Born and raised in New Haven, 28-year-old Alan Bowie Jr. will take the helm of the 100-member George W. Crawford Black Bar Association as one of its youngest president ever.

Bowie, who begins the one-year term Wednesday, takes office amid two national crises facing the Black community: a massive call for police reform in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the COVID-19 epidemic’s disproportionate effects on communities of color.