Clutch Magazine Offers Summer Blog Academy

I'm pleased to see more and more Black bloggers taking their craft seriously. Dede Sutton, the sister who runs Clutch Magazine (BBR #17), plans to partner with with Black Web 2.0 (BBR #237 and others to create a summer series that helps her readers learn how to succeed online. The seminar will go over just about every element someone should know when entering the online game. Also, it will hip them to the most up to date trends in social media.
Some of the topics to be discussed in the Summer Blog Academy include:

• How to make money from your blog or website.
• Tactics to increase traffic.
• Learn about social media/marketing in general.
• Learn how to set up, design and maintain your site.

It should be an interesting experience. I plan to participate as a prelude to attending the Blogging While Brown Conference in Atlanta on July 18-20.

This Week in BDPA (Apr 14-20)

Our foundation seeks to support BDPA programs and services. As such, it is important that your blog readers know about the plethora of BDPA activity all around the country. Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the BDPA CollectiveX Calendar and elsewhere:

• Apr 14: Baton Rouge - Membership Drive, 'Growing BDPA in Louisiana'


• Apr 16: Philadelphia - Program Meeting, 'Financial Management 101


• Apr 17: Detroit - Membership Drive, 'Growing BDPA in Michigan'


• Apr 17: Cincinnati - Program Meeting, 'Secrets of IT Recruitment'


• Apr 18: Chicago - Program Meeting, 'Global IT Infrastructures', sponsored by UBS
• Apr 19: Philadelphia - Fundraiser, 'Wine-Tasting Event'


• Apr 19: Cincinnati - Workshops, Project Management Exam Preparation'

We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the BDPA CollectiveX Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events! Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed. Most importantly, let us know if you plan to attend any BDPA events this week. Finally, if you like what you are seeing ... please consider making an online donation to the BDPA Foundation so that we can continue to fund these events in the future.

AT&T Employee Giving Campaign

BETF proudly received pledged payments through the AT&T Employee Giving Campaign made by Gibran McDuffie and Gary Justin. Our foundation is proud to be part of the annual giving program for AT&T. The donation made by Gibran will be used to support BDPA Chicago programs and services. The donation made by Gary will be used to support BDPA Los Angeles programs and services.

Our hope is that other BDPA members will consider making payroll deductions during annual giving campaigns put on by United Way, Combined Federal Campaign or the company itself. Others may simply want to make a one-time donation directly to BETF in support of the youth education programs taking place all over the country.

Please share some 'BDPA-Love' with Gibran and Gary in the COMMENTS section below!

BDPA Foundation Blog Milestone: 300 Posts

Our BDPA Foundation Blog just passed the 300-post milestone this weekend. We began on this blogging journey on August 16, 2007. This is my second blogging effort. I created the Electronic Village (BBR #27) back in January 2007. Admittedly, the BDPA Foundation Blog (BBR #448) has a smaller niche audience than the Electronic Village, however, I'm still disappointed in the results from this blog to date. I'll need to do much better over the next 300 posts...

My overall goal with this blog is to provide information and discussion about BDPA that gives people a reason to financially support our non-profit foundation. BDPA exists to advance the careers of African Americans in the information technology industry from the 'classroom to the boardroom'. The BDPA Foundation wants to fund BDPA programs and services ... especially those related to our youth.

I encourage all of you to subscribe to BDPA Foundation Blog so that you won't miss our positive growth over the coming weeks and months! Currently, we have 19 subscribers to our blog. I hope to increase that number to over 100 by mid-year. If you like the flow of our blog ... then I encourage you to subscribe today!

Our favorite topics over the past 300 posts have focused on program meetings, BDPA Cincinnati chapter and BDPA Philadelphia chapter.

This blog averages 29 visitors a day right now with 56 daily page views. I'm told that BDPA members appreciate the information that is shared here. I want to thank each of you that takes a moment of your day to view our daily blog updates. Personally, I believe you get what you measure. We track our metrics to show when we've done our best (see date in parenthesis):

• Highest Feedburner Subscribers - 22 (2/20/08)
• BlogCatalog Ranking - 41.3 out of 100 (12/6/07)
• Highest Technorati Authority Ranking - 23 (2/18/08)
• # Blogs Between BETF-Blog and #1 Blog in the World - 360,865 (2/18/08)
• # Blogs Linking to BETF-Blog - 72 (4/8/08)
• # Bloggers listing us as a 'favorite' - 7 (12/1/07)
• Top Daily Visitors101 (3/3/08)

We're not Bossip.com, but, we do our best! I have no idea where the next 300 posts will take us. However, I pledge to be consistent in efforts to grow our BDPA Foundation blog community.
I hope that you will regularly visit with us and POST COMMENTS so that we know what you're thinking. With your support we can grow our organization, our foundation and our blog! Asante sana!

New Black Search Engine: RushmoreDrive.com

Villagers, did you check out the new search engine that seeks to deliver a better experience for Black folks? It is called RushmoreDrive.com -- named after the street on which its Charlotte offices are located. The new concept is to go beyond the traditional search results that we can get from Google. Each query on RushmoreDrive also returns news, images, video and blogs. The guy who runs it is Johnny Taylor (president, Black Web Enterprises).

Blacks want "everything we already get from Google plus highly relevant news," Taylor says. "RushmoreDrive will deliver a more relevant search with people who identify with being Black."

