Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, January 2014)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. The streak of five straight months of membership growth ended in December and a new streak began last month!  The total membership increased by 3% in the first month of the new year.  This reflects the new excitement and energy brought to membership recruitment and retention under the leadership of National BDPA president Dr. Craig Brown and National BDPA VP-Membership Management Adrienne Thomas.

We want to congratulate BDPA Chicago chapter for maintaining its dominance when it comes to membership size.  The chapter has been holding the #1 spot for over a decade ... although I understand that there are a few chapters making moves to challenge them in 2014. BDPA Chicago chapter president Reggie Rush will have to stay on his toes this year!

Reggie Rush

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

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, 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, December 2013)

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, November 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 5th straight month under the leadership of National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown over 43% from this same time last year! In fact, BDPA membership in November 2013 is higher than any month since February 2010!

We also want to congratulate the BDPA St. Louis chapter for advancing four places to become the 11th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Dwana Franklin-Davis and her leadership team managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 14% in the month of November.  Much of this increase was due to corporate memberships purchased by Monsanto.

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, Pamela Sexton
2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
6. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (up 1 spot)
7. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart (down 1 spot)
8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
9. New York - president, Renetta English
10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, 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.

Historical perspective:

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Nov 2012)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Nov 2009)

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?

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, October 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 4th straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown almost 35% from this same time last year!  In fact, BDPA membership in October 2013 is higher than any month since March 2010! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

We also want to congratulate the BDPA Detroit chapter for advancing five places to become the 10th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Beverly Moore and her leadership team managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 36% in the month of October.  It is great to see positive news coming out of Detroit!

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, Pamela Sexton
2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter (up 1 spot)
3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden (down 1 spots)
4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
9. New York - president, Renetta English
10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore (up 5 spots)

We lost BDPA Middle Tennessee from the Top 10 for the first time in many moons.

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, 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.

Historical perspective:
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Sep 2013)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Nov 2012)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Oct 2011)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Aug 2010) 
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Oct 2009)

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?

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, September 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 3rd straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown almost 27% from this same time last year! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

Carl Hill

We also want to congratulate the BDPA Triangle chapter for advancing seven places to become the 14th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Carl Hill and his leadership managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 68% in the month of September.  I wonder what is the 'secret sauce' in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina?

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, Pamela Sexton
2. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
3. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter
4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte (up 2 spots)
6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (down 2 spots)
8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney (up 1 spot)
9. New York - president, Renetta English (down 1 spot)
10. Middle Nashville - president, Kendall Norris

These are the same ten chapters who led the nation the past three months in a row. BDPA Cincinnati (up 3 spots) made the largest move in the top ten ... the chapter gained 40% more members in the month of September and 70% increase in membership over the past 12 months. move towards the top.

There is a new chapter in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that BDPA Atlanta chapter joined joined Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC as a fourth member of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they 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.

Historical perspective:
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Jun 2013)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Nov 2012)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Oct 2011)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Aug 2010) 
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Sep 2009)

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?

Oracle Scholarship Winner: Isoke Cullins (Fordham University)

Oracle and BDPA award annual college scholarships to deserving high school, community college or undergraduate students who study STEM-related curriculum. One of the 2013 Oracle Scholarship for BDPA Students winners is Isoke Cullins. Isoke graduated earlier this year from the King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, an alternative high school of the Los Angeles Unified School District.


Isoke will use this college scholarship to defray costs for her to attend the Fordham University at Lincoln Center to study visual arts with an architecture concentration. BDPA is proud to recognize Isoke Cullins with the 2013 Oracle Scholarship for BDPA Students!

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, August 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 2nd straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown over 9% from this same time last year! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

We also want to congratulate the BDPA Chicago chapter for winning the 'Chapter Membership Award' at the 35th annual BDPA Technology Conference last month in Washington DC. Chapter president Pamela Sexton accepts the 'Chapter Membership Award' from BDPA founder Earl Pace as shown in the photo to the right.

Pam Sexton & Earl Pace

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, Pamela Sexton
2. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
3. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter
4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
5. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
7. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte
8. New York - president, Renetta English
9. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
10. Middle Nashville - president, Kendall Norris

These are the same ten chapters who led the nation the past two months in a row. BDPA New York (up 1 spot) made a move towards the top. BDPA New Jersey (down 1 spot) is the only chapter to lose traction in this month's membership ranking.

There is a new chapter in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of hosting an annual conference are obvious when we see that BDPA Washington DC chapter joined Chicago and Philadelphia as a third member of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they 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.

