National BDPA Awards Program

BDPA New York Wins 'Chapter of the Year' Award (2011)

The National BDPA Awards Program provides a means to recognize individual chapters and members for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the mission and objectives of the National organization.

It would be wonderful to have most, if not all, of the 45 local BDPA chapters tracking their metrics and accomplishments against these objective standards. It's not about the award ... it is about doing the right things for the right reasons. Please take a moment to review the 2011 criteria.

There are great BDPA members doing God's work in 45 cities around the nation. Isn't it time that we document your accomplishments? Here are the past winners of our BDPA Chapter of the Year Award (with the chapter president in parenthesis):

• 2011 - New York (Renetta English)
• 2010 - Philadelphia (Hayward West)
• 2009 - Philadelphia (Monique Berry)
• 2008 - Philadelphia (Monique Berry)
• 2007 - Philadelphia (Curtis Jenkins)
• 2006 - Cincinnati (Frank Hill)
• 2005 - Chicago (Reginald Gardner)



Gina Billings, Wayne Hicks

• 2004 - Cincinnati (Gina Billings)
• 2003 - Charlotte (Cassandra Seibles)
• 2002 - Cincinnati (Gina Billings)
• 2001 - Cincinnati (Wayne Hicks)
• 2000 - Chicago (Ricky Penick)
• 1999 - New York (unknown)
• 1998 - Dallas (unknown)
• 1997 - ??? (do you remember?)



Ollie Morgan

• 1996 - Detroit (unknown)
• 1995 - ??? (do you remember?)
• 1994 - Detroit (unknown)
• 1993 - Chicago (Ollie Morgan)
• 1992 - Chicago (Ollie Morgan)
• 1991 - Chicago (Ollie Morgan)
• 1990 - ??? (do you remember?)
• 1989 - Detroit (Diane Davis)
• 1988 - New York (Michael Robinson)
• 1987 - Cleveland (Vivian Wilson)
• 1986 - Cleveland (Vivian Wilson)

I hope that current BDPA leaders will download the 2011 awards program criteria. I also would love to fill in the unknown chapter presidents who led these winning efforts in the past. Can you help in either case?

Finally, I notice that chapter can get points in the awards program for making donations of at least $100 to a nonprofit organization. Might I suggest that all 45 chapters consider making those points with an online donation to the BDPA Education & Technology Foundation!

Chapter Building Workshop: Selling BDPA

BDPA originated over 30 years ago out of concerns that minorities were not adequately represented in the information technology industry. BDPA provides education, training and professional development programs "from the classroom to the boardroom" for students, professionals, entrepreneurs and our community.

The theory behind BDPA is simple. However, the execution of the steps that need to be taken to grow local BDPA chapters is much more difficult. There are over 300,000 people of African descent in the technology industry ... yet, BDPA only has a handful of chapters with more than 100 members. There are thousands of corporations and foundations that fund non-profits ... yet, BDPA only has a handful of corporate sponsors or winning grant proposals.

A chapter building workshop, 'Selling BDPA' scheduled for Friday, August 8, 2008, will give tips and techniques that can be put to use immediately in areas such as marketing, corporate sales, membership growth and fundraising.

The presenter, Wayne Hicks, is a demonstrated expert in this field. Wayne grew the BDPA Cincinnati chapter from six (6) members to over 200 members in a little over a year. His chapter won back-to-back Chapter of the Year awards under his leadership. He later served as national president at a time when BDPA membership hit an all-time high in its 30-year history. BDPA published a monthly newsletter, quarterly magazine and delivered world-class national conferences in Dallas and Detroit under his leadership. He is an entrepreneur who ran the Cincinnati Business Incubator for five years before taking the helm of the BDPA Education & Technology Foundation.

Mr. Hicks is uniquely qualified to share tangible tips and technigues that will help any BDPA leader. His message is equally useful for anyone that runs a small business or serves as an officer for a non-profit organization outside of BDPA world.

Have you registered for this workshop yet?

Selling BDPA - Multiple Streams of Chapter Revenue: Membership Corporate Sales and BETF Support

One of the chapter-building workshops provided at the BDPA Technology Conference last month in Washington DC was entitled Selling BDPA - Multiple Streams of Chapter Revenue: Membership, Corporate Sales and BETF Support.

Cliff Samuels is a board member of our BDPA Detroit chapter. He requested a copy of the handout material from that workshop to share with his chapter leadership. Just click here to download a copy of the 16-page handout package from the Selling BDPA workshop.

Let me know if you have questions about any of the information provided in this handout package!