RushmoreDrive determined through focus group interviews that Blacks on the Internet were most interested in search tools, news and job networking, which led to the addition of features that rival job sites Monster.com and LinkedIn.com, plus ways to network based on church, Greek and social affiliations. The site's editorial staff will also cover timely issues.

I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to list 'BDPA' as one of my professional networks. This is the first time in my memory that this 30+ year old organization of African American information technology professionals has been listed as an pre-identified option. Showing some love to BDPA, along with the fact that AfroSpear member Faye Anderson is a featured blogger gave me the incentive to register with this new search engine.

As traffic grows, those learning schemes are designed to create a smarter search site, and similar technology can create search engines for other communities. "It's not just a Black search engine and it's not just a Black technology. It's where vertical meets search and creates this new thing," Taylor says. "Identity search is going to be the way to go." [SOURCE]

Grant Proposal: The Boston Foundation

As Greater Boston’s community foundation, the Boston Foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everyone. One way that they fulfill this mission is by making grants to nonprofit organizations and designing special funding initiatives to address this community’s critical challenges.

BDPA Boston Chapter and the BDPA Foundation combined to submit a pre-application grant request of $5,000 to partially fund the 2009 Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program in Boston. The online pre-application application was completed on April 12, 2008. We await approval at this first stage of the process before we move on to the second stage of the process.

Grant Proposal: Eli Lilly and Company Foundation

The BDPA Foundation submitted a joint grant proposal with BDPA Indianapolis chapter to the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation. We requested $17,000 to cover funding for the 2008 SITES program in Indianapolis.

Voices of Africa Nominated for 2008 Webby Award

The 2008 Webby Awards are known by many as the 'Oscars of the Internet'. Nearly 10,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states received this year for the 12th annual Webby Awards. Neither of my blogs, Electronic Village or BDPA Foundation, have been nominated as of yet. However, we were very pleased to learn from the BDPA Philadelphia blog that the mobile project known as 'Voices of Africa' recognized as an Official Honoree by the Webby Awards 2008. [SOURCE]

Voices of Africa gives African reporters the opportunity to report with mobile phones about events in their country. This unique initiative in Africa is part of the Africa Interactive Media Foundation, based in Haarlem, The Netherlands.

Pim de Wit, chairman of the Africa Interactive Media Foudation: ‘We are very happy with this recognition. In the past nine months, hundreds of mobile videos have been published on africanews.com and Voices-of-Africa.com. We were able to support more young reporters from Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Cameroon. We believe by doing so we have contributed to a more balanced image of these countries. In the same time, we have given our reporters a podium to the word and helped the improve their skills.’

Letter of Inquiry: Fifth Third Foundation

The Fifth Third Foundation has been making meaningful grants where Fifth Third Bank operates since its creation in 1948. Last year, the Fifth Third Foundation made over 560 grants throughout Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida. Grants totaling $4 million were made in the areas of arts and culture, community development, education, and health and human services.

Fifth Third Foundation accepted our letter of inquiry today requesting permission to submit a $5,000 grant proposal on behalf of our BDPA Columbus chapter. We should know before the end of the month if Fifth Third Foundation will invite us to submit the grant proposal.

Membership Drive (Detroit)

BDPA Detroit chapter is the 10th largest chapter in the nation. They seek to make a major move towards the top of the list with a membership drive targeting the 47,816 technology professionals in metro Detroit. The chapter will partner with Urban Financial Services Coalition (UFSC) to share information about ways that professionals in the metro Detroit community can make a difference on April 17, 2008 at the Grand Central Lounge!

BDPA is a proactive professional organization that seeks to advance the careers of African Americans in the information technology industry from the 'classroom to the boardroom'. Members have opportunities to enhance networking skills by playing an active role in planning, developing, and implementing local and national projects designed to meet BDPA’s goals and objectives. The skills gained through taking on responsibilities in BDPA prove to be a valuable asset to one’s professional and personal life.

We encourage all BETF-Blog readers in or near Detroit to attend this event. Here are the logistics:



Date: Thursday, April 17, 2008
Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Cost: $10 cover charge

(proceeds benefit scholarship fund)

Place: Grand Central Lounge
311 E. Grand River Ave; Detroit, MI 48226For more information you can reach out to BDPA Detroit chapter president Anquanette Clegg on (313) 438-3519.

This Week in BDPA (Apr 7-13)

Our foundation seeks to support BDPA programs and services. As such, it is important that your blog readers know about the plethora of BDPA activity all around the country. Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the BDPA CollectiveX Calendar and elsewhere:

• Apr 8: Los Angeles - Program Meeting, 'Rational Rose Suite / Configuration Management '
• Apr 10: New Jersey - Program Meeting, 'Virtual Desktop, sponsored by UBS'
• Apr 12: Cincinnati - Workshops, Project Management Exam Preparation'

We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the BDPA CollectiveX Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events! Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed. Most importantly, let us know if you plan to attend any BDPA events this week. Finally, if you like what you are seeing ... please consider making an online donation to the BDPA Foundation so that we can continue to fund these events in the future.

Grant Declination: The Hartford Insurance Group

Our $24,906 grant proposal to The Hartford Insurance Group sent on behalf of the BDPA Twin Cities chapter has been denied. This proposal was driven by the passion of one of our BDPA members who works for The Hartford.

