Foreign Yeah Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of the male perspective I am your host Alana Reed and today today on this day I have the fortune pleasure of sitting down with another gentleman of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated I have I have the president of Sigma Delta Lambda chapter out in Southfield
Michigan I have a brother Blair Ellison and we will sit down talk with him in a second about all the wonderful work that his chapter is doing out there but first and foremost I take a quick moment to pause say thank you to you sir for
Making time for me today time is a gift once we give it we cannot get it back so I truly appreciate you setting aside this time to sit down and talk with me and with that sir welcome welcome to the show thank you thank you so much for
Having me I appreciate your time as well oh thank you thank you well we’re going to spend some time talking about how amazing these Alphas are you just doing it just doing it uh but first and foremost I’m gonna talk a little bit about you sir okay talk a
Little bit about you because I was I was roaming around the internet getting ready for today’s show and I stumbled across the article and it happened to mention that you are the youngest brother in your chapter I am I am the youngest uh sitting brother
In my chapter as of well we brought in more people but for the longest I was the youngest yes and the president of the chapter youngest president yes okay so I immediately when I I read that it came to mind this picture of uh you know sometimes how we’re driving our parents
Around in the car and they are saying um hey you missed that turn and you’re gonna slow down a little bit then you see that sign back there and at some point you have to say uh I got this right so just curious you know being the
Young guy and leading the pack how’s that working out for you um you hit the nail on the head um you hit the nail on the head and I I think it’s all about balance too because I’ve definitely I came into the fraternity when I was 23. before so
Adult of course but you know coming into the fraternity where um in this particular chapter where we had so many people that have served at many different levels it was really a balance to say Okay I I can drive the car but I’m still gonna need you to tell
Me the directions you know and eight years later I on my this is my third and hope maybe final term as president so third term is for okay ma’am yes awesome awesome okay so let’s break this down for the folks who might not know your how long does the president serve
So um it varies for a chapter but in my particular chapter is one-year terms okay one year terms and your particular chapter has been around since when so we’re the New Kids on The Blocking Mission yes uh yeah we have been around since July 21st 2012. okay so you have
Been hanging in there for a large part of that yep yep initiated fall 2014 so yeah we were part of my uh particular line was part of the second line to come into the chapter so awesome awesome and so you said you guys were New Kids on
The Block but that doesn’t mean you guys didn’t come out swinging you guys have um when it comes to Michigan you guys have won some awards there already right we have we have um two-time District chapter of the year uh different Awards and recognitions across Southfield just
Making an impact there and you know just showing people hey we’re small but we’re mighty mighty small But Mighty that’s right us I’m five three and some change so I was small but Mighty I I work with that I rock with that um people people might not be aware but
Southfield is actually part of Detroit right Metro Detroit yep so probably just to put it in context where I live is maybe about 20 minutes from downtown Detroit so okay okay and and Detroit is is pretty vast are there many uh alumni chapters in Detroit
Oh man they’re so gamma Lambda uh is the Detroit Chapter so they’re not only the biggest in Michigan but they are uh the third alumni chapter founded in the actual the whole fraternity okay so we have the pleasure yeah that their house is actually a Historic Landmark and
Everything so yeah a lot of dealings for the fraternity probably came through downtown Detroit at some time from 1906 to now you know okay okay so Detroit is rich in history for the office okay all right you said third yep yep they are the third uh alumni chapter founded in in the organization
So um they have the rich history of pretty much seeing some of our Founders come through there and just to think about that alone having being able to step foot so where a lot of our Founders were that’s like man yeah yeah it’s a big thing and even the brothers that have
Come from there there are some of my personal friends and of course we’re all fraternity Brothers but they’ve helped me navigate more than they probably even know well I want to because I have such a short period of time and you know I want to uh go through some of the work that
You guys are doing as a chapter in the Southfield um area and I I have a list here of just a few I can’t talk about everything you guys are doing right I was like okay well let me just you know close my eyes and pick a few but I have
Some here that I want to let everybody know that you guys have worked with are working with um in the area and the first one I want to talk about is uh Spalding for children could you explain like what that organization is about and and how