Historical perspective:
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Jun 2013)
Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Jun 2010)

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?

This Week in BDPA (September 1-7, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :

• Sep 1: BDPA Dallas - Anniversary, '26th Anniversary'
• Sep 3: National BDPA - Conference Call, 'Membership Management Vice Presidents'
• Sep 4: BDPA Los Angeles - Program Meeting, 'Coders4Africa: African Outsourcing for Social Change'
• Sep 6: BDPA Philadelphia  - Networking, 'Membership Drive'

Please let us know of other BDPA events 

that we may have missed! 

You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:

• BDPA Facebook Group
• BDPA Foundation Facebook Page
• BDPA Foundation Twitter Account
• BDPA LinkedIn Network Group

BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Rest in Peace: Brandon Robert Gardner (1984-2009)

All members of the BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF) family were saddened to learn of the death of Brandon Robert Gardner (1984-2009).
Brandon attended at least five national BDPA technology conferences ... including the 1999 conference in which he participated as a member of the Los Angeles chapter high school computer competition (HSCC) team.

Brandon helped to coach and chaperone the LA chapter HSCC team the next year when the national championship took place in Chicago. He is also remembered for making outstanding program meeting presentations on the Internet for his west coast chapter.

Brandon's dad, Robert, served as BDPA Los Angeles chapter president in 1999-2000. The entire Gardner family dealt with the rare disease, San Joacquin Valley Fever, over the past few years. Brandon lost his battle with the disease on August 22, 2009.

To the Gardner family, we say, "Hold tight to memories for comfort, lean on your friends for strength and always remember how much you are cared about."
To our young prince, Brandon Robert Gardner, we say, "Rest in peace."

BDPA Los Angeles chapter created the Brandon Gardner Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor the memory of this young man.   Contact BETF by phone (513.284-4968) or email if you would like to make a tax-deductible pledge to the BDPA Los Angeles Chapter Fund in Brandon's memory.

BDPA Los Angeles High School Computer Competition (2013)

BDPA's Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program is flourishing in Southern California. BDPA Los Angeles chapter is training 47 middle- and high-school students representing 29 area schools this year. Course topics include HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL.

Front row:  Pooja Cheboulu, Desirai Lewis, Monique Muepo, Autum Alexander,
Justice Mozell-Guy, Fariahn Morris, Marcus Schumann

Second row:  Amir Rose-Aminifu, Tiana Dollison, Jaylin Gant, Paige Soloman,
Jada McKeney, Cierra Crooms, Cardan Mikes, Matthew Dollison, Morgan Gant, Steven Moreno

Third row:  Steven Zavala, Ryan Beheshti, Trayer Harvey, Austin Jackson-DeYoung,
C’Terra Carter, Ahmir Wilson, Justin Witt, Daniel Beheshti, Miles Williams, Lafiate Germeille Jr.

Not pictured:  Adonai Alexander, Nicholar Banks, Emari Bennett, Jaylin Blannon, Akil Brown,
Elijah Drew, Ajhanae Favors, Thomas Hamilton, Kayla Miller, Brendan Nwokekoro,
Rahman Oladipupo, Shawn Pugh-Molina, Aisja Snaders, Giovanni Smith Jr, Khalia Taylor,
Jordan Tortes-Barker, Maya Washington

This year BDPA Los Angeles chapter introduced cloud computing and mobile development to its program. The class is led by two experienced IT professionals - Temitope Sonuyi and John C. Malonson III. California State University, Dominguez Hills and BDPA Los Angeles created a strategic partnership that allows for this hands-on training to take place on a university campus. Many of the students take advantage of this strategic partnership to earn college credit for the course taught by BDPA volunteers.

Five of these students will earn the right to represent Los Angeles in the 2013 National BDPA High School Computer Competition championship taking place this month in Washington DC. Please help us help these young people by making a secure online donation to support the Brandon Gardner Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, July 2013)

Can you smell the excitement in the air when it comes to BDPA? We are only a couple of weeks away from the 35th annual BDPA Technology Conference and you can see the increased buzz at chapter meetings and throughout the various social media platforms. You can tell by the increased number of people that are joining or renewing their membership in BDPA that momentum is strong!

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. Success with organizations like BDPA can be distilled into three words: MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP.

Corporate America recognizes as much. In recent weeks we've had financial commitment from the Environmental Protection Agency, Life Technologies and Wal-Mart to underwrite the annual dues for over 180 college student members. That is a wonderful testament to the powerful college student programs that BDPA deploys on a local, regional and national level.

The membership totals for July 2013 have been released. It is time 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, Pamela Sexton
2. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
3. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter
4. Atlanta - president, Felicia Jones
5. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
7. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte
8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
9. New York - president, Renetta English
10. Middle Nashville - president, Kendall Norris

These are the same ten chapters who led the nation last month. The only change from last month is with BDPA Washington DC (up 1 spot) who made their move on BDPA Atlanta chapter (down 1 spot). The move by BDPA Washington DC is even more remarkable ... the chapter grew by over 40% in a single month.

The top two chapters - Chicago and Philadelphia - are members of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they 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.

Historical perspective - Top 10 BDPA Chapters (July 2010)

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?

Grant Proposal: Raytheon Charitable Foundation (BDPA Los Angeles)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) and BDPA Los Angeles chapter combined on a $2,000 grant proposal to Raytheon Charitable Foundation. The funding is needed to support the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program on the west coast. The objective of our SITES program in Los Angeles County is to effectively use technology to stimulate and sustain the interest of young people in science and technology. BDPA seeks an increased interest from parents and students alike on basic science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) knowledge and integration of science, technology and math in their lives. Many of the parents are not tech-savvy.

We know that 80% of the U.S. jobs created in the next decade will require math and science skills. In fact, 21 of the top 25 paying jobs are in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The average salary of STEM employees is 70% higher than those in all other occupations. However, we are sad to report that our students aren’t developing needed skills. In 2009, just 34% of U.S. 8th graders were rated proficient or higher in a national math assessment. In international exams, U.S. high school students ranked 21st out of 30 industrialized nations in science and 25th in math. Only 43% of U.S. high school graduates in 2010 were ready for college work in math and only 29% were ready in science.

We hope that Raytheon Charitable Foundation will see these dismal statistics and choose to support this valuable BDPA program.

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, Jun 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. Success with organizations like BDPA can be distilled into three words: MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP.

If you accept that truth then it is worth the time 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, Pamela Sexton
2. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
3. Atlanta - president, Felicia Jones
4. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter
5. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
7. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte
8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
9. New York - president, Renetta English
10. Middle Nashville - president, Kendall Norris

These are the same ten chapters who led the nation last month. BDPA Washington DC (up 1 spot) and BDPA Los Angeles (up 3 spots) made a move towards the top. BDPA New Jersey (down 4 spots) lost 20 members last month, however, those numbers are likely to improve as the energy from their 10th annual Families in Technology Day take hold.

The top two chapters - Chicago and Philadelphia - are members of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they 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.

Historical perspective - Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Jun 2010)

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?

Where Are They Now? BDPA Los Angeles Chapter Presidents

BDPA Los Angeles was the first BDPA chapter located in the pacific time zone when it was founded in 1986. BDPA Los Angeles chapter trivia:

My mom (Liz Hicks) served as BDPA Los Angeles chapter president in 1993-1994. A few years later I served as president of BDPA Cincinnati chapter (1999-2001). We were the only relatives to serve as BDPA president until a few years later when the Roberts' sisters (Monique/Seattle and Jovan/Detroit) duplicated the feat!

Our Los Angeles chapter hosted national BDPA technology conferences in 1989 ('Ideas in the Making') and 2006 ('Picturing the Future of Information Technology').

The chapter has never won the national high school computer competition (HSCC), however, they have had very positive impact on HSCC alumni such as Clyde Hill (2003-2005), Kelly Hill (2001-2003) and Joshua Roy (2004)

I would love to make a connection with other HSCC alumni from our Los Angeles chapter. Where are they now?

Past BDPA Los Angeles chapter president Robert Riddick (shown in photo) served as the national parliamentarian and a member of the BETF Board of Directors for many years. It would be great if we could hear from each of the past BDPA Los Angeles chapter presidents:

• Joseph Uroquart (1982)
• Connie Moore (1983-1986)
• Robert Riddick (1987-1990)
• Darolyn Howard (1991-1992)
• Donna Elijah (1993)
• Tracey Oxley (1993)
• Elizabeth Hicks (1993-1994)

• Reginald Watson (1995-1998)
• Robert Gardner (1999-2000)
• Angela White-Parker (2001-2004)
• Narvin Yarbrough (2005-2006)
• Andree Justin (2007-2008)
• John Malonson (2009-2012) - shown in photo

Where Are They Now?

BDPA iRadio Show: March 26, 2013

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!

Listen to internet radio with BDPA on Blog Talk Radio

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The guests on the March 26th show:

Dr. Craig Brown - National Vice President, BDPA - Dr. Craig Brown was elected to be National BDPA Vice President (2012-2013). He will work with incoming national president Monique Berry and the incoming regional officers to take BDPA to the next level. Dr. Brown has a 25 year career serving as an expert systems and database architect within leading technologies like Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, IBM and Microsoft. His experiences are more particular to the Enterprise Resource Planning, Decision Support and Relational Database Management Systems technologies. He earned over 20 certifications within these technological areas and currently provides implementation and integration expertise along with a variety of other technological disciplines. He holds a BS in Computer Science as well as a Master's in Business and a Doctorate in Management Information Systems. He has over 1 million followers on Twitter and thousands of followers on his Facebook page. Dr. Brown shared his vision for the future of BDPA with our BDPA iRadio Show audience. His twitter handle is @craigbrownphd

Beverly Allen - High School Computer Competition coordinator, BDPA Los Angeles - Beverly Allen has been the HSCC coordinator for our BDPA Los Angeles chapter for a number of years. She watched her son, Terell, participate in national HSCC championships in 2007-2009 before going off to college at Morehouse College. The computer camp program in Los Angeles is making remarkable progress under its leadership … including winning the bronze medal at the 2012 National HSCC championship. The 2013 computer camp program is underway with over 35 students. Beverly has a unique way to look at the BDPA Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program that will be of interest to BDPA-Nation. Her chapter's twitter handle is @bdpala

Jacqueline Sanders - VP, Education & Professional Development, BDPA Atlanta - Jacqueline is part of the BDPA Atlanta leadership team that is shaking up the nation. Her chapter won numerous honors at the 2012 national conference … and they have their eyes set on the largest prize of all – ‘Chapter of the Year’ – right now. A major part of that success can be found in the education and professional development programs that Jacqueline is providing for IT professionals in Atlanta. This includes an ambitious professional development boot camp. The boot camp provides an intense all-day interactive series of exercises to test and challenge participants soft skills. Participants leave with a personalized assessment, mentoring and a career roadmap. Her twitter handle is @RequirementsPro

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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!

BDPA Computer Camp: Los Angeles (2013)

BDPA Los Angeles chapter won the bronze medal at the national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship last year. They are not satisfied. They want to win the whole thing this year ... and they are beginning right away!

BDPA Computer Camp: Los Angeles (2013) from Wayne Hicks

BDPA Los Angeles chapter used this presentation package to recruit 7th thru 12th grade students for participation in their 2013 computer camp leading up to the selection of a team to participate in this year's national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship to be held later this year in Washington DC.

Contact BDPA Los Angeles chapter (hsccla@yahoo.com) if you have questions or wish to discuss further.

Best Practices for BDPA Computer Camps (Los Angeles)

BDPA chapters around the nation are ramping up their Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) programs for 2013. One component of the SITES program is a computer camp for high school students that takes place on Saturdays with volunteer instructors.

 One of the fastest-growing computer camps is hosted by BDPA Los Angeles chapter. BDPA Los Angeles chapter president John Malonson recently shared some of the 'best practices' used by his chapter:

John Malonson

1. Google Services - Use Google Docs Forms to create registration forms (the back-end spreadsheet can then be easily shared and viewed by whomever you'd like to have access). Believe me, it makes the registration process super easy and hassle free. The form can be used to track volunteers and trainers as well. Here's an example of our form from this year -- http://www.bdpa.org/members/group_content_view.asp?group=71844&id=173042
2. Radio advertisement when it's time to fill the pipeline - Our students that took us to the #3 spot last year are in or close to their last year of eligibility so it was time to glut the incoming pipeline. We advertised on a well-known African American LA radio station (KJLH 102.3) which led to 80% of our incoming class and indirectly served the benefit of advertising our organization. Here's our Radio script - https://docs.google.com/document/d/124r9ZWCm0ObwrUE7IIOObqINC8D7ni3MvE9xCMLMJvg/edit
3. Personal Contact - I personally fielded over a hundred calls of people interested in the program even though the registration fee is $125 for our program. To increase membership, my vision was to basically make the program free for parents and students that are members of BDPA (i.e $100 for adult membership, $25 for student membership). If you don't have one already, you should consider signing up for a Google Voice account since it transcribes voice-mails for you and sends them to your inbox.
4. Class Schedule - This year we divided the program into 2 tracks (Beginner 12-2pm and Advanced 10-12pm). Our advanced track is primarily for returners so they don't get bored going over stuff they already know. Our program runs from Feb 2nd thru May 11th. Then we'll select our team and will work with them up until the conference.
5. Finding Trainers / Volunteers - This is the most difficult part. General administrative trainers can be pulled from the parent population if need be. For technical trainers, you basically need to be finding and recruiting them 24/7/365. We found a few by joining Meetup.com groups that catered to our technology platform (HTML , CSS, PHP, etc). First you get friendly with these groups, THEN you start asking for volunteers to help out with "a wonderful program that will suit their talents and develop their leadership abilities".
6. Topics to be taught this year: - Mobile Development (Android); HTML / CSS; PHP / MySQL; JQuery

Hope that helps!
John Malonson, president
BDPA Los Angeles Chapter

Message From BDPA Los Angeles Chapter President

John Malonson

BDPA Los Angeles celebrated the year with friends and family at Truxton's American Bistro on December 15, 2012.

As president of the Los Angeles Chapter, it was my sincere pleasure opening the event and welcoming everyone as we celebrated a fantastic year. Our 2012 High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team placed 3rd out of 45 potential teams nationwide. Our chapter forged a partnership with Blacks in Technology (Los Angeles) online community. Also we had the pleasure of BETF executive director Wayne Hicks and his lovely mother, BDPA Los Angeles chapter past president Liz Hicks grace us with their presence for the second year in a row.

This year's event was more informal and low-key than past affairs. For example, our keynote speaker (Wayne) shared his message without a podium or microphone; however, he was more than open to the challenge!

Speaking from the top of his head and heart, Wayne re-affirmed to our audience all the good that BDPA does for our community as a national entity and the importance of an organization like ours. Since our event took place the day after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Wayne challenged the "how could it happen here?" mentality shared by many in the media. Horrific events should not be enhanced or limited by geography. We must be mindful that an injustice anywhere is an injustice. As we grieved as a nation, we were reminded just how precious and fleeting life can be. However, we must actively combat apathy for the senseless lives lost everyday that don't make it to the news or happen all at once. Wayne imparted that each of us has the responsibility to be good to others and to make a positive impact on lives, especially our youth, wherever we go.

L-R: Temitope, Akindele, Steven, Steven, Pooja, Justice, John, Trayer and John

Our award recipients this year were:

• 2012 National HSCC Team - Pooja Chebolu (California Academy of Math and Science), Akindele Davies (California Academy of Math and Science), Trayer Harvey (California Academy of Math and Science), John Isaacs (Santa Monica Community College) and Justice Mozell-Guy (Niles West HS)

• BDPA Los Angeles Leadership Team - Beverly Allen (California Institute of California), Ogie Banks (Self-Employed, Karen Breau (California Institute of Technology), Wandia Chiuri (Reaction Power), David Malonson (The Westfield Group), Temitope Sonuyi (Self-Employed) and Kirk Williams (KW3 Consulting)

• YTC Spirit Award - Steven Moreno (Wilson Classical HS)) and Steven Zavala (Wilson Classical HS)

• Community Partners - Dr. Antonia Boadi (CSU Dominguez Hills) and Micah Ali (Compton Unified School District)

• Corporate Sponsors (Corporate Champion) - Sempra Energy (Carolyn Williams) and Raytheon Company (Mel Jackson).
  

In Los Angeles, we look to 2013 as a year with even more promise! If you're interested in learning more about the largest chapter in the West, please contact us at losangeles@bdpa.org

Sincerely,
John C. Malonson III, President
BDPA Los Angeles Chapter

This Week in BDPA (Nov 4-10)

BDPA offers strong programs in 45 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :

• Nov 5: Middle Tennessee - Workshop, 'PMP Bootcamp'
• Nov 7: Washington DC - Fundraiser, 'Annual Scholarship Awards Dinner & Fundraiser'
• Nov 7: Los Angeles - Program Meeting, 'Building and Monetizing Websites'
• Nov 8: New Jersey - Fundraiser, 'Annual Awards and Scholarship Banquet'
• Nov 8-10: Orlando - Board Meeting, 'ITSMF 4th Quarter Symposium'
• Nov 8-9: Columbus - Conference, 'DogFood Conference 2012'
• Nov 10: Cincinnati - Fundraiser, '17th Annual Education Banquet'
  

Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed! You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:

• BDPA Facebook Group
• BDPA Foundation Facebook Page
• BDPA LinkedIn Network Group.

BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, Nov 2012)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. Success with organizations like BDPA can be distilled into three words: MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP.

If you accept that truth then it is worth the time 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, Pamela Sexton
2. Atlanta - president, Felicia Jones
3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
4. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte
6. New York - president, Renetta English
7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
8. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
9. Southern Minnesota - president, Melcon Hinds
10. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter

The top two chapters - Chicago and Atlanta - are members of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they 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.

Historical perspective - Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Nov 2009)

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?