We plan to submit a new grant proposal to this funding source for the 2009 SITES program in Minneapolis after the conference is over.

Allstate Giving Campaign

BETF proudly received pledged payments through the Allstate Giving Campaign made by Yvette Graham, Lewis Hamer, Cheryl Lewis, Felicia Mansfield, Chandra Morton, Christina Outlay and Ura Puranda. Our foundation is proud to be part of the annual giving program for Allstate Insurance. The donations made by these seven BDPA members will be used to support BDPA Chicago programs and services. Allstate Insurance leveraged the generosity of these BDPA employees with an additional 15% matching fund donation.

Our hope is that other BDPA members will consider making payroll deductions during annual giving campaigns put on by United Way, Combined Federal Campaign or the company itself. Others may simply want to make a one-time donation directly to BETF in support of the youth education programs taking place all over the country.
Please share some 'BDPA-Love' with Yvette, Lewis, Cheryl, Felicia, Chandra, Christina and Ura by using the COMMENTS section below!

Membership Drive (Baton Rouge)

BDPA Baton Rouge is the 30th largest chapter in the nation. They want to make a major move up the membership rankings by hosting their first membership drive on Monday, April 14, 2008 at Southern University's John B. Cade Library. This membership drive is part of the comprehensive 2008 strategic plan promised by the chapter leadership when they were chartered as the newest BDPA chapter in February.

IT professionals in Louisiana are encouraged to invite your friends and family to meet the professionals and students involved in BDPA. Learn how you can support the BDPA Baton Rouge IT training team as a student, mentor or assistant. There will be food, fun and door prizes! So please pass the word.

Here are the logistics:

Date: - Monday, April 14, 2008
Time: - 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Place - John B. Cade Library
Southern University

Please RSVP with Joe McMahon, BDPA Baton Rouge chapter president. Of course, we hope that you will leave a COMMENT below if you want to congratualate Joe and the other new members of our Louisiana-based chapter!

Message from Philadelphia Chapter President

Monique Berry leads the defending BDPA Chapter of the Year. She shared the following message with her chapter members, supporters and sponsors. We thought you would find her message of interest:

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As a child my grandmother often said, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" when I needed to be reminded that the potential benefits in a new opportunity mitigates the risk of stepping out to meet any challenge. Now, after a few months' as chapter president, our chapter is entered this new year with a mostly-new slate of officers:

• Monique Berry, President
• Ced Edwards, Vice President of Finance
• Curtis Jenkins, Immediate Past President
• Hayward West, Vice President of Business Management
• Mark Abrams, Vice President of Communication
• Adrienne Anderson-Ferrell, Vice President of Education
• Jamilah Brown, Vice President of Marketing
• John Dawson, Vice President of Membership
• Byron Mayes, Vice President of Professional Development

We're "stepping out" to meet the challenge of BDPA leadership, and we invite you to step out too. We're hoping that you may be feeling energized to try something new this year. We have anticipated that energy, and have provided some opportunities for you.

Step out to an enlightening April 16th chapter meeting. Our Vice President of Strategy has invited Camari Ellis of First Genesis Financial Group, to tell us about wealth management. I hope that every member will take this opportunity to step out from their 401K comfort zone to see what's perhaps unknown -- but promising about planning for the future.

Or, perhaps you can step way out -- to Atlanta, for an informative, interesting and memorable National BDPA Technology Conference on August 6-9. Speak with any chapter member (or any one of your executive board members) who has attended a past BDPA conference ... I believe each would be able to explain why the venture was worthwhile.

Step UP to your potential -- see what your BDPA chapter can bring out in you! Besides being a friendly, supportive group, we can help you to develop-and to demonstrate- leadership skills. You don't have to over-commit...just try out something, like sharing your observations and responses to a speaker's presentation or to a new technical book or whitepaper. Write these in a short article and get published in our newsletter (and build your professional portfolio). Help plan a chapter program-locate a speaker, or introduce that speaker, or write an official chapter letter of thanks afterwards!

If you'd like to work on your public relations skills, or give a short presentation on a topic of interest to our profession, great! We'd like to develop our Public Relations this year, so we need some committee members. And we'd like to introduce a new segment to our meetings entitled "spotlight speaker," where we'd enhance each meeting with members who would show us samples of their work and tell us about their companies and their jobs.

Does any of this sound promising to you? There may be some risk attached with any one of these opportunities, but I sincerely hope that you will take that risk and gain from it. We are only an email away!

Thank you for all of your support.

Monique F. Berry, President
BDPA Philadelphia
Vision: Partnering for Continued Growth!

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What do you think about BDPA Philadelphia chapter president's message this month? Does your chapter president publish monthly updates such as this one?

Vincent Foundation

The Vincent Foundation board of directors meets twice each year with the meetings held the third Sunday in May and October. It is at such meetings that decisions are made regarding requests for funding. Material must be received prior to these dates so that each Board member can receive copies in a timely manner. The deadlines are March 21 and August 21. Six copies of your application and an equal volume of supporting materials for examination by the Board will be most welcome.

In recent years, annual distributions from the Vincent Foundation have been in the range of $100,000 with a maximum of $15,000 set by the Board for any one recipient. Preference is given to "grass roots" organizations, to those in the inner-city, as well as to those in the home areas of members. Their guidelines for giving should be consulted and followed closely.

