After graduating from the School of Oriental and African Studies with a BA in History and Politics, Alvin spent two years as a community organiser with Europe's largest alliance of civic institutions, London Citizens. As the borough organiser for Haringey, he was responsible for the Citizens' Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots. He is now working part-time as the community coordinator for Rt Hon David Lammy MP and will start an MSc in Social Policy (European and Comparative) at the London School of Economics later this year.

At Demos he is working with Duncan O'Leary on a variety of research projects.