You guys are involved with them yeah so that’s a newer uh initiative we took of actually not too long ago and basically it was spotted for children is we take uh take up a donation for basketballs and we donate them to a center for uh children in need
And uh they be they’re able to supply basketballs for the kids who may come to the center or after school activities or things like that because we see a lot of kids who if you put a ball in their hand that may be the difference between going to play basketball football or dealing
Drugs or anything that nature so just giving them a ball takes a lot of weight takes away a lot of those um decisions that they have to make yeah there you go there you go you got to get them young you got to get them young now um
As I I move into one of the next things I saw you do I first and foremost I want to say I want to commend you guys because I am not a cold weather person I don’t I don’t do Coke I don’t do code but I saw you guys out there
Um giving away some meals I think you guys partnered with uh Meals on Wheels and if I’m remembering correctly that is actually a uh a national program of Alpha Phi Alpha correct it’s a it’s a natural initiative that we do but not necessarily A National Partnership okay
So you probably see a lot of our uh different chapters and organizations do Meals on Wheels um but to your point it could almost be how much we do it but yeah that’s uh that’s a big one for us because we do it on the major holidays
Um so Christmas uh we we’ve done New Year’s and even Thanksgiving that’s a that’s a big thing that we love to do and for me it’s even more special because my birthday actually falls on Thanksgiving sometimes okay okay yeah so it’s been many mornings waking up getting my birthday cake
Together and then going back yes sir going to serve awesome I love it I love it and I saw I don’t know if it was the same uh event or program or one of the brothers was kind enough generous generous enough to play Santa Claus for the kids yes so
Um we so we have a brother that uh uh brother Santa Larry he’s in I believe the Minnesota area and he um man he’s done so many things just by being Santa Claus and he’s just a historical context he was the first black Santa Claus in the Mall of America
Oh yeah so he’s taking that and um once the pandemic happened uh one of our brothers got in touch with him to do virtual readings for the kids uh and stuff like that so we did that a couple times during the pandemic and to add on to our literacy initiative we sent some
Of the kids books as well so yeah we were able to that that’s a good man goodness gracious y’all got some history first black center in the Mall of America yeah I’ve been out there I’ve been out there one time and I was like okay okay is this ever gonna be over
With okay just walking along it’s more of an amusement park right yeah indeed indeed um you mentioned uh the pandemic did that really adjust or shift how you guys operated and navigated and coming out of it you know will that change the way you do your programs and initiatives and stuff like that
Um yeah it definitely put a different element on it um I was one of the few brothers because my background is in technology okay so I told him I said brothers look like this is this is obviously different times but we can reach a lot more people by being at home
And still making an impact I mean we were able to do the sound of Larry event and then even giving away our scholarships we give scholarships away um every year and we were able to bring the students on and we live streamed it on Facebook and gave away a couple
Thousand dollars and everything so we’ve had different events through zoom and uh we’ve still been able to reach people so I think mentally we of course we all had to adjust but once it comes to putting on worthwhile programming we still hold meetings virtually and everything but I
Think it’s giving us another layer to okay a lot of the things we already do okay so are your meetings back to in person or you guys are going to continue on you think with the zoom thing um where’s it still on Zoom right now but we’re it’s funny you mentioned that
Because we’re actually looking to go uh back in person fairly soon probably within the next month or two um just to because we still want to uh think about the brothers who are not necessarily too comfortable so we might do a couple here and still have virtual
And then increase it as we go on at least until the end of the Fraternal year so gotcha gotcha okay yeah just wondering how everybody’s trying to navigate through uh this covet pandemic and coming out of it and what does this new normal look like so you know
Especially because you guys you know you’re so heavily invested in the community and it just I was just wondering how it shifted things for you um you you touched on something real quick uh you mentioned your uh your scholarships your education is that the jewel uh Continuum yes okay so uh I
Guess explain some of that what all you guys do there yeah so with the jewel Continuum Foundation Nation that’s our scholarship arm of our particular chapter and what you’ll see a lot of times is um so just in the Michigan area where I am there’s about four chapters not too
Far from each other okay and we all have a scholarship arm to where we give away uh scholarships to deserving usually high school students but it varies depending on which uh chapter so for ours it’s uh to primarily graduate as seniors okay and then um we’ll put out
An essay prompt and a rubric and everything and for the winners uh we usually celebrate them at our white jacket scholarship ball which is also held on our anniversary so we usually use that as our you know our celebration for being around for another year and celebrating the students going off to
