Michael S. Reeves will receive training and advice to help his fledgling charitable endeavor to introduce refugee boys to Boy Scouting from none other than Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Mr. Reeves is among 60 Americans from all walks of life selected as 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholars, a collaborative leadership program offered by the Bush, Clinton and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential centers. The program is intensive: Scholars attend module training for 20 days total at five locations over six months — including the presidential libraries — and devote about 50 hours to homework and a project focused on the civic initiative in which the scholar is involved. Each of the three living presidents will be tapped to teach.
That's a fair amount of time away from the office for Mr. Reeves, who joined hedge fund manager Greylock Capital Management LLC, New York, on Feb. 1 as managing director-head of marketing, investor relations and business development, but his new firm is supportive of his project, Scouting's Embrace.
The program will actively recruit to scouting refugee boys age 7 to 17 whose families have relocated to Connecticut, although Mr. Reeves said he hopes the program will expand to other states.
Scouting's Embrace was inspired by Mr. Reeves' son Spencer, a high school junior. Spencer's Eagle Scout project was a charitable drive and public-awareness campaign in his hometown of New Canaan, Conn., about the plight of refugees.
“Helping my son on his project has helped me understand how, one-by-one, we can individually help solve an enormous problem, namely the integration of refugee families into America society,” Mr. Reeves said.
Mr. Reeves is seeking volunteers with Boy Scouting experience to build out Scouting's Embrace. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
