Video interview with James Devine coming soon. Check back shortly to watch this exclusive conversation.
James Devine embodies the spirit of giving back through education and community service. The Miami native has transformed his four-decade career as a software engineer into a powerful platform for supporting the next generation of HBCU students. A proud 1985 graduate of Florida A&M University with a degree in Computer Information Systems and a 2011 Georgia State University graduate with a Master’s in Managing Information Systems, Devine has become a cornerstone of the Atlanta HBCU Alumni Alliance 5K run.
As a life member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and the FAMU National Alumni Association, this husband, father, and grandfather has dedicated countless hours to coaching youth sports, mentoring young people, and raising scholarship funds. His commitment to community service extends from feeding the hungry and registering voters to visiting the elderly, all while maintaining his demanding career in information technology. Through the Atlanta HBCU Alumni Alliance 5K, Devine continues his mission of building bridges between generations and creating opportunities for students who, like himself, may be the first in their families to pursue higher education.
You’ve had a remarkable 40-year career in tech as a software engineer. How does that experience shape your approach to community service and mentoring?
My 40 years of being a software engineer has prepared me in many ways for doing things within the community, whether it be just making sure that things are done properly and in order, and also honing in on my leadership skills. Over the past 40 years, when you do things like software development, if you get it wrong, it can cause major issues. There’s a certain process, you have to be very analytical about certain things. That has helped prepare me for helping others out in the community as well.
With degrees from FAMU and Georgia State, how did your educational journey, especially your time at an HBCU, influence your professional path and commitment to giving back?
Florida A&M University was a very nurturing environment for me, where you could tell that there were people there that really cared about you and were being very helpful to you. It gave me an opportunity, after coming out of high school to come and to be in an environment with various peers that looked like me that came from areas of South Florida, just like I did. It was a good bridging point for me to come and to further achieve academic excellence, it was very helpful. Not only did we work hard, but we also had fun while we were doing it.
You’ve been a strong supporter of the Atlanta HBCU Alumni Alliance 5K run. What first inspired you to get involved in this event?
One of the things that really inspired me goes back to my college days, and not only the college days, but also going back to my upbringing, where you have the family values, where everybody in my family help one another. Like the old saying, it takes a village. Having those concepts bred into me at a very young age that when we help one another, when it came to FAMU, it was the same thing that we looked out for one another. After graduating from Florida A&M, we all are proud of our various institutions. We know a lot of friends that went to other schools as well, and one of the things that encouraged me to reach out to help others is that we know there are a lot of things that we can do, not only just individually, but more so when we work together collectively, we can accomplish even a whole lot more. It’s like a family affair. It’s not just about one institution, it’s about many institutions that if we can help one another achieve those goals, then the overall community can benefit from that.
This event raises much needed scholarship funds for HBCU students. Why is that most important to you?
It’s very important, because a lot of our students need that assistance. They need that help. When you look at the backgrounds of many of the students that we try to support, they may be first generation college students, some of them may be second, third generation, but for the majority of them, for example for me, I was the first male in my family to go to college and to graduate from college. When you think about it, did my family have an abundance of money to send me to school without needing any type of assistance? No. So I think that it’s very important that we do whatever we can to help these students to get to the next level, and hopefully, they will get to a point where they’re able to give back as well.
You’ve coached youth sports, mentored young people and volunteered in countless ways. How does this 5K reflect your ongoing mission to serve others?
I think that with events like the HBCU run, and other types of events that we have, we have to meet people where they’re at. There are a lot of people that find it enjoyable and fun to go out, and to have a 5K run and to mix and mingle, if that can help bring people out, and at the same time raise funds through those events then it makes it even better. It’s almost like you hear sometimes the saying party with the purpose. If you could find ways of helping people or bringing people out for worthy causes, then by all means do that. I think it also exposes the various colleges and universities to the community. In some cases a lot of these students have never really been outside of Atlanta. So when you bring these colleges and universities to them, they get to see that name recognition. They hear about FAMU. They hear about the North Carolina A&T. They hear about the Bethune-Cookmans, Wilberforce and all the other universities that are historically black colleges. So it’s very helpful.
Health and wellness are a major part of this year’s 5K along with the community festival. Why do you think it’s important to center physical well-being and health equity in our communities?
It’s very important, because in order to accomplish great things, it’s best and ideal to be physically fit to do these things. If you’re not well, if your health is suffering, then it’s hard to really focus on progressing in this world that we’re living in. It’s hard to be a bridge builder if your health is failing. For example, if my health was failing at the time when I wanted to be a coach and coach youth, I wouldn’t be able to do that. So we need to shine a spotlight on us doing things to take care of our health, not only just when we’re young, but also as we get older. It’s very important. We want to leave a lasting legacy and be able to help out and be bridge builders to students into our community.
What advice would you give young professionals, especially those in tech, who want to use their success to make an impact like you have?
My advice would be to get used to continuing education, that’s the key. What you’ve learned last year may not be applicable this year or the year after, so you have to keep your ears open, your eyes open, and you have to be prepared to continue to learn every day. That’s very important. One of the big buzzwords is AI, artificial intelligence. My advice is to embrace AI. Learn what AI can do for you, how it can make you more skilled at whatever your profession is. Just like how the Internet and Google and things like that were used and still are being used to help you with your job, here AI is one of those things. We have to continue to be aware of what’s going on in the world, and stay in tune with it.
What does it mean to you personally to see people across generations come together for such a cause that is rooted in education, wellness, and unity? What legacy do you hope this event leaves?
To me it’s a beautiful thing that when we can all come together as a community, as a people, not just folks of African American descent, but people of all colors and diversity. It’s a beautiful thing for us to all come together and to share in this, and I think whenever we can bring the old and young together, that allows for us to share knowledge. There’s a lot of things that the older people can learn from the younger, and the young can learn from the older. I think that it’s a beautiful thing that helps us to continue to progress as a people. We want to see our legacies get passed down. We want to see that things get better and not worse for our community. I think that having things like the 5K run, we’re doing several things at one time. We’re raising funds for students to go to college. We’re also looking out at trying to help improve the health of people in our community. But then we’re also coming together and just sharing with one another, teaching people that we can live together and prosper.
How can people join and participate in the Atlanta HBCU Alumni Alliance 5K?
You can go to the Atlanta HBCU Alumni Alliance website, they have the various links out there to where you can click on. You can register. You don’t have to be present to participate. I believe that they have a virtual aspect to this particular fundraising race, where you can do your own 5K away from the site on a different day, whatever can meet your particular schedule. You don’t have to walk. You can just make a simple donation. You can team up with various groups, if it’s your alumni association that you want to be part of you can do that. If it’s your fraternity, your sorority, you can be a part of those groups. So there’s many ways to give, and there’s many ways to participate and to make this event a successful one.