College so it’s always a fun time and those white jackets they do like to clean up Alphas do like to clean up that white jacket is something man yes indeed your brother do need to quit you do like the cleanup um what what are the requirements for
The kids to get the scholarships the GPA and all that stuff yep so typically GPA does play a role we we keep it out of 2.5 usually but um we also have the rubric of typically about 750 to a thousand words and it’s a different prompt usually every year depending on
The oratorical contest was okay yeah we’ll use that prompt and let the high school students kind of expound on it a little bit and um yeah we pretty much that’s a lot of things just a simple APA format to follow for the students okay yeah we found that that helps with the
Transition with their writing as they go into um College gotcha that’s awesome that’s awesome you guys have really been invested in the younger generation I I just think it’s wonderful and phenomenal we catch them young we can guide and direct some Futures you know so I just I
Think it’s so important and I encourage anybody who’s listening to this watch this to go to Southfield Alpha’s um Instagram and you will see some adorable pictures of these bro these brothers standing outside of an elementary school giving daps to the young kids as they start school and that’s you guys have a
Partnership with Stevenson Elementary yes ma’am Stevenson Elementary what is the work that you guys do there with them because that was that was just cute yeah those those are those are pretty much our best friends we uh we do everything from the Welcome Back that you probably saw yeah um yep
The the students cheering them on and that goes a long way because a lot of those students are scared and you know his first day of school yeah um we’ve been able to partner with them with career days uh donuts with dads with students that didn’t have a father
To show up awesome yeah we we’ve pretty much just stepped into like obviously a um a partnership but administrative role a father figure role and that’s different for me because I’m only 32 so I’m like get you some practicing oh my God don’t put too much pressure on me right
Right I’m still trying to figure out some of this stuff myself I’m totally I’m like look we’re we’re all kids in here give me some of them crayons I want to come too I love it we’re talking about the kids uh uh Sigma uh Delta Lambda can be considered uh the
Mufasas of the uh Pride you guys have some little Simba clubs that you guys are in charge of alpha Esquires I saw yes ma’am yep we do have apple what is who are these little young kids so they are young kids who come to us in
Just one direct mentoring um yep we hold them we hold our Esquire meetings once a month and those are usually check-ins like as far as how they’re doing grades and the cool thing about it is um actually my vice president uh my brother Quinton lot he’s head over it
And he has them run their meetings kind of like we run ours so yeah it gets them going um and they start from I think sixth grade up or seventh grade up okay um yeah so once they make that transition even to high school because they’re going to be running for National
Honor Society and all these other clubs so now at least there no they know how to run a meeting how to address people in a professional setting how to tie ties how to do all these different things that they may not necessarily have a male role model to teach them
Yeah that’s just yeah like we Mentor a lot but those are like a direct mentees so how do how do the young guys get involved with the program there in Southfield are there requirements or or anything yeah so with that um we have a a application that they’re able to uh
Find out on there and I believe the QR code is on our website if anybody listening is uh interested but once you go on there and check it out you see the requirements as far as um what we expect from you as a kid and
What and you as a parent and then um we go through an interview process and we see what you’re involved in and everything um and of course grades are considered but we still want to make sure that we’re mentoring where we need it so that’s where the interview process and
Things that nature come in place so it’s really about fostering a relationship for us and the kids and the parents to hold everybody accountable you know true okay got it now and you said the youngest age for that to start to win I believe it’s sixth grade okay sixth
Grade okay all right I like that okay get them young get them young get them young get them early and and and I want to I want to kind of continue along this theme and because it’s always been so impressive to me uh that you guys do pour into the younger
Generation I want to cover one more project that I saw that you guys work on um well no let me I’m a lie I’m a lot maybe two more things I saw you guys working on [Laughter] give me the line I’m honest with my I’m honest with mine yeah I’m lying yeah
I got I got questions I got questions I got time too okay um but one of the things I saw you guys do for uh uh the Young Folks is this amazing program um that people need to be aware of is the Angel Tree project that I’ve seen
You guys partner with in the past kind of explain what that project is and how you guys uh network with them are involved with them yeah so with the Angel Tree project that was something that um you know I was blessed to get in right when I right after I crossed you
