Born and raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward, Texas’ hotbed for Public Servants such as Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Congressman Mickey Leland and many others. The son of a Shoemaker, Alvin David Byrd Sr. Alvin attended Crawford Elementary, E.O. Smith Jr. High and graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1971.
Alvin attended Texas Southern University then served in the United States Navy where he became a shipbuilder by trade, being most proud to have helped build the USS Comfort and the USS Mercy, two super tankers converted into floating Hospital ships. He was a loyal member of Iron Workers Union and member of Pipefitters Union through National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, Ca. where he worked on many Navy ships and Submarines. He will always be a friend of Labor.
Alvin made a career change to Social Services, stemming back to his childhood days at HOPE Development where he learned life skills as a teenager and became one of the founding members of the Houston High Schools Alliance for Black Student Unions where he served as President. Alvin has worked for the Star of Hope Women and Families Shelter, Bread of Life, Inc., Career and Recovery Resources, Inc., S.H.A.P.E. Community Center and Extended AfterCare Recovery Center for Men and Houston Recovery Campus in the Heart of Fifth Ward at Barbara Jordan Health Center.
He later became interested in becoming a public servant and became involved in his Fifth Ward community by being elected the first President of the Greater Fifth Ward Superneighborhood Council, a member of the Northeast Branch of the American Red Cross serving Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens, Pleasantville and Acres Homes, served as Chair of the Fifth Ward Weed and Seed Initiative Steering Committee, served as the ViceChair of the Fifth Ward Resource Collaborative, selected to serve on then Mayor Lee Brown’s Commission for People with Disabilities as Vice Chair and also a active member of the Shared Decision Making Committee (SDMC) for both Atherton Elementary and The Mickey Leland College Preparatory Academy for Young Men.
