Bro. William Watkins

Brother William Watkins, a native of Boston, MA, has spent most of his life helping others. Today, Bro. Watkins serves as the Director of Workforce Development for the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts providing skills training and career counseling. Specifically, Bro. Watkins ensures that staff, job seekers, and small businesses have the tools, training, and safety resources needed for success. In the past nine years with the Urban League, Bro. Watkins has brought cutting-edge programming to Roxbury for coding and graphic design through the support given by BNY Mellon, Google, Verizon, Microsoft, and Comcast.

Bro. Watkins received an academic scholarship to attend Northeastern University. While there, his first co-op experience was with the Department of Defense where he received the distinguished service award from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service for outstanding work. Bro. Watkins was initiated into Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Beta Alpha Chapter in 1987. He became chapter president, at which time the chapter received the Chapter Of The Year Award during his two-terms in office. After leading a group of his high school mentees to Bethune Cookman University (BCU)—a Historically Black College & University in Daytona, FL, Bro, Watts was inspired by a BCU recruiter to complete his studies there, which is exactly what he did. At BCU, he made a large impact in his community. Bro. Watkins organized a Brother-to-Brother Conference that attracted 2,000 local men to heal from street violence. For these efforts and others, Bro. Watkins was awarded the first Humanitarian Award ever granted by BCU’s College of Social Sciences.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Administration and International Relations at BCU, Bro. Watkins moved to Detroit, MI, where he became actively involved in community organizing and politics. There, he worked for the legendary U. S. Congressman John Conyers, during which time he met with Brother President Clinton to discuss funding for afterschool programs for youth in Detroit. Bro. Watkins would prove to be a champion of education in Detroit, helping to create a charter school and serving as part of the staff that laid the foundation for City Year Detroit. Bro. Watkins received the City Year Recruitment Award in its second year of existence.

Bro. Watkins eventually return to his roots in Boston, MA, to serve the Urban League of Massachusetts. Again, he would re-engage in Fraternity leadership by co-founding Omicron Chi Sigma Chapter (OCS) in Suffolk County in 2012 along with eight other courageous men. As the first Director of Social Action of OCS, Bro. Watkins established one of the most successful award programs on behalf of the chapter, "Tribute to Black Women,” garnering the attention of the “Who's who” of Black Boston, Phi Beta Sigma’s International President, the Divine 9 leadership, political leaders, corporate leaders, and local, as well as, National Black Media.

Today, Bro. Watkins continues to serve the Boston community in numerous ways. He is President of the Central Massachusetts Pop Warner Little Scholars, a Member of the Society of Human Resources Management, and a Member of the ACT State Council of New England—an organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and professional success. Finally, Bro. Watkins is an MBA Candidate at Southern New Hampshire University.