Know and basically with that program um is we we usually uh partner with the church I know it was Calvary Baptist but we’re kind of in transition right now to see where the need is but um we get families and then uh if they have
A parent that is not able to provide so much then for the year or may have a parent that’s incarcerated or dealing with other issues um we step in and make Christmas happen you know we um and the particular one I think you’re talking about we were able to go to uh
Target and just did a shopping spree yep so we’ve done that uh and we’ve done you know we’ve just done a collection of toys for brothers and you know we’ve done this with shoes and clothes and things of that nature so um but yeah with that particular project
We uh partner with the church and see basically who’s in need and we kind of take from their lists at that point I’ve got some clothes and some toys some people walked away so fresh and so clean clean thanks to the south field look I’ll sell you some of that stuff I’m
Like man Jordans and George all right right I mean it’s listening but I’m like man I wanted those look I could have rocked those right right awesome well let me continue on I got one more like I said I got one more question and I’m gonna move on here um
But one of the things that you guys do and and like I said I’m not a cold weather person so I truly commend you on this particular project um and especially because in the United States from east to west north to south we are struggling with a um homeless problem unhoused problem and
I saw that you guys partnered with the organization uh Coalition for temporary shelter okay okay I’m trying I’m trying what was that what what’s that about and what did you guys do for them yeah so with cots um they are a shelter that takes in usually women and children but if the
Father is involved then they’ll take the whole families and it’s all depending on um what room they have at the actual shelter okay so uh usually what where we came in was we uh served food we would come in and help the staff out uh usually once or twice a month and we
Usually would do breakfast time so anything from breakfast to cleaning up a little bit around the areas I remember one time going there for Thanksgiving and that was the most experience I had with the turkey you know cleaning the turkey and everything I was me and my line Brothers I was like
Man all right but um just to you know see the looks on those the people’s faces and the kids and everything because they they’re up early just to eat and they don’t know why because of course with shelters is on the time yeah so they’re like I don’t
Know I’m just here to eat cereal and sausage patties and you know they got some turkey that day yep they did get turkey they got you know we made sure that they did have um not only a good breakfast but as far as serving for Thanksgiving and making
Sure some of their food was prepped we we did a lot that day that for the Thanksgiving and then of course uh moving on with the breakfast serving and everything so yeah Kata held a special part in our in our hearts for a while
Man oh man I know that they love to see you coming they love to see so what what serving work is on the pipeline for 2023 man we you know we’ve done so many things already and so with our fraternal year it actually ends around I want to
Say June so yeah right now um we’re doing the uh reading literacy so we’re going into schools and um it’s like a whole database for like Southfield Public Schools where they’re looking for people to read to the kids okay um we’ve done uh different things with Forgotten Harvest that’s the area around
Here it’s kind of like a thrift store okay so yeah we’ve helped them is that like what Habitat for Humanity kind of thing yep habitat as well yep so Forgotten Harvest is like a center and habitat you know we go out and build and get to destroy stuff you know that
That’s the fun part yeah meet on your chest for a minute there okay got some Hammers and made some stuff happening okay so June and that’s okay so June you guys are switching over and do always okay all right yeah you happened last night switch out oh you’re not you’re
Not gonna be president nah I’ve done my time you know I’ve I’ve taken it to a place now because we’ve had so many newer Brothers come in and um I’ve kind of become the one given the direction remember we were talking about the car and stuff so now yep so I’m
Still gonna be actively involved and everything but um one of the pillars of uh Alpha Phi Alpha is developing leaders you know so um I can put my trust in these newer Brothers to lead us into a place where um I might not have been able to get us
But they can take it to the level to the next level from where I got it so you know without you know giving us all the the back room conversations but I’m assuming some of the younger brothers are bringing in you know like social media and all this new stuff and then you’ve
Got the older brothers like I don’t know that new Fang that old new Fango stuff is it kind of difficult getting some of the on board and like hey let’s go you know it’s so funny because a lot of my time after work and after like regular life I spend time thinking like
Okay how can I make sure brother so and so is engaged and it’s just making sure that I make stuff easier um for all for everybody because of course the newer brothers and the younger brothers in age and mine were still on the Facebooks and the Instagrams yeah and then you have some
