is bringing those resources together and creating a structure where everyone can work toward a common purpose.

An Organization of Organizations

Brother Edward described CREWS as more than another nonprofit competing for space. The vision is to create an “organization of organizations”—a coalition where groups with different specialties can work together while maintaining their own identities and responsibilities.

Instead of expecting one organization to solve violence, poverty, family instability, economic hardship, trauma, youth development, housing concerns, and every other challenge facing a neighborhood, CREWS seeks to connect people and organizations that already have experience in those areas.

That collaborative philosophy was influenced by grassroots community work Brother Edward has witnessed over the years, including efforts associated with the Nation of Islam and the Alliance of Concerned Men.

The lesson behind that model is straightforward: no single organization can rebuild a community by itself.

 Through partnerships and memorandums of understanding, CREWS wants organizations, businesses, clergy, residents, government stakeholders, and community leaders to bring their strengths to the same table—not to surrender their independence or compete over recognition, but to work toward sustainable community transformation.

Going After the Root, Not Just the Symptoms

One of the strongest parts of our discussion was CREWS’ emphasis on addressing the root causes behind the problems we continue to see. It is easy to respond after violence occurs or after a family reaches a crisis point, but meaningful community work also requires us to think about what happened before that crisis.

That means examining the trauma that may have gone untreated, the condition of the family, the opportunities available to young people, the economic investment reaching the neighborhood, and whether fathers and mothers have the support they need. It also means looking at mentorship, education, employment, faith institutions, businesses, and most importantly, whether anyone is truly listening to the people who actually live in these communities.

CREWS’ approach includes ministries and initiatives focused on areas such as fatherhood, motherhood, youth development, agriculture, economic development, community healing, and other specialized needs.

The goal is not simply to enter a neighborhood, hold an event, take photographs, and disappear. The goal is to build something capable of continuing after the event is over.

From Potomac Gardens and Highland to The Vistas

Brother Edward also spoke openly about lessons CREWS has learned while working in communities including partnering with Brother Frank Muhammad of First Fruit at Potomac Gardens and Highland in Washington DC.

There were successes, but there were also communication challenges that prevented the model from being implemented as completely as envisioned.

That honesty matters because community organizing is difficult work. Different personalities, organizations, expectations, resources, and responsibilities have to come together, and sometimes a breakdown in communication can derail even a good idea. Instead of allowing those experiences to end the mission, CREWS has taken those lessons and continued building.

That work has now extended to The Vistas, formerly known as Wingate, where CREWS has been communicating with property management and resident leadership, including Ms. Bernadine Smith. An important next step will be a Tenant Appreciation Event designed not simply as a gathering but as an opportunity to begin deeper engagement with residents.

Plans include recognizing outstanding residents across adult, senior, and youth categories, along with members of the management staff. It is a reminder that rebuilding a community does not always begin by focusing on everything that is wrong.

Sometimes it begins by recognizing the people who are already doing something right and giving them encouragement to keep going.

Economic Power Must Be Part of the Conversation

Brother Edward made another important point during our conversation: community development cannot stop with programs. There must also be an economic strategy that gives residents an opportunity to participate in the future of their own neighborhoods.

CREWS’ Community Economic Development Program seeks to change how residents think about ownership, investment, and what is possible within their communities. One concept discussed is the possibility of developing a community store inspired by cooperative models such as the work associated with Kimmy Gray in Kenilworth.

From there, the larger vision can include financial education, real estate investment, homeownership, entrepreneurship, and other pathways that allow residents to participate economically in their neighborhoods.

This becomes especially important when communities face gentrification because development may be coming whether longtime residents are prepared for it or not. The deeper question becomes whether those residents will have ownership, opportunity, and a voice in what their community eventually becomes.

When communities are not positioned economically, they can watch millions—or even billions—of dollars move around them while receiving very little of the long-term benefit.

CREWS wants residents to become participants in development rather than spectators watching their neighborhoods change around them.

