Scholarship: Society for Technical Communication ($2,500 * Deadline: 7/15/2008)

The Society for Technical Communication is a professional organization for people developing technical information through such occupations as technical writing, editing, graphical design, interface design, and Web design.

STC sponsors the Marian Norby Scholarship. This scholarship is for those who are interested in studying for a degree or attending a continuing education or training course in one of these areas.

Applicants must be female, must be working full- or part-time for the federal government as a secretary or administrative assistant, and should be interested in enrolling in a training or academic class related to technical communication. [SOURCE]

7th Annual BDPA IT Golf Classic (Atlanta, 8/9/2008)

Call BDPA HQ office on (800) 727-2372 for more info

or you can register online!

Grant Award: Best Buy Children's Foundation ($2,000)

Best Buy Children's Foundation approved a $2,000 Tag Team Award for programs and services in our BDPA Dayton chapter. The funds are direct result of volunteer efforts by BDPA member Robert Blair.

The funds will allow participation by Dayton-area students in the Student Information Technology & Scholarships (SITES) program. The program includes the Midwest Regional High School Computer Competition (HSCC), Youth Technology Camp and the national BDPA HSCC in Atlanta, GA on August 8-9, 2008.

It is worth noting that Charles Crawford IV (HSCC Alumni, Class of 1999-2001) led this funding effort based on discussions he had with executives at Best Buy. I had pleasure of sitting next to Charles at the 20th annual BDPA Dayton chapter SITES Banquet earlier this month. He is truly a special brother and a marvelous example for all of our HSCC alumni around the country.

Message from New York Chapter President

BDPA New York is the 3rd largest chapter in the nation. One reason for their success is the focus placed on providing programs and services for their members and community. BDPA New York chapter president Judaea Lane reflects on this and more in her message to NY-area members, sponsors and supporters:

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BDPA Washington DC chapter and Bowie State University hosted this year's Northeast Regional BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) and IT Showcase on Saturday June 21, 2008. It featured two (2) marquee events for area youth, chapter program development, and STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] participation.
Our BDPA chapters in Washington DC and Northern Virginia fielded four teams. Additional HSCC teams arrived from Hartford, CT; New York, NY; and Philadelphia, PA. Congratulations to our New York HSCC team for bringing home the 3rd Place prize.

Of course the excitement doesn't stop there! We are now getting ready to compete at the 30th annual national BDPA technology conference in Atlanta, GA. Yes, the competition among our sister chapters are phenomental but New York will be ready.

If you are excited as we are, please consider devoting a Saturday to mentor or coach our students. For more information, please contact Denise Hamilton on (212) 802-5341. Remember our goal is to ensure New York students have the technical and business tools to compete. So if you can, come out and show some love for our New York chapter students.

Remember, BDPA has a wealth of resources that will put your career on the fast track to advancement and satisfaction. Our goal is to bring you more services to connect you to a wide network of professionals in order to move your career forward and upward. Please give us an opportunity to show you how.

Sincerely,
Judaea Yarde Lane, President
BDPA New York Chapter
'Advancing Careers from Classroom to Boardroom'
(212) 802-5341

This Week in BDPA (June 23-29)

Our foundation seeks to support BDPA programs and services. As such, it is important that our 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:

• Jun 24: Dallas - Program Meeting, 'Identity Theft: How Secure Is Your Credit Using Today's Technology'


• Jun 26: Cincinnati - Membership Drive, '1st Annual Membership Tradeshow'


• Jun 28: New York - Workshop, 'Building Leadership Skills as BDPA Volunteer'

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.

If you like what you are seeing on this blog ... please consider making an online donation to the BDPA Foundation so that we can continue to fund these events in the future.

Grant Award: Fifth Third Foundation ($2,500)

We learned today that the Fifth Third Foundation donation committee approved $2,500 grant funding for BDPA Columbus chapter.

The funds will allow participation by Columbus-area students in the Student Information Technology & Scholarships (SITES) program. The program includes the Midwest Regional High School Computer Competition (HSCC), Youth Technology Camp and the national BDPA HSCC in Atlanta, GA on August 8-9, 2008.

A joint press release between the BDPA Foundation and Fifth Third Foundation will be issued in the next few days to announce this funding, however, we wanted our blog readers to know about it right away.

BDPA Columbus chapter president Cecil Jones led this funding effort based on discussions he had with a prominent Fifth Third executive. However, our BDPA Columbus chapter still needs financial support to get their students to the national competition.

I encourage all BDPA Foundation blog readers to consider making a small donation right now to support them. What say u?