Projects in the inner city or in the areas wherein Board members live have priority. Those areas include California, Connecticut, Maryland and South Carolina.

BETF seeks to partner with eligible chapter on funding for their SITES program. If you are interested please let us know through the COMMENTS section below. First come; first served...

Top Ten Black Blogs (Apr 2008)

I continue to be amazed at the growing number of Black-owned & operated blogs out in the afrosphere. Many of you recall how perturbed I was last year when I saw a list of so-called influential bloggers with no people of color included. Frack it (as us Battlestar Galactica fans are known to say) ... if others won't give props to Black-owned & operated blogs ... then we must do it for ourselves.

Today we announce the Villager's Black Blog Rankings (BBR) for April 2008 with 1,045 blogs in the mix. We began tracking the Top Ten Black Blogs in September 2007 with only 75 blogs listed. The number of blogs on the list grew to 602 by the beginning of the year. Last month the BBR had 850 Black blogs on it.

We have no idea where this ranking will take us. However, Prometheus 6 (BBR #44) sat down with me over a pizza and Sam Adams beer in New Jersey last week and I anticipate that there will be some new twists and turns over the next 30 days. In the meantime, I encourage you to post a comment below if you are a Black Blogger interested in supporting our efforts in some manner this month!

We need your help! First, please share a link to this post so that your blog readers can learn about the diversity of thought and talent in the afrosphere. Second, we still need one of you to be creative and help us create a nice button or banner that folks can place on their own website or blog pointing folks to the Villager's Black Blog Ranking (perhaps with a visual of a rhino on it). Any creative folks out there with ideas?

Finally, I encourage you to visit Vanessa's On The Black Hand Side (BBR #286) as she shares more insightful details and nuances from Black Bloggers with her '20 Questions With' interviews. This is outstanding opportunity to learn more about talented brothers and sisters that you see listed in the Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

Anyhow, with no further ado, here are the Top Ten Black Blogs for April 2008:

1. The Bossip: Bossip.com (Authority: 1,194 / Rank: 1,962) - [Entertainment] Bossip.com holds down the BBR #1 slot for the third month in a row. It is worth noting that Bossip.com is the first Black blog that we've seen break into the top 2,000 blogs in the world ranking! Bossip.com is a fast growing urban-focused new media property that draws a loyal following of young and influential trend setters who are up to date with what’s hot in society. Top tags for this blog appear to be Quote of the Day and Fill In The Blank. I encourage villagers to give 'em a tip that they are the #1 Black blog in the universe.


2. Pam Spaulding: Pam's House Blend (Authority: 1,163 / Rank: 2,057) - [Politics] This is a prolific blog averaging over 110,000 hits per month. Top tags for this blog appear to be Race, Politics, Feminism, Gay and Lesbian. Pam participated in the Take Over America conference with some candid comments on what we can expect for bloggers and blogging after the 2008 election cycle is over.


3. Angel Laws: Concrete Loop (Authority: 1,036 / Rank: 2,519) - [Entertainment] This is a Black celebrity entertainment blog with gossip, music, celebrity interviews, pictures and such. Angel Laws, a 23-year-old college student in Jacksonville, NC, started this blog as a hobby. Top tags for this blog are Candids, New Music Review and Brian's Music Posts. OK, I'll bite ... who is 'Brian'?


4. ESKAY: Nah Right (Authority: 787 / Rank: 3,938) - [Entertainment] This is another Black blogger that is steadily moving up in the rankings. Personally, I like the eye candy that has been on this blog since it started in May 2005. However, the top tags for the blog right now are Miscellaneous, Music and Movies. Are there any Nah Right fans out there?


5. Oliver Willis: Oliver Willis (Authority: 633 / Rank: 5,608) - [Politics] Oliver moved into the Top 5 this month! Oliver has been taking flak about his views since he began his blog in April 2005, however, I hope that he will visit our Electronic Village and leave a message at some point as he moves up the list. I guess he's mad that I took the New York Giants in the Super Bowl (seeing as Oliver is a manic Redskins fan)! Anyhow, his top blog tags are 2008 election, conservatives and republicans.


6. Fresh Crunkjuice: Crunk & Disorderly* (Authority: 626 / Rank: 5,691) - [Entertainment] This gossip blog was created in August 2004. Recently, Fresh Crunkjuice decided to make the move from a Blogger.com site to one that he owns himself, so we anticipate that this entry will begin to fall down the ranking as the readers move over to the newer blog. This blog has admirers in some unusual places. The top tags are 'Finally Some Good News' and 'Why Must I Cry?'


7. Natasha Eubanks: Young, Black & Fabulous (Authority: 603 / Rank: 6,020) - [Entertainment] Natasha is a 25-year old law student in Washington DC. Her blog has been one of the hottest Black celebrity gossip sites on the net since it was created in June 2005. I hope that I have a chance to meet Sis. Eubanks when I travel to Washington DC later this year! Top tags on her blog are Candids, Parties and Rumor Control


8. La Shawn Barber: La Shawn Barber's Corner (Authority: 486 / Rank: 8,705) - [Social Commentary] La Shawn continues her transition from being a political blogger. Her blog, born in Nov 2003, now writes about faith, culture, digital technology and, occasionally, how these three things intersect. Sis. Barber is an entrepreneur who consults with interested bloggers. I 'met' Sis. Barber during NPR Blogger Roundtables that we did in Nov 2007 and Jan 2008. Top tags on her blog are Faith, Pop Culture and Technology.