Healing Has to Be Part of Rebuilding

Money alone will not repair everything, and Brother Edward repeatedly returned to the human side of community development. Many people are carrying trauma, including young people, parents, fathers, mothers, and elders who may be trying to lead families while dealing with wounds they never had an opportunity to address.

That is why CREWS needs more than financial supporters. It also needs people with skills—individuals who understand trauma and healing, fatherhood and motherhood programs, mentoring, education, business development, agriculture, housing, real estate, finance, youth development, and economic empowerment.

There is room in rebuilding the village for more than one kind of talent. Sometimes a person’s greatest contribution is not writing a check but bringing the knowledge, experience, connections, or ability God has blessed them with and putting it in service of somebody else.

Faith Institutions Have an Important Role

Brother Edward expressed gratitude for the support CREWS has received from the mosque, including providing a safe environment where the organization could develop its foundation.

CREWS is also continuing to build relationships with churches, clergy, and other faith-based organizations because long-term community transformation requires partnerships that reach beyond any single institution.

That cooperation can be powerful. Our communities cannot afford to allow different buildings, denominations, organizations, or titles to prevent us from working together when families outside those doors are struggling. We may worship differently, organize differently, or specialize in different areas, but when a child needs guidance, a family needs support, violence threatens a neighborhood, or people need healing, service has to become bigger than labels.

Building the Structure to Last

Brother Edward also spoke about the development of CREWS’ official board of directors and the people who have helped move the organization forward.

He acknowledged individuals including Tyrone Parker, Brother Aaron Muhammad, Brother Kadir Muhammad, and Sister Brenda, along with others who have contributed their time, ideas, support, and commitment.

That structure matters because movements cannot depend entirely on one personality. If something is going to last, there must be organization behind the inspiration, accountability behind the mission, strong communication among those involved, and people willing to carry different pieces of the responsibility.

Brother Edward and I also spoke candidly about one of the hardest realities of community organizing: sometimes people make commitments they do not keep.

Partnerships can fail, communication can break down, and trust can be tested.

Those disappointments, however, cannot become an excuse to stop serving. The work requires identifying sincere people, remaining transparent, learning from setbacks, and continuing to build with those who demonstrate that they are committed to the mission.

This Is Why We Wanted to Tell This Story

At BLXCR, we believe positive community work deserves the same attention that we give community problems. We hear enough about what is wrong, but our people also deserve to know who is trying to make something right.

That is what made this interview with Brother Edward Tate special. This wasn’t simply an organizational presentation; you could feel his heart in the work. 

Here is a Brother willing to give his time because he believes young people deserve better opportunities, families deserve stronger support, neighborhoods deserve economic power, and organizations that genuinely care about our people should find ways to work together rather than constantly operating in isolation.

We don’t have to pretend this work is easy, because it isn’t. What we should do is appreciate the people who continue showing up anyway.

Community transformation will not come from waiting for one politician, one nonprofit, one church, one mosque, one business, or one heroic individual to save everybody. It begins when the village starts functioning like a village again, with people bringing what they have to the table and understanding that everybody has a role.

That is the promise behind CREWS — Communities Respecting Everyone’s Will to Survive. Survival matters, but ultimately the vision has to become something greater: we want our communities to thrive.

When people like Brother Edward Tate are willing to put their hands, hearts, skills, faith, and time into that mission, BLXCR believes their work deserves to be seen, supported, and celebrated.

How to Support CREWS

CREWS is seeking individuals, organizations, businesses, faith institutions, professionals, and community stakeholders willing to contribute financially, offer expertise, collaborate, or become involved in the work.

CREWS Coalition

Website: www.CREWScoalition.org

Phone: 202-304-2378

Whether someone brings resources, professional skills, community connections, mentorship, knowledge, or simply a willingness to serve, the message coming from Brother Edward and the CREWS mission is clear: there is work to do, and there is room in the village for those willing to help do it.

BLXCR — One Village, One Fight.

Community stories. Community voices. Community solutions.