Disney MinnieGrants * Deadline: 8/30/2008

Youth Service America and Disney are pleased to launch a second round of Disney MinnieGrants to engage children and youth, ages 5-14 as community volunteers.

The selected applications will receive $500 to support their youth-led service projects. The deadline is August 30 and projects must take place October 15-November 15, 2008. Grantees from the first round of Disney awards of 2008 are eligible to apply.

BDPA IT Corps Unveiled at Leon Sullivan Summit in Tanzania

The BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF) provided grant funding to empower BDPA's efforts to establish itself on the on the global landscape. BDPA will unveil its Information Technology (IT) Corps at the Leon H. Sullivan Economic Summit, an annual economic development conference being held in Arusha, Tanzania.

“This is our response to a rapidly globalizing world, and we are taking our place in it”, remarked Norman Mays as he prepared for the trip this week. Mays, an entrepreneur and past national president of BDPA serves as the first Executive Director of the IT Corps initiative. Similar to the Peace Corps, BDPA's IT Corps will send teams of young adults on technology-based community service missions in the United States and to targeted locations abroad, particularly Africa. Mays added that “….this is an exciting new journey and we hope to engage many of the (30) African countries that have already showed interest and will be represented at the conference.”

In the near future, IT Corps members will assist students in African countries to review existing civic priorities and jointly devise technology based solutions that are locally effective and globally relevant. Dr. Demo Solaru, the IT Corps's Director of International Relations from BDPA Cleveland chapter, will participate on this trip also. An African immigrant, he maintains that “……Africa is ripe for this initiative - capacity building, knowledge sharing and transfer - our youth have the most fertile minds. In the United States, they have already showed us what's possible. In an interconnected world, this is the logical next level.”

The premise of the Leon H. Sullivan Summit is socio-economic development in Africa through foreign direct investment. A specific area of interest to BDPA is the summit's stated objective to advance information technology through regional economic community discussions. BDPA's IT Corps student teams will be doing just that - sharing the many skills learned in BDPA's mentoring, competition and technology education initiatives in the United States with colleagues in Africa and around the world, and applying these skills to real world problems.

The first student teams should deploy as early as summer 2009. What are your thought of the BDPA IT Corps concept?

BDPA Northeast Regional Conference (Washington DC)

BDPA Regional
Technology Conference

@ Bowie State University

Open to the Public--Free Admission
Pre-Registration is requested

Saturday June 21, 2008
8 AM to 3:30 PM
Click here to Register!

Regional High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Teams
Tune-Up for Nationals!
Regional HSCC IT Showcase INDUSTRY DAY (Part-II)

This year's Regional Technology Conference features two (2) marquee events for area youth, chapter program development, and STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] participation. Bowie State University will host this year's BDPA Regional High School Computer Competition (HSCC) and BDPA's Regional IT Showcase. INDUSTRY DAY (Part-II) features a Q&A forum outlining emerging [IT] technologies and career opportunities for professionals in any industry.

What Makes BDPA a Good Partner? (Abbott Labs)

Pragmatic Software Architecture and the Architect (Cincinnati)

If you’re working in software architecture, interested in being a software architect, want to think about software development in a new way or just want to learn something about the topic, you should plan to attend this month’s program meeting hosted by BDPA Cincinnati chapter.

The presenter, Joe Wirtley, provides an exploration into the topic of 'Pragmatic Software Architecture and the Architect'. Mr. Wirtley is a dot NET Architect and Developer with over 20 years of software development experience. His presentation will address your basic questions such as “What is software architecture?” and “What is the role of the architect?” as well as delve into some of the processes and techniques he uses for success.

Logistics for the event are as follows:


Date: Thursday June 19, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Where: Fifth Third Bank
Madisonville Office Bldg * 5001 Kingsley Drive

Those in technology as well as friends and supporters of these organizations should plan to attend this event. This event is free, however you should RSVP in advance of the meeting. You can call (513.956-0636) or email the chapter.

BETF YouTube Channel Goes LIVE!

The BDPA Education & Technology Foundation seized the opportunity to launch our YouTube Channel earlier this month.

YouTube is a powerful medium used to broadcast the BDPA Foundation Cause to a large and growing online video community. Here is an example of the information we can share through our BETF YouTube Channel.

Marketing the BDPA Foundation Brand through this video channel will drive traffic to BDPA and raise the visibility of our fundraising campaigns to attract and connect with supporters, volunteers, donors and students.

Our BETF YouTube Channel provides a centralized “video space” to help differentiate our brand, capture and tell our compelling stories -- pictures are worth a thousand words -- and highlight our accomplishments.

We seek support from BDPA members, chapters and national officers.

