ALISA R. DRAYTON Boys
& Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) has named Alisa R. Drayton as the
new executive director of the Yawkey Club of Roxbury. Drayton replaces
Andrea Swain, who led the Club for 21 years before being promoted to
vice president of development operations at BGCB. Drayton
will build upon the Yawkey Club’s foundation and continue Swain’s work
to provide enriching resources, facilities and opportunities to
Roxbury’s 300- plus annual members. “We’re thrilled to have Alisa as executive director of the Yawkey Club.
She will help lead our Roxbury youth and continue our mission of
providing new opportunities to invest in our community’s urban talent
pipeline,” said Nicholas President and CEO Robert Lewis, Jr. “Her years
of experience as both a non-profit leader and a Roxbury native make her a
perfect fit for this position, and we can’t wait to see her influential
impact on the community.” Drayton
is a life-long learner, holding a B.S. degree from Lincoln University, a
M.S. degree from the New School for Social Research and a J.D. from
Boston College. She joins BGCB after dedicating her life’s work toward
providing financial and operational leadership to community development
organizations. Specializing in program development and fundraising,
Drayton worked
for the City of Boston Community Centers in Roxbury where she assisted
in facility operations and program planning, serving 200-plus members
daily. She later moved to New York City to serve as a resident advisor
for the Covenant House’s Rights of Passage Program, providing daily
counseling for homeless adolescent families in distress. After her time
at the Covenant House,
she moved on to become the director of development at East New York
Urban Youth Corps — a nonprofit organization providing housing
counseling and home repair
to New York residents in need of support. There, she established the
office of development and managed all fundraising efforts to help
hundreds of families find secure housing. On
top of her career in nonprofit and community-development leadership,
Drayton has a long-time involvement with the Yawkey Club. The Roxbury
native attended the Yawkey Club as a child and later served on the
Yawkey Club’s Local Advisory Board and as chair of the Alumni
Association. She understands the inner workings and has been involved in
the strategic planning of the Club, which primes her to lead its
300-plus annual members to new heights and create a lasting impact on
the Roxbury community for generations to come. “I
am ecstatic to join and lead the Yawkey Club, a place that I call home
and have been involved with since I was a little girl. It’s a place that
has shaped my personal and professional growth, having such a profound
influence on my life’s journey,” said Drayton. “I can’t wait to begin
working to provide amazing enrichment and development opportunities for
my community’s youth and beyond.”
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