9. Jack Turner and Jill Tubman: Jack and Jill Politics* (Authority: 471 / Rank: 9,111) - [Politics] - JJP offers a Black bourgeois perspective on American politics. This is a blog that posts multiple times per day with some unique and accurate analysis of the 2008 election cycle. This is one of the fastest moving blogs in our rankings ... they moved from BBR #31 in Sep 2007 rankings to current BBR #9. Top tags for this blog are 2008 Democratic Primary, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. This is one of three daily reads for me here in the Top 10!


10. Wayne Bennett: The Field Negro* (Authority: 380 / Rank: 12,092) - [Social Commentary] I should start by saying that I'm not an unbiased observer. In my view, this is the best blog ever written. Period. The Los Angeles Times said it better than me when they interviewed Field last year. Simply stated, I think that you should read this blog every day. Period. NPR News & Notes recently included Field on their blogger roundtable to discuss Obama's Farrakhan Dilemma. Top tags on this blog are Barack Obama, Pursuit of Happiness and Killadelphia.

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HONORABLE MENTION (11-25): What About Our Daughters*, Afro Bella, Young, Black, and Fabulous (blogspot version), Real Talk NY Provides The Latest Hip Hop News, Entre mes Lignes, Keith Boykin, Ill Doctrine, Clutch Magazine, A Hot Mess!, Angry Black Bitch, How To Split An Atom, Love B. Scott, Kenyan Pundit, Rod 2.0:Beta and Mudd Up!

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The only qualification is that the blogger needs to be of African descent. The blogger does not have to be a member of The AfroSpear or the Afrosphere Bloggers Association, although we invite all Black bloggers to join either (or both) of those organizations.

Those blogs with an asterisk after their name are members of The AfroSpear.

Black Blog Rankings lean heavily on the Technorati Authority and Rank score for each blog. The Technorati authority and rank numbers are shown in parenthesis. The authority figure includes a number of factors including the number of blogs that are linked to this blogger over the past six months. The rank number indicates how many blogs are between the person listed and the #1 ranked blog in the world.

We do think that these Black blogs are important spheres of influence. Let them know that you appreciate the work they have put in over the past few months and years to get on this list. My vision is that many of the brothers and sisters on this month's BBR will join us later this year at the Blogging While Brown conference in Atlanta, GA on July 25-27, 2008.

Finally, I encourage you to provide some link-love to this post so that others can learn about the Villager's Black Blog Rankings! Next step is yours ... what say u?

Global IT Infrastructure Services (Chicago)

BDPA Chicago - April 18 2008 Program Meeting
UBS Tower, 1. N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, Illinois
38th Floor

Roger Jungst, Managing Director, ITI-Distributed Systems and Storage will be presenting on the topic of Global IT Infrastructure Services at UBS (Storage, Grid Computing, Databases, Networking and Telecommunications)

BlackBlogWatch.com Tracks Black Authored Blogs

Drumbeats from AAPP took us to a new online community that tracks the best African American Authored Blogs ... BlackBlogWatch.com.

Enter the Invitation Code 8BEACFFBED8F834D when you register at BlackBlogWatch.com and you'll automatically be connected to my Villager profile.

This unique site was created by Courtney Payne. He is a full-time contractor and budding entrepreneur from Fort Washington, Maryland. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University. BlackBlogWatch.com runs on SmartCF Software that he created to run his online community/social networking package. Hopefully, this brother gets hooked up with the BDPA Washington DC chapter because he has skillz!

Financial Management 101 (Philadelphia)

BDPA Philadelphia is the 6th largest chapter in the nation. They strive to deliver business, education & technology topics at their monthly program meetings. The chapter notes that concerns about our national economy impact on IT professionals need to be addressed. As such, the next chapter program meeting will focus on 'Financial Management 101-6 Steps to Financial Success'.

The guest presenter is Camari Ellis. Camari Ellis is a Senior Associate with the First Genesis Financial Group. First Genesis, formed in 2005, is an African American owned wealth management firm that specializes in building financial freedom for business owners and individuals through a comprehensive suite of financial services expertise, strategies and concepts.

Here are the logistics for the meeting:

Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location: CIGNA
2 Liberty Place (16th and Chestnut Streets)
Philadelphia 19101

You can RSVP online or call (215) 844-3235 for the April program meeting.

Grant Declination: US Airways Community Relations Department

We were informed that our $3,991 grant proposal for airline tickets to support the BDPA Philadelphia chapter's youth education program was denied.

US Airways invests in community organizations and initiatives to enhance quality of life in markets served by the airline. The airline’s funding priorities include arts and culture, health and human services, and education and environment in the following hub markets and focus cities: Boston, Charlotte, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC.

Philip Emeagwali: 'The Graves Are Not Yet Full'

Philip Emeagwali is a giant in the information technology industry. He has served as a keynoter for BDPA in the past. Born in Nigeria, this computer genius studied for his doctorate from the University of Michigan. He is best known for linking 65,000 computers to form the fastest computer on Earth and founding the Internet. Emeagwali considers himself to be “a Black scientist with a social responsibility to communicate science to the Black Diaspora.”

