Meet Allyson Reaves

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allyson Reaves.

Allyson, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Last summer, some fellow Clemson black alumni ventured to make the most of football season by co-hosting game watch parties with the black alumni associations of the other schools. We connected with the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization and the Florida State University Black Alumni to see how we could get-together, and it’s been a strong collective of black alumni from 10+ schools ever since!

In our interaction, we found a lot of commonalities in our work, community service, professions, and life, in general.

We knew that our collective voice, across universities, would bear an impact on the issues that mean the most to us.

Bringing together alumni from many schools, we decided to host a convening in March 2019. Georgia Tech kindly stepped up as the host of our inaugural conference, which brought 75+ people together. We are planning our 2nd conference, which will be hosted by FSU Black Alumni in February 2020.

MISSION: The Black Alumni Summit unifies and empowers black alumni individuals and groups through civic engagement, economics, and advocacy.

The Summit was created in Atlanta in fall 2019 after black leaders across 10+ schools agreed that a collective voice is essential in moving our universities, local communities, and the United States forward.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Building a collaboration among newcomers always carries a learning curve!

I’ve worked on consortium building projects in the Virgin Islands (St. Croix Foundation for Community Development: The Nonprofit Consortium), Jewish Hartford (the Aim Chai campaign for 26 Jewish organizations + synagogues), and a host of other projects.

Creating ample space at the table is the first step.

Inviting everyone’s input, voice, and criticism (at times!) makes for a successful exchange across many personalities and interests.

I’ve worked in philanthropy for about 14 years now, and we know that a rising tide raises all boats. It’s important, in this work, to collaborate as much as possible to leverage all of our resources for a collective and common good.

What else should our readers know?
The Black Alumni Summit is a unique collaboration among black alumni constituencies from various colleges and universities.

The Summit engages black alumni from various schools in conferences, workshops, social events, watch parties, and other endeavors that build #Scholarship, #Fellowship, #Leadership, and #Stewardship.

This work is sustained by the power of collaboration, partnership, and mobilizing black communities around the issues that mean the most to us.

What were you like growing up?
I always talked too much in class! School was REALLY fun to me; I was always curious, full of imagination, and pretty analytical – I’d say I still have those traits, which serves me well in my work. I loved playing the flute, making scrap books from magazine cut-outs, and challenging friends at dodge-ball during recess. It’d be great to fill my schedule with that as an adult!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackalumnisummit.com
• Email: blackalumnisummit@gmail.com
• Instagram: blackalumnisummitatl

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