DVCN Honors Calvin C. Reed, Jr. In-Person
The DV Connector Network is an outgrowth of the mentoring efforts of Don "The Don" Viapree over the years. He has personally impacted the lives of 100+ mentees of all ages by empowering them with valuable knowledge, relationships, and encouragement to enhance their levels of success. The DV Connector Network serves as a platform for continued knowledge sharing, relationship building, and mentorship. We welcome guests and invite others to share and benefit from the DV Connector Network.
Calvin C. Reed, Jr. attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where he studied English Literature and economics. He also studied one semester abroad and did a special research project on the subject of which was the attitude of Europeans towards Black people from the United States. The countries he studied in were Belgium, England, France, and Spain. He also attended the publishing institute at the University of Denver in Colorado. He began his professional career as the Director of the Essex County Youth and Economic Rehabilitation Commission. Also, at that time he started three magazines, “Black Oranges,” “Gospel Review” and “Happening Magazine.” He sold Gospel Review to Savoy Records. He transitioned from the Youth commission job to Senior City Planner for the City of East Orange. While working as a Senior City Planner he developed the first Master Plan for the City of East Orange and also during that time attended the New School for Social Research in New York where he studied Urban Planning and Policy Analysis. He left the Planning Department and became the Deputy Mayor for the City of East Orange. While in the Deputy Mayor’s office he established the Neighborhood Block Associations of East Orange. Which was a group that allowed homeowners to earn credits by working on one another’s homes the reward for their efforts was free supplies for work on their own homes. He also established the Youth Tutoring Youth program which encouraged high school students to tutor elementary school students who needed assistance in math and reading skills. Additionally, he was responsible while in the Deputy Mayor’s office for monthly reviews of all municipal departments including police, fire, health, education, and all other social services, etc.
He left working for the public sector to attend the Denver Publishing Institute. After graduating from the Publishing Institute, he became a Corporate Analyst for Doubleday Books. While at Doubleday Books he became the in-house expert on cable television, and he also had book project latitude. He was able to bring in two books for publication, “Cooking for the Champ” by Lana Shabazz, who was Muhammad Ali’s personal chef and “To Be or Not To Bop,” which was Dizzy Gillespie’s biography. Among his other activities at Doubleday was the research for the acquisition of the New York Mets baseball team.
He left Doubleday to help develop cable television in Newark, New Jersey. Connection Communications Corporation, the firm he co-founded was awarded the cable franchise in 1978. He served as the Vice-President for Marketing and Corporate Development from 1978 until the company was sold in 1986. During his time in cable television, he was also successful in getting the cable franchise’s for South Orange, Jersey City and twenty-two franchises in South Carolina.
After the sale of the cable company, he formed Reed’s Pro Construction and built with Shopping Center Developers the Brick Church Mall in East Orange, New Jersey. The mall consisted of a Shop-Rite supermarket, PNC Bank and Channel Lumber as well as twenty-one satellite stores. His next major construction project was a 71-unit senior citizen complex on Walnut Street in East Orange, Bishop Taylor Homes. He continued to build residential properties, two, three and four story in and around Essex and Union county and at the same time he developed a new company, Platinum Financial Resources, Inc. (PFR), which provided a wide variety of mortgage and development services for the real estate industry. PFR has currently acquired six townhouses in Baltimore, Maryland which we are in the process of redeveloping. They should all be completed by the Fall of 2025. PFR currently has a bid in Baltimore for seventeen additional properties and we feel confident that our bids will be successful.
Mr. Reed is currently working with the New Africa Development Corporation to rebuild what we hope will become the New Africa District, which is a large part of the West and Central wards of Newark.