Grant Recipient: BDPA Cincinnati ($10,000)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is proud to announce the approval of a $10,000 grant disbursement to the BDPA Cincinnati chapter. The funds were requested by the chapter president Wanda Gray and chapter VP-Finance Prince Ellis to cover expenses for 'SITES program, High School Computer Competition (HSCC), 16th annual Awards Banquet and monthly program meetings'.


Twenty-four students began training in January as part of the chapter's computer camp. The students are recruited through local public and private high schools. Sponsorship from Christ Cathedral Church, Cincinnati Bell and Procter & Gamble provided the reference materials and meals for the training sessions.

The students met every Saturday at Cincinnati State Technical College, and BDPA members drilled them in programming skills. Twelve moved on to phase two of the training to which the previous year's attendees were invited. Six made the final cut and participated in a June regional competition.

Four high school students went on to the national competition: Hadiya Harrigan (Seven Hills HS), Christian Johnson (Mason HS), Curtis Mimes (Taft HS) and Bikram Sapkota (Taft HS).

 Another four Cincinnati-area students -- Landon Jackson (Mason HS), Li-Ara Jackson (Mason HS), Jahaan Maiden (University of Cincinnati) and Tariq Maiden (Mason HS) -- participated in the 9th annual BDPA IT Showcase in Chicago during the national conference. [SOURCE]

BETF is glad that this funding is helping BDPA Cincinnati chapter. Our hope is that the other 44 chapters will recognize the benefits of partnering with BETF for future funding!