Brothers who are not they’re equipped to do it but they just don’t want to you know it’s different so um it’s a struggle it’s a push and pull a struggle but we definitely have brothers fill in as tech support like we’ve I like I said my background is in I.T but
I’ve I don’t know if I’ve done it this much I’m thinking I got like aunties and stuff like you put a stamp on it put in the mail and be like Auntie we don’t do that you ain’t got no email in it no I’m telling you and that’s you know it’s
Funny that’s one of the biggest things like emails and calendar invites and just chapter meetings like getting them logged on for chapter meetings and stuff it’s it was pretty much when the pandemic hit it was a ground up type of thing like it was almost like recharging the chapter
Um just making sure people knew how to access their email and access to different calendars that we’re putting out so that they are aware of what’s going on you know so yeah it’s it’s still a challenge every day challenge after challenge this generation beating this generation and saying hello how you
Doing I’m right I commend you I know behind the scenes there’s been some hair pulling like these my brothers I love y’all I love y’all I love y’all it’s I’m definitely counting my gray hair but that’s all right it’s all love it’s all love now um I I don’t want to leave
People with the impression that all Alphas do is work work work work although you guys do a lot of it you guys do have some good times together and I saw um there was an event you guys have coming up um and I don’t even know if it’s a
Fundraiser or not so I’m just assuming a lot of stuff but you guys are all going to see Jim of the ocean together yes we are going to see Jim of the ocean I think in a couple maybe a week now actually yep so we have a partnership actually with the Detroit Repertory
Theater okay and um if you know Motown you know we’re known for a lot of different show business as well I mean we talk about that but we have a pretty big theater um seen here as well and that’s something that we’ve tried to tap into
With stuff like Gem of the ocean and we it’s basically called our evening of the art series okay okay and then this is the next installment of it so yeah we are excited it’s a very intimate uh theater because so usually the plays will hold maybe two or three or four
Actors at the most um and they they put on the show it’s very entertaining I’ve been there a couple times now so just just curious is August Wilson an apple or one of the cast members at alpha or you guys just pick Jim of the ocean and
Yeah we just picked Jim of the ocean based on it being an August Wilson play so yeah that’s something that like again we’re trying to kind of bridge that gap between um our people and the Arts so letting them know that hey this is a whole another Lane that you may not have
Thought about as far as production acting you know stage plays stuff like that so we definitely um yeah we definitely look for different plays of course depending on what the theater offers but um yeah we try and make sure people know about what’s going on and I saw of course quite naturally I
Saw you guys went together to see wakanda right oh yeah had to be there for that right we actually rented out the theater and um you know we we tried to make sure people knew about that message too like um Chadwick man and even that whole
Movie what it did for the culture we had to make sure we made it available for people because those it was almost hard for us to get a date to show the movie you know really oh yeah those tickets were going yeah yeah I saw the pictures
You you know you guys were kids were there it was like a whole oh yeah we that’s one thing we’re big on too we are a brother once told me before I crossed he said God family work then Alpha you know so keeping God number one
For us true and then family you saw him yes they were out deep y’all were deep with it I loved it yeah we try to make sure we include them when we can I love it because you know especially when it comes to how outsiders look at the black
Community they want to paint it like we don’t hang out as a family so yes we do yes right right um well sir I’m gonna um wrap up here and ask you my random question but before I uh do that I have one last question to ask you okay one last
Question to ask you um years ago many many years ago uh I think I want to say about 15 years ago I was at a parade and I was uh standing next to a young guy a little young guy he must have been about nine years old
And at one point of the parade a bunch of Alphas marched by uh-huh and the young guy he says when I grow up I want to be like them they get all the ladies and they got them cool colors on their shirt and a cool letters and all the adults around
Him we all kind of chuckled and laughed but yeah in hindsight I’m thinking we should have probably handled that better and made it a teachable moment so if I could go back and you were there and you had to explain to the young guy what actually being an alpha man was all
About what would you what would you say to him I would tell him that it’s definitely um while I would have took what he said and made sure he knew the positives of it so he might say yeah they have all the women but we owed up the respective Womanhood you know
Um we wear the letters but wearing the letters is a burden and if any brothers are hearing me they know what that means like the Bro the burden of being an alpha means that of course you’re always on but you’re always um upholding your aims which are manly
