Grant Proposal: BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) partnered with BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter (president, LaDonna Crum) to submit an online grant application seeking $8,000 in funding from BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama. We worked with our internal champion at the insurance company, Brice Baumann. Brice has been involved with BDPA for many years in both Cincinnati and Birmingham. Brice has served as an adviser for the local chapter board members and has been a guest speaker at BDPA local events. Brice has been a supporter of BDPA initiatives and programs because of his belief in the organization’s mission.

Our grant proposal asked the company for partial funding of the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program in Birmingham. The objective of our SITES program in Birmingham is to effectively use technology to stimulate and sustain the interest of young people in science and technology. SITES works with children from disadvantaged backgrounds to provide them with science, technology, engineering and math skills development needed to be productive, engaged members of our future workforce.

BDPA Greater Birmingham has already identified other funding sources that they want to approach for funding of its 2015 SITES program. BETF encourages all 46 local BDPA chapters to aggressively partner with BETF on these grant proposals. In the meantime, shower your good thoughts on BDPA Greater Birmingham as they seek to raise $27,720 in the near-term!

Grant Declination: Vulcan Materials Company Foundation

 BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) partnered with BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter to submit a grant proposal to the Vulcan Materials Company Foundation seeking $5,000 funding to support the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program in Alabama.


Vulcan Materials Company Foundation seeks to “be a good corporate citizen in each community in which we operate. We will support and take an active part in public and charitable projects.” Vulcan established the Vulcan Materials Company Foundation in 1988 to assist in carrying out that mission. Because contributions made by the Foundation are corporate-based business dollars, it is essential that they be made in a planned and consistent manner that best serves the combined interests of Vulcan and the communities in which they operate.

BETF and BDPA Greater Birmingham understood that Vulcan was interested in efforts to encourage young people to develop an interest in math, science and business. The Foundation, therefore, gives consideration to proposals designed to help maintain students’ curiosity and excitement about the world of math and science and to explore the world of industry and business. The Foundation is particularly interested in helping young people and their teachers understand the relevance of math and science to society, and supports efforts to link these subjects to their application in the workplace. The Foundation also will consider programs designed to educate our students about the vital role of business and industry in society.

In any case, we learned that our grant proposal has been declined. The Vulcan Foundation wrote,

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Dear Mr. Hicks,

Thank you for your recent proposal to support the BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter’s SITES program. Unfortunately, the Vulcan Materials Company Foundation budget has been established for 2014. In addition, Vulcan supports STEM education in our operating areas locally and across the country through our adopted schools and programs. While we understand the importance of your work in our community, we must decline participation at this time. We will you success in securing the funds you seek for your program.

We wish you success in securing the funds you seek for your program.

Sincerely,
Carol B. Maxwell
Secretary/Treasurer
Vulcan Materials Company Foundation

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BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter president LaDonna Crum is aggressively working with BETF on other funding opportunities. However, we encourage the readers of this post to consider making a secure online donation to support the efforts of Birmingham Blacks in technology as they seek to lift up our young people from the classroom to the boardroom.

Take Five: LaDonna Crum (BDPA Greater Birmingham)

BDPA provides its members with unique opportunities to develop leadership skills in a comforting environment. One person who has taken full advantage of the career-building opportunities in BDPA is LaDonna Crum. LaDonna is currently serving as president of BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter ... one of the fastest growing chapters in the nation!

We recently asked LaDonna to participate in our Take Five interview series.

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1. How did you get involved with BDPA? - I originally heard of BDPA in 2003 as a recent graduate of Franklin University (Columbus, Ohio). But I didn’t get the opportunity to join at that time. However, a co-worker invited me to a BDPA program meeting when I moved to Birmingham, AL. I joined BDPA after this meeting. A little later I became the chapter's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Coordinator. I served in that role from 2004-2006.
2. What is your favorite part of working with BDPA? - My favorite part of working with BDPA is the personal growth. BDPA gives me the opportunity to communicate with other IT professionals. At the same time I have the opportunity to learn from these professionals. Also, BDPA afforded me the opportunity to move into a leadership role and lead our local chapter. I have expanded my networking circle on a local, regional and national level since becoming part of BDPA.
3. What future evolution or change would you like to see in BDPA? - The future evolution I would like to see in BDPA is the overall growth of the organization on a national level. I would like to see BDPA as a primary Information Technology forum for our industry and community throughout the United States. For instance, I would like to see a greater connection between BDPA and government officials at both the federal and municipal levels.
4. Why should someone pay $100 membership dues to join BDPA? - BDPA is an investment in your personal growth. You will have the opportunity to network with other IT professionals; give back to your community; grow in terms of your technical and professional skills and an improved opportunity for career enhancement.
5. Any advice for people considering a donation to the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) - Your donation benefits students in our community by exposing them to the world of information technology. This will contribute to a greater future for them in the workforce and in our community.