• Do you have a story to tell?
• Do you have a donor to acknowledge?
• Do you have a testimonial to share?
• Do you have a scholarship recipient?

If so, please share with us today so that we might add to the brand-new BETF YouTube Channel!

Kudos to Ura Puranda (BETF YouTube Channel Coordinator) and her team for making a reality of this marketing idea! Ura and her team would be interested in your thoughts on the new YouTube Channel. What say u?

Healthcare IT and Integrated Solutions (No. Delaware)

BDPA Northern Delaware is less than a year old as a BDPA chapter. As such, it is remarkable to note that they are the 20th largest BDPA chapter in the nation. One reason for their success is an aggressive effort to market the chapter through monthly program meetings. The chapter presents 'Healthcare IT and Integrated Solutions' as topic for their upcoming program meeting.

The presenter is Timothy Brown, staffing manager with Siemens Medical Solutions. He has been a featured speaker on the development of strategic staffing metrics and serves on the Board of Directors for the Direct Employers Association, the Chester County Workforce Investment Board and the SHRM Staffing Management Panel. Mr. Brown is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt, with strength in developing and implementing sustainable talent acquisition processes. He completed his HR Certificate at Cornell University and is beginning his Masters in Human Resource Development at Villanova University.

Logistics for the meeting are as follows:

Date: June 19, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM

Where: JPMorgan Chase
301 North Walnut Street
8th Floor Conference Room
Wilmington DE 19801
All BDPA Foundation blog readers in Delaware or Philadelphia are encouraged to RSVP for this intriguing program meeting.

Cincinnati Team Wins Midwest Regional Computer Competition!

Congratulations to Team CHAOS (Cincinnati Holds All Opposition Speechless)! The five youngsters from Cincinnati took home the gold medal from the 2008 Midwest Regional High School Computer Competition (HSCC) on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.

Left to right - DeRicco Swan, senior at Withrow International. Brandon Bowen, senior at Clark Montessori High School, Simeon Ellis, sophomore at Cincinnati’s Creative and Performing Arts, Brook Hines, sophomore at Lakota High School, Raynisha Greene, sophomore at Cincinnati’s Creative and Performing Arts.

The event drew representation from the following BDPA chapters: Atlanta (silver medal), Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton (bronze medal), Detroit, Indianapolis and Middle Tennessee.

The next step for Team CHAOS is the national HSCC in Atlanta, GA on August 6-8, 2008 competing against 23 other chapter teams. Meantime, BDPA Cincinnati chapter president Janice Lee wants to express appreciation to the BDPA Midwest Regional Committee:

• Cincinnati State Technical and Community College – Midwest Regional Host Site
• The Kroger Co – Competition Laptop Donation
• Computer Science Corporation – Programming Problem/Judges
• Deborah Prince, Consultant - Outreach Director
• Steve Gutter, Kroger - Past Midwest Regional Coordinator
• Ashley Ogletree, Fifth Third Bank - Midwest Regional Coordinator (Chapters)
• Ann Mawicke, Mawicke Creations - Corporate Leadership
• Marsha Steed, CSC CAC Member - Enquirer Newspaper
• Shanese Lee, Children’s Hospital, Midwest Regional (Corporate)
• Frank Hill, Hiltronics - Midwest Technical Coordinator
• Sharon White, Cincinnati State - Midwest Regional Liaison

Were any of our blog readers in attendance at the Midwest Regional Competition this year? If so, please share your thoughts on what you observed! What say u?

Identity Theft: How Secure is Your Credit Using Today's Technology (Dallas)

BDPA Dallas is the 11th largest chapter in the nation. One reason for their success is an aggressive program meeting schedule. The June 2008 program meeting is being hosted by Louis Carr, chief information officer of the City of Arlington.

The meeting topic is "Identity Theft: How Secure is Your Credit Using Today's Technology". The meeting presenter is Maurice Green. Mr. Green is a native Texan, and has over 15 years experience in the financial industry. He is the founder and President of GATT Financial Services. After being victimized by identity-theft himself he vowed to dedicate his time, efforts and experience to assist others victimized by identity thieves as well as those who have made bad financial decisions.

The logistics of the meeting are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM

Location: Municipal Office Tower
101 S. Mesquite, 6th Floor Conference Room
Arlington, Texas 76010
I hope that our readers located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will make plans to attend this seminar!

Message from Columbus Chapter President

Cecil Jones is the president of the BDPA Columbus chapter. I first met Cecil at a program meeting hosted by the BDPA Cincinnati chapter back in 1999. He has been an active and vocal supporter of BDPA ever since I've known him. He moved to Columbus and got married in the intervening years. In 2007, he took on the challenge to serve as president of the 11th largest chapter in the nation.

