Kane Brown was given the 2022 Champion of Youth Award at the 75th National Youth of the Year celebration Friday night (10/14) at the Beverly Hills Hilton from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The Champion of Youth Award is bestowed to individuals for exhibiting above-and-beyond service to Boys & Girls Clubs. Previous recipients include NBA star Lebron James, entertainer Jennifer Lopez, Olympic champion Michael Phelps, and the late former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Typically held in Washington D.C., this year marked the event’s first time in Los Angeles, gathering honorable Boys & Girls Clubs alumni, staff, partners, and celebrity supporters at the celebration of teens awarded on the local, state, and regional levels throughout the year.
Other attendees and advocates included actor Courtney B. Vance, Entertainment Tonight co-host Nischelle Turner, singer-songwriter Miguel, WWE superstars Titus O’Neil and The Miz, and Oscar award-winning costume designer and Boys & Girls Clubs alumna, Ruth Carter.
Additionally, Asha H-R. was named the 2022-2023 National Youth of the Year. She was selected among six finalists to receive the prestigious honor, representing over 4 million youth in Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation.
In 2019, Kane released a YouTube video explaining why he reserves his meet and greets for kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs. He shared in the video below, “I grew up rough as a child, so what we do instead of doing VIP Meet and greets now is we open them up to the Boys and Girls Club, and they are able to hang out with us and ask me questions. I share a special bond with these kids, and I don’t even get to meet them till the day of the show, and it’s amazing just to get to hang out with them.”
Brown even gets them into the show; he says, “We’re even gonna get them up on stage for the show.”