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I encourage all of our readers to help LaDonna grow the programs, scholarships and services offered by BDPA Greater Birmingham. One immediate way you can support is through a secure online donation to the chapter's HSCC scholarship program!

Related articles

• BDPA iRadio Show - March 25, 2014
• Message from BDPA Greater Birmingham President

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, April 2014)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership.  We are proud to announce that membership has grown for the 4th straight month to its highest level since January 2010.  In fact, the total membership increased by 21% so far this year ... and up 50% from this time last year!  The membership growth is a direct result of efforts by local, regional and national leaders to provide a value proposition to members (and potential members) with its programs, scholarships and services.  Kudos to the National BDPA president Craig Brown and his team for the continued positive trending in this core metric.

For the third month in a row we pay homage to BDPA Cincinnati chapter (president Dalric Webb) for its continued success in terms of membership retention and recruitment.  BDPA Cincinnati added more members in April than any other chapter in the nation as it became the 2nd largest chapter in the nation.  Most of these new members came from sponsorship decisions made by Cincinnati Bell and Procter & Gamble.   

LaDonna Crum

Two other chapters deserve recognition for their membership growth in April.   BDPA chapters in Greater Birmingham (president, LaDonna Crum) and Greater Columbia (president, Mildred Allen) managed to grow their chapters by 30% and 20%, respectively last month.

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:

1. Chicago - president, Reggie Rush
2. Cincinnati - president, Dalric Webb (up 1 spot from last month)
3. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
4. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
5. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown 
6. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
7. Dallas - president, Chad White
8. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
9. New York - president, Tyronne McKinney
10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore

The top five chapters on the list remain in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.

What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Related articles

• Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, March 2014)
• Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, February 2014)
• Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, January 2014)

Long Story Short: LaDonna Crum (BDPA Greater Birmingham)

LaDonna Crum is an applications support analyst. She took on another critical role last year as the president of our BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter and she has been lighting things up in Alabama with a fervent roar about the benefits of membership in BDPA. She is attracting new volunteers and funding ... and she is planning an aggressive schedule of programs and services for both students and IT professionals in Birmingham. Her chapter is currently the 34th largest in the nation.

This blog has shared LaDonna's profile with its readers in the past. This time we wanted to get a more personal look into the personality of this rising BDPA leader. We asked LaDonna to give brief answers to some odd questions. We hope you enjoy this new feature that we simply call, 'Long Story Short...'

LaDonna Crum

1. Favorite way to exercise? - My favorite way to exercise would be to ride the bike. This is the only exercise that motivates me to 'keep going'. This is the exercise that I benefit the most from in terms of 'no pain-no gain' and at the end of my workout, I always go back to the bike to finish the workout.
2. How do you kill time in airports? - I kill time at the airports by preparing myself for any future events and organizing my professional life. I will updating my 'to-do' list, create mental notes to remind myself of deadlines or think of creative way to approach my professional life. Sometimes, I just read the new 'Around The World'.
3. Least favorite chore? - My least favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom, despite the fact that I am very proud of myself afterwards. It appears to be the sloppiest cleaning job in existence based on the sheer number of cleaning tools and cleaning solutions for different parts of the bathroom.
4. Simple things that make you happiest? - The simple thing that makes me the happiest is when people say, 'thank you'. It makes my day when I help someone and I receive a sincere 'thank you'!
5. Who you'd like to meet? - I would like to meet Taraji P. Henson. Several people have said that I resemble her and over time I have come to admire her.

Hey LaDonna --- THANK YOU!

Related articles

• Message from BDPA Greater Birmingham President
• BDPA iRadio Show - March 25, 2014

BDPA iRadio Show - March 25, 2014 (James Arama, LaDonna Crum, Michael Wulf)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud to be the creator of the BDPA iRadio Show. You can listen to the archive version of the show using the widget shown in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. FREE download from the iTunes Store is also available for our listeners!

