Dr. RB Alverna

Dr. RB Alverna is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of theAcademy365, Inc. a nonprofit organization based in Essex County, New Jersey focused on leveling the playing field for black boys. Under the leadership of Dr.Alverna, theAcademy365 impacts the lives of young black men through mentoring, teaching life skills, and cultivating safe space programming and workshops.

Dr. Alverna is a passionate educator and advocate for marginalized groups. He has an unwavering commitment to providing opportunities for all Black boys to engage in unique and relevant learning experiences. He believes in purposeful disruption of the status quo.

Dr. Alverna believes and embodies what it means to be a blackboy believer, his focus on addressing and having the much-needed conversations on topics that are affecting black males such as Mental Health in the black community, Race and Discrimination, and Educational Equity. Pushing the message on how learning emotional skills can help black boys become men, he knows what black boys needed during the critical ages of 12-18, "a space to just be human".

Dr. RB Alverna holds a Bachelor's degree in History from Kean University in Union, NJ. He also earned his Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit leadership and completed a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at Caldwell University. He became the first black man to obtain a doctorate from the university. His research investigated the influence of social and academic integration, childhood trauma, and discrimination on the institutional and goal commitments of African Americans Males.