The Beat is a neighborhood outreach and advocacy organization founded by longtime Nashville resident and nationally recognized songwriter Darrin Bradbury.

Bradbury first moved to Nashville from his native New Jersey 10 years ago. Like many aspiring writers, he lived out of his 2006 Ford Focus in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Dickerson Road. He started playing clubs, developed a cult following and eventually landed a highly coveted record deal with indie giant ANTI-Records.

Known for his off the cuff rants and somewhat absurdist perspective on the human condition, naturally Darrin would take the step down from writing about the disenfranchised to directly working with those he wrote about for more then two decades.

The Beat is Darrin's 501(c)3 that holds the belief that complex issues require a hyper-localized approach.

In essence, local issues like homelessness require local solutions.

Darrin has called Madison home for the last 8 years. He has watched his neighborhood be directly effected by the gentrification of Nashville.

“Not on my watch” -Darrin Bradbury (Darrin has always wanted to be quoted as saying that).

On the daily: Darrin can be found in the 37115 handing out Narcan, camping supplies, cold drinks, food and the occasional cigarette.

With the trust of his neighbors both housed and unhoused Darrin has lifted the personal testimonies of many individuals in his neighborhood that would otherwise go unheard through media outlets such as The Nashville Scene and “This is Nashville” on WPLN.

On the weekly: Darrin meets with other community leaders, politicians and other non-profits to discuss how to best navigate these complex issues.

On any given day, Darrin is mitigating situations involving law enforcement, on the phone with rehabs, looking for housing opportunities, appearing at court dates on someone’s behalf or tapping his vast network of music friends to plan The Beat's next fundraiser.

Darrin is a cartoonist for the contributor.