Last night I got to fulfill a bucket list item. I got to meet one of my personal heroes of our time (after Donald Trump) Pastor Corey Brooks. For years I have followed “Chicago’s Rooftop Pastor” after I saw him on Fox News. They reported on him camping out on a 4-flat rooftop to raise money for his church community to help raise themselves out of poverty, gang life, and crime. I even donated to his Project H.O.O.D. charity, a truly remarkable story in and of itself.
My connection to Chicago is my father was a Chicago boy and I used to stay with my grandparents down there as a young boy where they would take me all over Chicago to all of its museums. I know my way around “The Loop”, “Wrigleyville”, and yes, I have attended a White Sox game, too! I once had a job as a teen mowing the lawn of Chicago Bears coach Papa Bear Halas Jr. Before my heart attack, my favorite food was a Chicago-style deep dish pizza pie.
So the event I attended last night was our annual fundraising dinner for our County Republican Committee where Pastor Brooks was our guest speaker. I try to remember to go to these county Republican dinners and donate but this year I was extra motivated, I had to meet Pastor Brooks!
Pastor Brooks has a keen awareness of the problems facing America and comes to the table with some pretty awesome solutions to them. For example, he speaks out against government handouts, white shaming/guilting, race baiters, enablers, etc. He speaks in favor of black and white people coming together as one in the name of Jesus Christ, inclusion and fellowship. As he says himself, he does not believe in victims but rather victors!
A question of one dinner guest discussed the topic of racism the Democrat left seems to be fueling these days. Pastor Brooks gave a pretty remarkable answer about the people in his church in the Woodlawn Community of Chicago. He said black people vote blue because they think red people hate them for their race. He said the solution is to get the red people of Chicago’s outlying area to come into Chicago to mingle with the blue Chicago blacks and the black people of his church and community to come out to rural Illinois to meet the whites there. He assured us all white people would be welcomed into his church with open arms. Brilliant!
Pastor Brooks theory is if we all met face-to-face, the race baiters of our mainstream media and politicians of Washington, D.C. would instantly lose their credibility and the black vote. He mentioned how 1.3 million voters have already left the Democratic Party while 1.4 voters have been gained by the Republican Party. Again, brilliant!
Another reason Pastor Brooks was out in our rural Illinois County was to announce his new initiative to raise 25 million dollars to support his Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny). Brooks is an outstanding public relations personality and this initiative is even more insane than camping out on a rooftop 90-some days through a Chicago winter!
Pastor Brooks plans to embark on a trip walking from Times Square New York all the way to the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles, California. His 3,000-mile trip will begin on September 1, 2025. It is intended to raise $25 million to finish construction of the Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center in Chicago as well as fund a Project H.O.O.D. endowment legacy mission of supporting underserved youth and families. Brooks estimates he will walk some 6 million steps and his trip will take almost a year. During his walk he will make stops for worship sessions and speaking engagements at colleges along the way. More brilliance!
During his speech at our dinner Pastor Brooks mentioned some interesting tidbits as follows:
- Project H.O.O.D.’s new 90,000 square community center building is in the Woodlawn district of Chicago at South Martin Luther King Drive and 61St Street.
- About $2.5 million has been invested in the 3 story steel and concrete construction with another $2.5 needed to complete it by June of 2026 with no debt.
- Project H.O.O.D. wants to use the millions they hope to raise from Brooks’ walk across America to build up a legacy endowment to assure the project lives on in the future.
- No government tax dollar money is being asked for or used by Project H.O.O.D.
- Five red states of America provide the majority of the funding in donations to Project H.O.O.D. – Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
- Ironically, two of those five actually give more money than the people of blue state Illinois itself!
- As a contrast, Project H.O.O.D. notes that the 235,000 square foot Obama library building, also on Chicago’s south side, was said to initially cost $482 million but with delays, mistakes, and cost overruns it is now predicted to cost taxpayers closer to $800 million, when completed.
- Locals of Chicago’s south side are calling the Obama Library names such as “the prison” and “the Tower of Babble” as the design is hated so universally.
- Chicagoans are openly discussing how the Obama Library will provide little to no “value-added” to the community compared to the Project H.O.O.D. community center.
- Black Chicago conservatives (a growing number) are against both Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spending taxpayer dollars on harboring illegal aliens in their state and city, many of which wound up in the Woodlawn community.
CONCLUSION:
Charity review websites give Pastor Brooks’ Project H.O.O.D., Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and We Rise Together, very high marks for legitimacy and donor value. Depending on source, they receive anywhere from 3 of 4 to 4 of 5 stars of 501 (c)(3) charities.
Pastor Corey Brooks is a Ball State graduate who is a, businessman, philanthropist, mentor and visionary. He founded New Beginnings Church of Chicago as an urban, nondenominational inner city church on Chicago’s south side with 250 members in November of 2000. That church has since grown to be members numbering in the thousands!
Pastor Brooks’ became internationally known with his “Rooftop Revelations” series on FOX News. Through this platform, Brooks shared daily insights during his 2021 rooftop vigil, captivating an audience worldwide. This series contributed to raising over $28.5 million and securing more than 20,000 new donors for Project H.O.O.D., a future hub for education, economic empowerment, and community safety. I am proud to say I was one of those 20,000 new donors.
At the start of this article I mentioned wanting to meet President Donald Trump as a hero of our time. There was a reason for that comment, Pastor Corey Brooks already has!
“Pastor Corey Brooks Delivers Benediction at the 2024 Republican National Convention” – Project H.O.O.D.
As I always preach; there are takers and makers in this world with the liberals being takers and the conservatives being the makers. Pastor Brooks is a maker, he is making brighter futures for many people of color on the south side of Chicago and that is a very good thing!
His mission now seems to be to spread his work with God and Jesus Christ to other men and women in other parts of the nation so they might replicate his successes with their own versions of his Project H.O.O.D. in Chicago.
BRILLIANT!
© 2025 by Mark S. Schwendau