Deeds scholarship and Love For All Mankind so I would definitely tell them you can do it but just know what you’re looking to get into you know because some days I love it some days I’m like all right let me let me take this off
But man it is it is something yes indeed yes indeed you know um like I said you know I have watched you guys for years from undergrad and on and you you see the transition of manhood because undergrad it’s a whole different mindset and mentality and you know to you get
Older and and you guys are truly putting in the servant work it’s just amazing to watch you guys in the community and and you know the the bond and the you know just to be able to get a whole bunch of Brothers on the same page like we’re
Gonna go out here and feed these people we’re going to go out here you know we just that in itself is amazing so I mean right it’s just it’s just phenomenal but it was just so cute and he was like yeah they get all the ladies I was like okay Alpha Esquire program
Like yeah start here and then we’re going to go to school after you get the lady you got to be able to keep her so we got to put some education behind it and all that other stuff right I’m telling you I’m telling you you got to know your manager you got
To make sure that you you they know you’re the man and you’re trying to be the protector you know so that’s right that’s right that was so cute when he said that I was like that one’s gonna be trouble okay all right so let me ask you your uh
Random question so what you’re gonna do for the chapter if you’re not going to be president you’re going to be treasurer secretary something you know just you’re gonna just sit back and chill um I’ve already done a lot of songs um so with me I’m I’m still going to
Serve on a needed basis wherever I’m needed um but with it is it’s one of those things where I feel like I’ve done a lot in this and and and of course there’s always more to be done but I also want to see where it takes me afterwards you
Know as far as more on the Michigan district level and region the Nationals okay yeah so I’m uh they they still know where to find me but um I’m still going to be like that we need help in Tech so I’m definitely gonna get back in my role for that too
Yeah yeah and and I did not ask about how large is your how large is your chapter how many brothers are there about um for my chapter it’s about 50 I think we’re at 52 Brothers okay decent size decent size enough to get the work done yeah oh yeah Is is uh Southfield Michigan mostly us um now yeah yeah now I would say now yeah uh it wasn’t always like this but that’s the funny part like um for the for the sum of the areas that are not we’ll come in there with our letters and colors on and they’re like
Who are they it’s always amazing to me when I I run into people like adult people and they see like who who are these guys with the thing I’m like you don’t know who they are like you’ve never you’ve never encountered one before like what rock
Have you been living under but oh well you’re gonna learn today people find out all right so let’s see what we got here let’s see what we got here okay when it comes to toilet paper is it over or under um whichever one was over yeah I’m not
Touching the wall all right we can still be friends then all right okay I was like depending on how he answered this is it’s going to determine how this goes okay all righty there Mr President Ellison please tell us how we uh connect with Southfield alphas and you know forever
Up in the Michigan area I want to check you guys out maybe hang out with you uh let us know how we we hook up with you guys yeah definitely so we are online at Southfield office.org um Facebook and Instagram the Southfield Alphas awesome awesome well wishing you
Guys you guys have had like 10 years now wishing you 10 more and 10 more and 10 more and you know you keep on giving the other alumni chapters in uh the Detroit area to set the bar so high they got to keep up the uh with you and stuff like
That so I’m just wishing good stuff for you guys and especially for you I mean you know Alpha is known for grooming leaders so I’m assuming I will see you in the next 10 years just doing some amazing leadership things right hey I hope so you know I received that we got
A couple things working as far as my family and everything so we’re um we’re definitely going to try and push that best before awesome I love it I love it well um continued uh service and blessings to the whole chapter all the brothers um it is not easy task like you said
Some days you know you just be like I could be doing something else there’s a game on no thumbnails but you guys get out there and serve just time and time again and um there’s people out there in the community that see you guys doing
The good work and I just want to applaud you guys and say thank you for what you do for your community so thank you from little old me we appreciate that honestly we do it for whoever’s there and whoever’s needed and we don’t do it for the recognition but
It doesn’t hurt I mean I appreciate it because so many times they say black men do not give back to their communities and others so it’s always nice and refreshing to run into large large groups of Brothers who are contrary to the stereotypes so I appreciate you and
The message that you sent definitely I really appreciate that that means a lot well good thanks to you sir that is all for this week’s episode of the male perspective I’m your host Lana Reed and I will see everybody next time
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