He shared his reflections on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. last week in Atlanta. I invite you to reflect on his words as shared below:

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Walk with me down memory lane. The time: 1968. In 30 months, one million dead. The setting: a dusty camp in Biafra where survivors waited and hoped for peace. The survivors: Refugees fleeing from the “Dance of Death.” My mentor: One of the refugee camp directors, whom I called “Teacher” out of respect.

“Martin Luther King has been killed,” Teacher said, with a pained voice and vacant eyes. I looked towards Teacher, wondering: “Who is Martin Luther King?” I was a 13-year-old refugee in the west African nation of Nigeria, a land then called Biafra. Martin Luther King. What did that name mean?

Eight out of ten Biafrans were refugees exiled from their own country. Two years earlier, Christian army officers had staged a bloody coup killing Muslim leaders. The Muslims felt the coup was a tribal mutiny of Christian Igbos against their beloved leaders. The aggrieved Muslims went on a killing rampage, chanting: “Igbo, Igbo, Igbo, you are no longer part of Nigeria!” In the days that followed, 50,000 Igbos were killed in street uprisings.

Killing was not new to us in Biafra. I was 13, but I knew much of killing. Widows and orphans were most of the refugees in our camp. They had survived the Igbo “Dance of Death” – a euphemism for the mass executions. One thousand men at gunpoint forced to dance a public dance. Seven hundred were then shot and buried en masse in shallow graves. When told to hurry up and return to his regular duty, one of the murderers said: “The graves are not yet full.”

A few days later, with only the clothes on our backs, we fled from this “Dance of Death.” That was six months before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Teacher and I were eventually conscripted into the Biafran army and sent to the front, two years after our escape. After the war, Teacher – who had taught me the name of Martin Luther King – was among the one million who had died. I – a child soldier – was one of the fifteen million who survived.

Africa is committing suicide: a two-decade war in Sudan, genocidal killings in Rwanda, scorched-earth conflicts in Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, and Liberia. The wars in modern Africa are the largest global-scale loss of life since the establishment of the Atlantic Slave trade, which uprooted and scattered Africa’s sons and daughters across the United States, Jamaica, and Brazil.

Africa’s wars are steering the continent toward a sea of self-destruction so deep that even the greatest horror writers are unable to fathom its depths. So, given our circumstances, Martin Luther King was a name unknown, a dead man among millions, with a message that never reached the shores of Biafra. Neither did his message reach the ears of “The Black Scorpion,” Benjamin Adekunle, a tough Nigerian army commander, whose credo of ethnic cleansing knew nothing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s movement: “We shoot at everything that moves, and when our forces move into Igbo territory, we even shoot things that do not move.”

As we heed Martin Luther King Jr.’s call, and march together across the world stage, let us never forget that we who have witnessed and survived the injustice of such nonsensical wars are the torchbearers of his legacy of peace for our world, our nation, and our children.

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The passage above was excerpted from a speech delivered by Philip Emeagwali at Morehouse College's Science and Spirituality Week celebration.

BDPA Member On The Move: Ura Puranda (Chicago)

Share some BDPA-Love with a BDPA member on the move! We understand that PMI Chicagoland elected Ura Puranda to serve as their Director of Certifications. Her new responsibility is to promote certification within PMI, the chapter and supporting organizations, both public and private. She establishes direct contact with any employer, organization or IT professional interested in learning any aspect of the PMI certification process. Ura handles periodic certification preparation workshops in the Chicagoland area and she will obtain post-examination feedback from PMP applicants.

Ura is currently using her PMP skills to help our BDPA Foundation create a YouTube presence. Use the comments option below to share some BDPA-Love with Ura!

This Week in BDPA (Mar 25-31)

Our foundation seeks to support BDPA programs and services. As such, it is important that your blog readers know about the plethora of BDPA activity all around the country. Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the BDPA CollectiveX Calendar and elsewhere:

• Mar 25: Richmond - Program Meeting, 'Preventing Identity Theft'


• Mar 26: Dallas - Career Fair, 'Technology Job Fair, co-sponsored with El Centro Community College'


• Mar 26: New Jersey - Program Meeting, 'What is BDPA All About?', featuring guest speaker Wayne Hicks<


• Mar 26: Atlanta - Program Meeting, 'What Every Executive Should Know About
  "The Blame Game"'


• Mar 27: New Jersey - Banquet, 'Celebrating Our Past and Soaring Into Our Future', featuring keynote speaker Wayne Hicks


• Mar 27: Washington DC - Program Meeting, 'Quarterly Members-Only Meeting'


• Mar 28: 2008 BDPA Technology Conference - IT Showcase, 'Final Call for Papers to Participate in IT Showcase', sponsored by Johnson & Johnson


• Mar 29: Cincinnati - Workshops, Project Management Exam Preparation'

We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the BDPA CollectiveX Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events! Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed. Most importantly, let us know if you plan to attend any BDPA events this week. Finally, if you like what you are seeing ... please consider making an online donation to the BDPA Foundation so that we can continue to fund these events in the future.

Grant Proposal: AirTran Airways

BETF submitted a grant proposal to AirTran Airways requesting ticket donation for BDPA Philadelphia chapter's HSCC team to travel to Atlanta GA later this year. We should have answer in 4-6 weeks.

