David Graham

David Graham has been an Albany County resident his entire life. He lived in West Hill for about 10 years and currently serves in Arbor Hill as Community Justice and Outreach Manager for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. He has overseen Community Justice, Outreach and Youth programs since 2016.

David Graham is a graduate of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute at Utica-Rome with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology along with an Associate’s degree from Hudson Valley Community College. After completing his college education, he was employed in the engineering field for 3 years. With a burden and heart for the local community’s youth, David decided to part from a lucrative career in engineering. He has spent over two decades informally mentoring countless young people through the Albany YMCA, Abrookin Career and Technical Center/Albany High School, Arbor Hill Community Center and various summer programs. David endeavors to make Albany a better place by implementing a national mentoring project at the Tony Clement Center for Education. Albany’s alternative learning center. He often finds his work to be very rewarding, witnessing labeled and marginalized youth with behavioral issues grow to become productive students. Some of these students have become recognized awardees of Student of the Month, Best/ Perfect Attendance, Highest School Grade Point Average, and more.

Through his work with Community Solutions (based in Manhattan), David led Albany community engagement for the Governor’s 2014 anti-poverty initiative, Community Opportunity for Reinvestment (CORe). In that role he worked to better align agencies, residents and resources in an effort to improve neighborhood conditions and outcomes. Additionally, David continues to create opportunities for Albany's young people by hosting educational workshops, running a federal law enforcement sponsored sports training academy, a local law enforcement sponsored basketball league, and facilitating local Teen Night events with Albany Gang Prevention.

David has been honored and humbly received various community leadership awards and attributes them to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote and philosophy that, “…everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.” Some of David's Awards include:

● 2018 OVATION Award from the Tony Clement Center for Education
● 2017 WMHT American Graduate Award
● 2010 FBI Director's Community Leadership Award from Robert Muller