Message from Philadelphia Chapter President

Curtis Jenkins served as president of BDPA Philadelphia chapter in 2006-2007. He shared his farewell message on 12/31/2007. We are posting it here for posterity.

Enjoy these words of information and inspiration from Bro. Jenkins:

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We did it!

We have culminated another successful year as a Chapter - My thanks to you! I hope that this year has been a great one for you and your families. This is my final message as President of the organization, but not my final involvement as I now have the honor as Immediate Past President. In this role I can continue to contribute to the overarching theme of the organization "From the Classroom to the Boardroom." As we come to a close on the year and to my term in office, I want to take the time to say how much I appreciated the opportunity to serve as your President. I learned a great deal on how to lead by serving. Once again, thanks for your vote of confidence.

I am excited about Monique Berry becoming your new President and the team that she has working with her including the new officers: Hayward West as President-Elect and Cedric Edwards as Treasurer.

I would like to reflect on a few major accomplishments during my two-year term:

• Introduced an Annual Awards banquet to celebrate the accomplishments of all who directly contribute to the goals and mission of the Philadelphia Chapter
• Increased our sponsorship by greater than 100% of direct dollars to support our programs
• Won Chapter of the Year for the year 2006
• Won the membership category of Chapter of the Year for 2006
• Fielded an HSCC team to both the Los Angeles and Washington DC BDPA conferences
• Paid $11,000 in scholarships
• Instituted a yearly Membership Appreciation Event
• Instituted a yearly Corporate Roundtable to provide members direct access to hiring authorities at sponsoring companies
• Partnered with Wireless Philadelphia and Rohm and Haas to donate 95 computers to local Philadelphia residents
• Highly successful Programs including hosting the Black Family Technology Awareness Week
• Trained & certified 8 members with an International Computers Drivers License
• Provided direct assistance and leadership to chartering of the Northern Delaware chapter
• Represented BDPA by speaking at a number of community events including the opening of BFTAW (2006), Technology Symposium - Robotics Fair (2007), High School for Engineering and Science (2007)
• Added six (6) new members (John Dawson, Eileen Gadsden, Jamilah Brown, Hayward West, Byron Mayes and Cedric Edwards) to the Executive Board who served more than 1 year or took an elected position

This success could not be achieved without the help of key people and organizations. I want to personally thank:

• Rohm and Haas: my employer, for your support
• Merck and Co, Inc, CIGNA, SAP, Temple University, Mount Airy Community Computer Center, Computers for Schools, JP Morgan Chase and Deloitte for the sponsorship and support
• The BDPA Philadelphia Executive Board - past and present including but not limited to: Monique Berry, Duane Howard, Sheila Black, Jamilah Brown, John Dawson, Hayward West, Byron Mayes and Eileen Gadsden. You have all served as both mentors and supporters to me during this period and I really appreciate you.
• Special Thanks to Norman Fleming who served as a Philadelphia board member, provided mentorship on the protocols of leadership and governance, and the opportunity to serve as campaign manager for his National Election effort.
• The National Executive Committee and members of the National Board of Directors.
• Special Thanks to Yvette Graham and the Chicago chapter for coaching and sharing their successful blueprint for developing and maintaining a successful chapter.
• Also special thanks to Will Brown and Paulette Johnson-Davis of the Cleveland and Greater Columbia chapters respectively for their friendship and support
• Thanks to those chapters who have supported our events and who have invited me to attend their events. I found a friend in every chapter over these years and look forward to spending time with as many chapters as I can
• Thanks to the BDPA founder, Earl Pace, who had the vision to create the organization and the stamina to sustain it.
• Special thanks to Wayne Hicks who inspired me to leadership after seeing him open up the 2003 BDPA Conference in Philadelphia. His energy is unmatched and he continues to be a consistent mentor and champion of chapter success
• Thanks to the students who also inspired me to leadership when I saw their faces after they received their scholarship awards for participating in the High School Computer Competition Program.
• Thanks to Gina Billings for the wisdom and friendship. Your words go a long way and have resonated through my chapter during your visit to our annual awards banquets.
• Thanks to my friends and family some who have joined the organization just to support me in reaching the goals of the chapter
• Thanks to the members of PhillyPact (NSBE, NSN, NABA, NAAAP, NBMBA, NSHMBA, SHPE and the new organizations that recently joined the organization) for sharing your ideas and best practices for running non-profit, volunteer organizations. Thanks also for collaborating on social and professional events as we worked together to build our respective memberships
• Finally, thanks to the members who stepped up to the plate to run programs that support the goals of the chapter - most notably, Karen Scott who was awarded that distinction.

The future of BDPA Philadelphia is abundant with energy as the new administration is planning an exciting menu of programs and services in an effort to take the organization to new heights. Our 2010 Vision which started in 2007 is "Partnering for Continued Growth". This supports the overall "Classroom to the Boardroom" and the "It's all about Membership" theme.

One final goal for me is to build a chapter Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) which is already in progress. I did not list this as an accomplishment as it is being finalized. Members of the CAC and details of this group will be announced at the January Program meeting.

Curtis Jenkins, 2006-2007 president
BDPA Philadelphia Chapter

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I encourage all of you that know Curtis Jenkins to take a moment to share some BDPA-Love with him right now! What say u?