He recently shared this message with his chapter members and supporters:

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"A HUGE Thanks! goes out to Jim Locke, Kym Miller, Lance Livingstonston, our Columbus HSCC students and parents. The 2008 Midwest Regional High School Computer Competition held last weekend in Cincinnati was a success!!

Additionally, we need a volunteer to call and work with the following people (one person per bullet). Just one easy task.

• Associate Dean, Engineering College, Dr. Minnie McGee at OSU - call her and ask how we can get her Engineering students involved in the our chapter and in HSCC. Dr. McGee is the mother of our one our JPMorgan Chase sponsors. I worked on an OSU Scholarship committee with her. Anyone volunteering for this assignment would be blessed to work with this dedicated sister.


• Technology Education College on Winchester Pike - I met with them last night. They have students that should be BDPA members. I will give you the Director's name and number. They are ready for us.


• BDPA member who was the past president of a LARGE Devry Black student organization - work with with to tell Devry about BDPA and our meetings.

One of our challenges is the same as many organizations. We have 10% of the members doing 90% of the work. If you are one of the 90% that are not engaged, please volunteer for ONE task - just one - and our organization will more effectively fulfill its mission. Please email me or call me to get engaged.

Here is my personal testimony on the power of being a BDPA volunteer:

1. BDPA helped me fulfill one of my spiritual obligations ('help others').


2. The relationships obtained working with BDPA has helped me financially (contracts and services - ask me how,!).


3. It has helped in preparing for various IT certifications.


4. Call me and ask me how it helped me move from one organization to another within 3 weeks including the 2 week notice via BDPA members and sponsors (three different times; build your well before you need to use it).


5. After speaking on a panel during one of our BDPA meetings, I was offered (a) an adjunct professorship and (b) a contract. Neither required an interview.


6. By volunteering to interact with sponsors and others, I have obtained board memberships that allow me to learn, serve and financially benefit.

Please volunteer and let BDPA help you.

Thanks!
Cecil Jones, president
BDPA Columbus Chapter
Phone: (614) 736-1100

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Are there any Columbus-area blog readers out there? If so, now is the time for you to step up and support the efforts of BDPA Columbus chapter to advance the careers of African Americans in the IT industry from the classroom to the boardroom!

Election Results: Wanda McCaster (Cincinnati)

Congratulations to Wanda McCaster on her recent election as the 2008-2009 president-elect for BDPA Cincinnati chapter. Wanda currently works as a project manager for Kelly Services. I've known the sister for many moons. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I appointed her to her first BDPA leadership position back in 2000 when she became the chapter's VP-Membership Management.

Many BDPA members around the country may recall Wanda from her workshop presentations on 'Six Sigma Black Belt' and 'project management'. The lucky ones have had opportunity to taste Wanda's soul food!

When asked how she plans to make a difference as the president-elect from Cincinnati chapter, Wanda replied,

"Our board will work together as a cohesive team with the same commitment, drive, and focus on making the BDPA the best organization we can. As a board we will focus our efforts on adding value to being a member of the BDPA. Value will be seen and felt by the CAC, Board Members, Members, and Volunteers. This will allow us to drive up membership by having BDPA meet and greet at corporations, increase corporate sponsorship, increase corporate memberships; Increase student memberships by visiting schools; increase BDPA monthly and special events, and more importantly by word of mouth from our members!"

Take a moment to welcome Wanda into her new leadership role within BDPA!

BDPA Conference Workshops: Leadership Track

BDPA strives to advance the careers of African Americans in the IT industry. It is important for all BDPA members and supporters to grow their leadership skills. The upcoming 30th annual BDPA Technology Conference in Atlanta GA provides some excellent workshops designed to improve your leadership skills.

Here are some details on the workshops:

Aligning Technology with Business Objectives - Workshop Presenter: Valerie Hayes & Noreen Cohen-White - Technology Leaders Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 1:30 PM EST - Room: Techwood

• This lecture is designed to share best practices and experiences for gaining an understanding of your organization's business and aligning technology with business objectives.

Business Intelligence - Implementing a BI Competency Center - Workshop Presenter: Krishna Sinanan, U.S. Commercial BI Team Lead - Monsanto Thursday, August 07, 2008 at 8:30 AM EST - Room: Spring

• Seminar will present an overview of Business Intelligence and provide guidelines for setting up a BICC.

Chapter Building Workshop: Selling BDPA - Workshop Presenter: Wayne Hicks, Executive Director - BDPA Education & Technology Foundation Friday, August 08, 2008 at 8:30 AM EST - Room: Spring

• 'Selling BDPA' will give tips and techniques that can be put to use immediately in areas such as marketing, corporate sales, membership growth and fundraising.