Computer Science Training for Middle and High School Students

The Dept of Computer Science at the University of Maryland is sponsoring their annual Passport Program this Summer for middle and high school students interested in computer science or computer programming. This program is offered at no cost to the student. The online application needs to be completed by the May 30, 2008 deadline.

Share this information with any student, parent or teacher that you think might be interested.

Grant Proposal: Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation

The BDPA Foundation submitted a joint grant proposal with BDPA New York chapter to the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation. We requested $21,411 to cover funding for the 2008 SITES program in New York City.

Celebrating Our Past and Soaring into Our Future (New Jersey)

BDPA New Jersey Chapter is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization organized to contribute to the development of professionals in the Information Technology industry and to extend this knowledge and experience to others in their respective communities.

The Newark-based chapter is committed to delivering IT excellence to its members, strategic partners and community. By all accounts, BDPA New Jersey is one of the most prominent professional organizations in the state.

As such, I was honored to be contacted by the chapter to provide the keynote address at their annual awards banquet. The chapter will celebrate its past and share its vision for the future while recognizing sponsors and individuals who have dedicated their time and resources to BDPA programs and services. The theme of this event is "Celebrating Our Past and Soaring into Our Future".

Click here to purchase tickets for the banquet. Admission includes hors d'oeuvres at the reception as well as a gourmet meal at the banquet. Cash bar available. This is a corporate attire event.

What is BDPA All About? (New Jersey)

Are you currently a member of BDPA and you want to learn how you make the most of your membership? Or, are you not a member but looking to join and are asking yourself, "What is BDPA all about?". If you answered YES to either one of those questions, then BDPA New Jersey chapter has the program meeting for you! The special guest speaker is Mr. Wayne Hicks, BETF Executive Director and former National BDPA President.

The following topics will be discussed:

1. Tips on networking within BDPA
2. How to get the most out of being a member
3. How to market yourself in the IT industry
4. What you can do to strengthen BDPA's relationship with other corporations and yours

Refreshments will be served. Here are the logistics for the program meeting:

When: Wednesday, March 26th
Where: Prudential, 213 Washington St, Newark, NJ 07102
Time: 6:00pm

If you have any questions and to request PARKING please email Goldie Bonney, Vice President (Membership Management).

Winston-Salem State University Hosts ITSMF CIO Summit

Concerned by increasing shortages of African Americans within the information technology (IT) industry, a number of the nation's most successful African American information technology executives will join forces with Winston-Salem State University's (WSSU) Computer Science Department for a summit on the campus of WSSU at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 27 in the Elva Jones Computer Science Building.

WSSU and the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) are joining forces to host the first such panel of its kind. The Summit will feature discussions between the senior information technology management community and students from the WSSU computer science department and high school students selected from the Bill Gates Academy. Summit attendees will have the opportunity to learn how to develop and advance a career in IT.

"The focus will be to discuss ways to address shortages and begin filling a pipeline for tomorrow's African American Information Technology executives," said Dr. Elva Jones, chair of WSSU's Computer Science Department and professor of computer science. "African American Chief Information Officers and Chief Executive Officers from Fortune 500 companies will participate in an informative panel discussion and conduct interactive breakout sessions, in conjunction with the annual WSSU Computer Science Day."

Ultimately, officials will tackle the issue in several ways: Providing an IT career road map for junior- and senior-level college students in the computer science and business schools at Winston-Salem State University; Offering select high school students from the Bill Gates Academy, exposure to career options within information technology; Raising funds and awareness for the WSSU's Computer Science Endowment Fund, according to Jones.

"The members of ITSMF recognize the need for initiatives that foster growth and nurture the next wave of talent among non-C-Suite African-American IT professionals and students seeking to enter the field," says Zackarie Lemelle, vice president and chief information officer, Johnson & Johnson Information Technology Corporate Systems and ITSMF chair.

ITSMF/WSSU CIO Summit Panelists will include CIOs from companies such as Hanesbrands, Wachovia, State of Ohio and Johnson & Johnson.

African Americans represent a small percentage of those in the IT industry's C-Suite and the talent pool is becoming increasingly smaller. The percentage of employed African Americans in IT managerial and staff professional positions declined nearly 26 percent over the past 6 years, while the proportion of whites inched ahead by 2.3 percent. Employment within IT among Asians soared by more than 17 percent.

"Winston-Salem State University's computer science department continues to graduate great candidates for employment, and with experience, will be more than ready for the IT C-Suite," says Jones.

ITSMF is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to fostering upper-level executive talent among African American IT professionals. The organization's goal is to prepare African American IT professionals for senior-level responsibility by offering executive career development, mentoring, and networking opportunities for advancing their career.

WellPoint Associate Giving Campaign

BETF proudly accepted pledges through the WellPoint Associate Giving Campaign made by Yiddy Chaves, Wilma Green, Wanda McGee, Justine Turner and Annette Yates. WellPoint's mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. The donations made by these five BDPA members will be used to support programs and services put on by our BDPA Richmond chapter. WellPoint leveraged the generosity of these BDPA employees with an additional 50% matching fund donation.


Our hope is that other BDPA members will consider making payroll deductions during annual giving campaigns put on by United Way, Combined Federal Campaign or the company itself. Others may simply want to make a one-time donation directly to BETF in support of the youth education programs taking place all over the country.

