Color of Hockey: Payne's hands-on approach paying off for Cleveland kids

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Raven Payne, senior manager for community impact & engagement for Cleveland of the American Hockey League, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ affiliate.

Raven Payne is senior manager for community impact & engagement for Cleveland of the American Hockey League -- and an occasional chauffeur.

Payne found herself shuttling seven local youth hockey players for a nearly three-hour drive to Detroit in May 2024 for them to participate in a weekend meetup with players from Detroit Ice Dreams and Los Angeles’ 24 Degrees of Color, nonprofit youth hockey organizations that strive to make the sport more accessible and affordable to children and families from underrepresented communities.

“For a lot of the kids, an out-of-town experience was Youngstown, 45 minutes from home, or some of their out-of-town experience was nothing,” Payne said. “They didn’t have the means. I’m, like, ‘Raven’s on the company insurance. How are we able to get the kids into a space where they’re able to just have fun with kids that look like them and are from a different place?’”

The Detroit road trip typifies Payne’s hands-on -- and sometimes skates-on -- approach in trying to expand hockey’s reach in Cleveland and Ohio, particularly among girls and within communities of color.

The 30-year-old Clevelander is in her seventh season with Cleveland, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, and is among the growing number of Black women in key positions in hockey from the minor leagues to the NHL who are impacting the sport.

Payne, who received the Rising Star award from Women in Sports and Events Cleveland for being an emerging professional who demonstrates leadership and the sports and events industries, said she admittedly knew little about hockey when she joined the Monsters after earning a Bachelor’s degree in sports and fitness administration/management from Ohio’s Bowling Green State University in 2018.

“I grew up probably 10 minutes from downtown, and I didn't hear much about the hockey team,” she said. “Looking back on it, I was, like, ‘Wow, they were right here this whole entire time I was in school.’ I was, like, ‘All right, I can actually make an impact on a lot of kids that I know and a lot of people who were in the same predicament, that were in the same proximity (to hockey) but didn’t know there was a team or about the great work it’s doing.”

Payne can often be found in the middle of Cleveland’s Mini Monsters Learn to Play, an introductory hockey development program for boys and girls ages 3 to 13; the Monsters Floor Hockey Program that introduces the sport to local schools by providing equipment and lesson plans to incorporate into their physical education programs; and at Girls Grow the Game events, street hockey clinics in the summer and on-ice sessions during the season for girls ages 8-14.

“I'm not the best skater but I'll get out there,” she said. “I don't mind, because I always want to lead by example, to say, ‘Hey, I'm not the greatest, I'm not the best at this thing, but let's do this together. Hey, I'm willing to get out there and if I fall, I fall, I but I'm going get back up.’”

Payne’s skills were on display in February when she and the Monsters partnered with the Black Girl Hockey Club and hosted 40 middle school girls at the city’s Halloran Park rink. BGHC is a nonprofit group founded by Renee Hess, a Riverside, California resident, in 2018 that seeks to inspire and sustain passion for hockey within the Black community, particularly among Black women, and provide access to the sport through education and scholarships.

“We were able to just talk to our experiences within the sport, but then also to about our experiences as Black women,” Payne said. “Renee was there also to talk to her experience and what made her even start Black Girl Hockey Club. For them to see people in spaces and to see people that are doing great things that look like them, was truly the important part, in my opinion.”

Hess said she was impressed by Payne’s passion for hockey and dedication to serving the community.

“Raven has an authentic desire to connect kids of color in Cleveland to the game of ice hockey,” she said. “I was lucky enough to see Raven at action at a game, and she is everything, everywhere, all at once in that arena. She knows everyone by name and does her best to connect and make each person she encounters feel special and seen.

"That is such an important skill to have in the workplace but also in hockey spaces. Where some folks might feel less comfortable than others, Raven makes sure to let each person she meets know that they are important to her and to the spaces they occupy.”

Jason McCrimmon had the same impression after watching Payne chauffer and shepherd the seven young Cleveland players during a Michigan weekend meetup, when the kids skated, toured USA Hockey facilities in Plymouth, Michigan, and met Blake Bolden, a Clevelander and former professional player who is a scout and community and hockey development specialist for the Los Angeles Kings and ESPN hockey analyst.

The weekend was supported by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association’s Player Inclusion Coalition, a panel of current and former NHL players and women's professional hockey players to advance equality and inclusion in hockey on and off the ice.

McCrimmon, a 2022-23 NHL Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award winner, used three words to describe Payne.

“She’s for real,” he said.

Payne said people sometimes give her curious looks when she tells them she works in hockey or ask about whether she would be more comfortable working for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association.

“I always tell people the opportunity that hockey gives me is to fill in a gap,” she said. “It was 100 percent meant for me to be here, meant for me to stand in this space, meant for me to speak up in spaces where people don’t necessarily always look like me.”