MOULTRIE, Ga. — As the longtime chairman of the Colquitt Archway Partnership leaves the group’s executive committee, his colleagues offered salutes for what he’s helped to accomplish.

For 12 years, Reeves chaired the Colquitt Archway Partnership, a UGA Public Service and Outreach program, which connects communities with the vast resources of the university to address local critical issues. He left the chairman’s post in 2017. He rolled off the executive committee late last year, having served for more than 15 years.

“Through his leadership we transitioned through various phases of Archway and are still going strong entering year 16,” said Chip Blalock, who followed Reeves as Colquitt Archway Partnership chairman in 2017. “Through Roy’s vision and global thinking, paired with excellent Archway professionals and a very effective executive committee, here we are thriving 16 years later.”

In 2017, the University of Georgia presented Roy Reeves with the inaugural Innovation in Community Leadership award for his decades of public service in Colquitt County.

“His leadership in public education, the faith community, youth development, and community engagement has resulted in hundreds of emerging leaders being trained to take on community leadership roles,” said Matt Bishop, director of the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, in announcing the award during Fanning’s annual Community Leadership Conference.

Colquitt County was the first Archway Partnership community, a five-year pilot project, which has continued for more than 15 years and led to 12 additional Archway Partnerships throughout the state, according to a press release from Archway.

From 2005, when the partnership began, through 2017, Moultrie and Colquitt County realized an additional $226.9 million in economic activity, an average of almost $19 million a year, according to an impact study.

During Reeves’ time as chair, Colquitt County worked with UGA on physical projects, like finding funding to expand the county’s wastewater capacity to allow for new development, to implementing adult and youth leadership programs to create a pipeline of future leaders for the community, the press release said.

He helped guide the establishment of the now annual Archway Leadership Summit, which brings local leaders together each year to talk about community challenges and potential solutions. 

“Colquitt County is shining example of the positive things that can happen in rural Georgia when a community comes together with common goals, under strong leadership,” said Jennifer L. Frum, vice president for UGA Public Service and Outreach. “Roy Reeves has held public service positions throughout the community for more than 30 years. He didn’t return to his hometown to just settle down after graduating from the University of Georgia. He leapt into volunteer opportunities to help make Moultrie and Colquitt County a community that would thrive, attracting new businesses and jobs, providing good education and healthcare to residents, and a creating a quality of life that would keep students like himself coming back home after college.” 

In addition to his work with Archway, Reeves was a longtime member of the Colquitt County Board of Education, a supporter of the Colquitt County Medical Center and a board member of the Southwest Georgia Financial Corporation. 

“I believe everything rises and falls on leadership,” Reeves said when he accepted the Innovation in Leadership Award in 2017. “The greatest resources a community has is its volunteers. They’re the ones that get involved and make a community go.”