Please share some 'BDPA-Love' with Yiddy, Wilma, Wanda, Justine and Annette!

Fundamentals of the Personal Computer (Cincinnati)

BDPA Cincinnati chapter is the 6th largest chapter in the nation. One reason for the long-term strength of this chapter is their focus on providing technical education to members and the community. BDPA Cincinnati offers a Computer Workshop for the adult interested in learning the basics of the personal computer. This workshop is designed for those folks considered the help desk expert among their family and friends.

Michael Fallings will be our workshop presenter. He designed the workshop with both instructional and hands-on learning that is mainly for the non-technical person. Some of the topics to be covered:

• How to shop for a computer
• Types of Computers
• Monitors
• Printers
• Security

If you are an adult interested in learning the fundamentals of the personal computer and its associated parts, then is what you need to know about the logistics for this workshop:

When: Saturday, March 29, 2008
Time: 9:00 am – 2:00 pm (lunch provided)
Location: Cincinnati Business Incubator (CBI)
1634 Central Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45202
(Downtown near Findlay Market)

The cost for this useful workshop is only $20.00 due upon registration. You can RSVP or register online. If you have questions or wish to discuss further, please reach out to Henrietta Hill by email or phone (513.956-0636).

Preventing Identity Theft (Richmond)

BDPA Richmond chapter is the 3rd largest chapter in the nation. Much of their success flows from their guiding principle -- 'Educate to Elevate'. One way that the chapter acts on that guiding principle is with monthly program meetings. The March 2008 program meeting topic covers something all of use can learn more about to protect our livelihood ... Preventing Identity Theft. With the enhanced ability to share knowledge so rapidly over the Internet, criminals are using our personal information to arm themselves with more knowledge about how to use your assets towards their personal pleasures. We must beat them at their game. In order to accomplish this, we need to know what tools to add to our arsenal.

BETF-Blog readers have this personal invitation to protect yourselves and your family from the information snatching predators, by gaining additional knowledge at this month's program meeting in Richmond, VA. The meeting will take place at the Genworth Financial Headquarters building (6620 W. Broad St; Richmond, VA 23230)on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 6:00 pm.

If you have questions or wish to discuss further you can reach out to the BDPA Richmond chapter by email or phone (800.727-2372).

Vallerie Parrish-Porter Keynotes Black History Month Program for EDS' Unity In Action

Electronic Data Systems (EDS) is a Bronze level corporate sponsor. The company has a strong African American affinity group called Unity In Action (UIA). UIA recently worked with the company's diversity office to deliver a remarkable Black History Month program earlier this year that included a keynote address by one of the most powerful African American women in the information technology industry. Here is a recap of the event as shared with EDS employees in their company newsletter:

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Corporations that recognize and encourage the strengths that diverse teams offer will forge ahead of the competition, according to Vallerie Parrish-Porter, chief information officer of EMBARQ, an EDS client. The communications company executive shared her thoughts on diversity with a global audience on Wednesday as the employee network group, Unity in Action (UIA), observed Black History Month and presented its annual awards.

The sharing that takes place in diverse groups, from peer-to-peer, is invaluable to companies today, Parrish-Porter said. "Both of our companies are really ensuring we are the employer of choice," she told the diverse gathering.

Each February, EDS celebrates the contributions of African Americans to culture, knowledge and heritage. Parrish-Porter was the keynote speaker at EDS' ninth annual Black History Month event in Plano, Texas. This year's theme was "Cultural Diversity Empowers Competitive Advantage." Parrish-Porter leads the strategic and tactical deployment and operations of information technology (IT) development and infrastructure resources for EMBARQ. Before this role, she was vice president for enterprises services with Sprint, and vice president and group information officer with Hewlett-Packard's personal systems group.

Recently, Parrish-Porter was selected as one of the "50 Most Important Blacks in Technology" for the third consecutive year by the editors of U.S. Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine.

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BDPA is very proud of the career growth of Vallerie Parrish-Porter. I tried once to get her as keynote speaker for our annual awards gala. Hopefully, she will be up there one day in the future. She is truly a remarkable person. UIA demonstrated great judgement in reaching out to her for their event last month. Is your company actively working with African American employees as we see here at EDS?

Karen Ventii - Science Blogging Star

Bora Zivkovic conducted an interview series at the 2008 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference. One of his interview subjects is Karen Ventii, African American Ph.D student of bio-chemistry at Emory University. Karen is interested in science and medical journalism as a career.

Karen studies full-time, however she found opportunities to create her own blog -- Science To Life (BBR #670). Her blog focuses on current and interesting science news that may affect people's lives. Karen used her expertise to moderate a panel on 'Gender and Race in Science: Online and Offline' that dealt ith issues of racial diversity. The topic seems right on time in light of what we continue to hear in the presidential campaign lately.

I hope many of us can meet Karen either in July at the Blogging While Brown conference or in August at the BDPA Technology Conference ... both being held near Emory University in Atlanta GA. In fact, I hope that Dr. Bemley sees this blog post and reaches out to this Ph.D candidate as a role model for the students in the BDPA IT Showcase sponsored by Johnson-Johnson.

For now we shine our spotlight on a Black blogger and a rising star in Science blogging. Click here to read her interview.