Popular Technology Internet Radio with BDPA on BlogTalkRadio

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The guests on the March 25th show:

James Arama - software engineer, Funeral Innovations - Five years ago James was trained by BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter as part of its Student IT Education & Scholarship (SITES) program. He was chosen to be part of a 5-person team to compete in the 2009 national BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship held in Raleigh, NC. His team won the HSCC championship that year!  James earned scholarships that helped him finance his college education at Marist College. He is now a software developer and entrepreneur working side-by-side with his HSCC coach, Zack Garbow, for a company called Funeral Innovations. James is the embodiment of the BDPA tagline, '...classroom to the boardroom'.  You can follow James on Twitter -- @thejamesarama

LaDonna Crum - chapter president, BDPA Greater Birmingham - LaDonna Crum is an applications support analyst. She took on another critical role last year as the president of our BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter and she has been lighting things up in Alabama with a fervent roar about the benefits of membership in BDPA. She is attracting new volunteers and funding ... and she is planning an aggressive schedule of programs and services for both students and IT professionals in Birmingham.  Her chapter is currently the 36th largest in the nation.

Michael Wulf - vice president, BDPA Midwest Region - Michael Wulf began his term as the BDPA Midwest Region vice president in January 2014. Michael provides leadership and guidance to 11 chapters located within his region. He hosted a regional conference in Columbus OH on March 21-22, 2014. Our BDPA iRadio show listeners will learn about Michael's accomplishments over the first 100 days of his administration as well as his vision for the future of BDPA on both a regional and national level.
Michael can be found on Twitter - @michaelgwulf

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We hope you enjoy the insights and commentary on the show from each of these guests. Please take a moment to post a comment to let us know that you care!

Related articles

• BDPA iRadio Show - March 11, 2014

Message from BDPA Greater Birmingham President

LaDonna Crum

I will start off by saying that if you missed this meeting ('BDPA Greater Birmingham – A Look into 2014'), you missed a wealth of information. Thank you for those of you that was able to attend. Also, thank you Mahari McTier!

As always, let’s remember to RENEW our membership. Based on the question posed by Cedrick, we do believe that networking is important.
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This Kick Off Meeting added new avenues for our chapter to grow.

1. We touched on Membership. We discussed more aggressive ways to RECRUIT new members. This includes a marketing strategy that will allow us to identify locations throughout Birmingham and distribute fliers/postcards and to approach our local college and introduce ourselves.
2. We touched on building a Network of local entities that rely on BDPA Greater Birmingham for IT professionals and IT Services. And as a result, this will create value for our members at the local level.
3. We touched on creating Programs (in addition to the current programs) such as, workshops at our local churches for computer literacy and career assistance. Other programs, like IT Boot Camp at Miles College during the summer. And Internships for our students.
4. We discussed local funding and potential corporate sponsors, as well as, alliances with other non-profit groups.
5. We acquired a number of contacts in different capacities that have been known to support a healthy cause, such as ours.

So, we covered a broad number of topics and I must admit that the feedback from this meeting was phenomenal!

Thank you!
A message from your local Prez.
LaDonna Crum, president
BDPA Greater Birmingham

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President Profile: La Donna Crum (BDPA Greater Birmingham)

BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter was chartered in August 2002.  The chapter is a key element of our BDPA South Region and a past host of a quarterly National BDPA Board of Directors meeting.  The future looks bright for BDPA Greater Birmingham as they welcome on board the newest chapter president -- La Donna Crum.

La Donna Crum, President
BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter

Address: P.O. Box 10341
Birmingham, AL 35205
(205) 504-1438

La Donna shared her BDPA story with us:

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My vision for BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter over the next couple of years under my presidency is to promote membership, obtain sponsorship and build a competitive High School Computer Competition team. I feel strongly that we can offer community service, participate in local technology events and educate our community on Information Technology (IT). I envision our chapter becoming a pillar within our community for the IT industry; to become a household name and to prepare our youth people to become IT professionals.

HER FAVORITE QUOTE: 'Each One Should Teach One!'

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Please use the POST COMMENT link below to share some BDPA-Love with the president our BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter!

Related articles

• Long Story Short: LaDonna Crum (BDPA Greater Birmingham)
• BDPA iRadio Show - March 25, 2014

Message from BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter President

Hello,

LaDonna Crum

I wanted to take that time to say, "Hello"!  I am not sure if everyone is aware that I have taken the opportunity to lead our local chapter as its president.  I have been a member of BDPA Greater Birmingham for some time now, I served as the chapter's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) from 2004-2006.

I am still transitioning to the new leadership position, but, I wanted to contact our group and open up lines of communication with the members and supporters of the BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter.

I attended the April 2013 conference call of BDPA South Regional Chapter Presidents. The conference call focused on the need to encourage all BDPA members to register for the 35th annual National BDPA Technology Conference on August 14- 17, 2013 in Washington DC. Please let me know if you plan to attend. Feel free to email me with this information.

Finally, I would like to schedule a face-to-face meeting with chapter members on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

Thank you,
LaDonna Crum, president
BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter