Dear Alumni and Friends,
This is the first of several updates on the activities of the Executive Committee and the Board that I will be sharing with the membership during this fiscal year.
Between the announcement of the election results at the spring meeting (April 2015) and the actual start of our terms on July 1, 2015, the E
xecutive
C
ommittee (Delores Johnson, Marshall Jackson, Warren Arrington, Jackie Thompson-Matthews
Carol McCauley, Bessie Crawford,
William Simmons)
and I worked to identify prospective committee chairpersons (See sidebar for appointments)..
Additional appointments include Dorsey Montgomery as Parliamentarian and Rev. Michael McLean as Chaplain.
Our first LCNAA Board Meeting was held via conference call on July 9, 2015. At this meeting the board approved the following:
-- A new set of financial reports that the Budget/Finance Committee created providing complete transparency and making it easy to view the organization's financial status at any given point in the year.
-- The new bi-monthly digital newsletter created and published by the Public Relations Committee. To date, the Blue Bear Update has been published 8 times. Anyone who
is no
t receiving it should click the "Join Our Mailing List" link below or
text to join (See sidebar).
-- The Summer Retreat held at Caraway Conference Center and Camp on August 21-22, 2015.
The Summer Retreat was attended by a total of 21 officers, committee chairs and chapter presidents and yielded huge results. We identified the organizations biggest shortcomings and went on to envision the organization of the future. We settled on vision and mission statements (See sidebar).
These breakthrough objectives are as follows
(See sidebar for additional description of each breakthrough):
Operational Excellence: Most of the tasks associated with operational excellence are being addressed by the Executive Committee and the Budget/Finance Committee.
Alumni Engagement: Addressing this objective affords us the opportunity to explore ways to utilize the human capital that our alumni possess. Dr. James Gray has staffed a committee to develop a mentoring partnership with the College. This program will be introduced in phases. Eventually, we envision having enough dedicated alumni mentors to match a mentor with each freshman.
How the world views Livingstone is based in large part on her graduates. How many of us obtained advanced degrees, how many of us held notable positions in business, industry, education, government, etc? Of no less importance is how well prepared LC's current graduates are to enter the job market. With the skills and knowledge alumni have acquired we can and should be developing relationships with current students to help assure that they are ready to use what they have learned when they graduate and seek employment.
Communication/Marketing: In addition to the bi-monthly digital newsletter, our Public Relations Committee led by Nigel Alston has created an LCNAA Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter page. Updating our original website is under review.
Fundraising: Our primary fundraisers are still held at Homecoming. We do not yet have a Fundraising Chairperson. However, we do have individuals working to identify fundraising activities that each chapter may be able to hold.
Most of our chapters and each of our committees, including the Executive Committee, are working on one or more of these objectives. Most of our committees need additional members and we still need Chairpersons for the Fundraising and Time, Place and Hospitality Committees. Please contact
me
or any member of the Board if you would like to serve on a committee.
The Executive Board held its second conference call meeting on September 10, 2015. The primary business was the approval of the Homecoming budget presented by the Homecoming Committee. The Membership Committee, the Recruitment Committee, and the Public Relations Committees all reported providing information about their goals and strategies for achieving them.
Your LCNAA is on the move! We can move faster with your support. Join the LCNAA by becoming an active member of the national association, your local chapter, or both.
If you haven't already done so, make a contribution or a pledge to contribute to Livingstone's capital campaign and volunteer to be a mentor when we roll out our Alumni Mentoring Program (See sidebar and complete the Mentor Interest Form).
I am honored to be your president. I also feel a heavy mantle of responsibility to not only do all that I can but to encourage you to do all you can for our beloved Livingstone.
Yours in the Livingstone spirit,
Delores M. Johnson, '69
LCNAA President
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