Chapter Building Workshop: Finance - Workshop Presenter: Abe Joseph, Jr., BDPA Vice President of Finance - BDPA National Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 10:15 AM EST - Room: Spring

• This workshop is designed to inform new and experienced chapter financial leaders the importance of their fiduciary responsibilities to ensure that the chapter financial operations are in compliance with BDPA by-laws, IRS regulations and GAAP.

Effectively Partnering with Corporate Supplier Diversity - Workshop Presenter: Shelderick E. Bailey, Vice President - JP Morgan Chase Friday, August 08, 2008 at 10:15 AM EST - Room: Spring

• Understand the integration of technology tools to support the Supplier Diversity process.

Globalization, Capacity Building and BDPA - The IT Corp Response - Workshop Presenters: Dr. Demo Solaru, Principal - ProviderGateway, Inc & Norman Mays, Founder Cleveland Chapter Thursday, August 07, 2008 at 10:15 AM EST - Room: Spring

• An interactive discussion will take place around, globalization, capacity building and the proposed BDPA IT Corp

Introduction to Leadership Excellence - Workshop Presenter: Curvie L Burton, founding member of the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 1:30 PM EST - Room: Spring

• Workshop participants will be introduced to the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), its vision, mission and commitment to developing 21^st Century leaders.

Leading through Organizational Change - Workshop Presenter: Roderick L. King, Regional Vice President, Medicare Provider Outreach & Education - WellPoint Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 8:30 AM EST - Room: Spring

• Participants will have the opportunity to learn about issues and challenges at the forefront of the healthcare debate, a discussion of Leadership vs. Management and how to lead successfully.

Leveraging the IT-Business Partnership - Workshop Presenter: Phillip Earl, Project Manager - Allstate Friday, August 08, 2008 at 1:30 PM EST - Room: Spring

• This presentation explores the areas in which the IT-Business partnership is most critical to the success of the business and the IT area supporting the business.

Significant Business Results - Workshop Presenter: Franne McNeal, Significant Business Results Coach - HR Energy Friday, August 08, 2008 at 3:15 PM EST - Room: Techwood

• This interactive session will help you set, communicate, implement and track goals.
  Participants receive (a) profitability assessment; 5 questions to gain results; 5 ways to improve decision making; and significant business results action plan.

Technology Transfer in the Global Economy - Workshop Presenter: Kimberly Green, Entrepreneur and Owner - ADKG Worldwide, Inc. Thursday, August 07, 2008 at 1:30 PM EST - Room: Spring

• The audience will be able to actively participate in a case study to discuss why some companies will succeed and some will fail in the current global environment.

I am curious to learn two things from those of you that have read this far. First, do you have any comments on the Leadership track of workshops? Second, do you plan to attend the 2008 national BDPA conference this year? What say u?

Grant Recipient: BDPA New York ($2,500)

The BDPA Foundation approved $ 2,500 grant funding to BDPA New York chapter. The funds will be used to support chapter participation in the Northeast Regional HSCC (Newark NJ) and Mid-Atlantic Regional HSCC (Washington DC). Remaining funds will support participation for chapter HSCC students, chaperones and coordinator at the national competition in Atlanta, GA on August 8-9, 2008.

BETF provided full funding for this $2,500 request submitted by the chapter last month.

This funding request was supported by a recent MetLife volunteer grant. We need others to step-up and make tax-deductible donation to the BDPA Foundation so that we might continue to fund these programs in the future. It is important for us to have funds necessary to advance the careers of African Americans in the IT industry from the 'classroom to the boardroom'.

What are you waiting for? Please make a small donation right now!

Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence (Los Angeles)

BDPA Los Angeles is the 15th largest chapter in the nation. One reason for their success is their ability to retain the time, energy and talents of their chapter leaders over the course of many years. Nowhere is this more evident than this month's program meeting when we have past chapter president Narvin Yarbrough (2005-2006) and Angela White-Parker (2001-2004) teaming up to present, 'Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence'.

This presentation will focus on ways that Corporate America is using technology to deal with business problems. Program meeting attendees will discover how companies analyze and solve these business problems with data warehouses. Also, the presenters will share how company executives use business intelligence monitoring tools and techniques to identify trends as part of effort to make quality business decisions.

The logistics for the meeting are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Location: Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall
3650 West Martin Luther King Blvd
Community Meeting Room
Please contact Sam Scully on (818) 266-9147 if you have questions, need directions or simply want to RSVP for this event.