EXECUCOM - Summer 2020

mmer 2020

JACK AND JILL OF AMERICA, INC.

E X uEm C U C O M mer 2020 S

Summer 2020

PICTURED FROM LEFT:Â NVP MICHELLE GUILLORY

GENTRY ADAMS,

TANYA

ANDERSON, NE

GINA

NP

HAND,

NPD

DANIELLE

LISA

GRANT-DAWSON,

BROWN,

WILLIAMS-JACKSON,

NT

NCS

PAMELA

NRS

CONSUELLA

D

TAYLOR

N A Tu tIi vO N A L e Board Exec

1

3

5

6

President

Danielle Brown

National Vice President Tanya Hand

National Treasurer Pamela D Taylor

National Program Director Lisa Grant-Dawson

National Recording Secretary Michelle Gentry Anderson

National Corresponding Secretary Consuella Guillory Adams

National Editor Gina Williams-Jackson

N A Tq uIaO N A L rters Staff Head

8

Executive Consultant Tiffany Rose

Interim Executive Director Jamarl D. Clark

Membership Natasha Johnstone

Administrative Shalieda Marquez

Special Projects Kristjen Renard

Finance Toni Washington

13

10

NATIONAL PRESIDENT Danielle Brown

Greetings

JACK AND JILL MOTHERS, What a year 2020 has been!

It is absolutely safe to say that none of us could have predicted that this year would throw us so many unexpected curve balls.

I am beyond proud of the

manner we have adjusted, recalibrated, and tackled adversity head on in the midst of the multiple pandemics we have been faced with.

In light of National Emergency announcements made earlier this

year,

related

the

Executive

business

and

Board

and

I

programming

made to

the

Virtual

executive Platforms.

decision This

to

to

transition

included

all

meetings,

Jack

and

Jill

installations,

initiations, and programming events.

Like many, we shifted part of our focus to advocacy, education, and reform, as the world began to call

for

justice

for

Black

Lives.

Most

notably,

through

Sanding4Reform's

SistersUnited4Reform,

we

were among the 13 organizations that banded together to comprise the country's largest coalition of members

from

historic

African

American

Women's

Organizations

representing

more

than

5

million

women in the United States and globally.

#

It has been an honor and pleasure serving you as National President!

With love,

Danielle Brown,

National President

SISTERS UNITED4 REFORM Summer 2020 | 1

As leaders of African-American women’s organizations in America, we condemn in the strongest terms the senseless and unjustified killings of Black women, Black men, Black girls, and Black boys by police and vigilantes. We have organized knowing that we are stronger and more effective when we work together to raise our more than five (5) million collective voices and exert our collective power to address the unspeakable, horrific killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Nina Pop and too many others – killings that have sparked a global movement for racial justice.

We stand united and join with Black communities across our country in an urgent demand for police reform now. Our national shame, which plays out on streets, in cars and even in the sanctity of homes that is resulting in the repugnant killings of African Americans, has reached a fever pitch that can no longer be tolerated. These latest killings, along with those we seldom hear about, have garnered national and international attention and share one common denominator — they demand justice. The trauma of these occurrences is exacerbated by the fact that the nation is in the grip of a horrific pandemic which has had a disproportionate impact on African Americans and other people of color living in poverty.

Black, low-wage, essential workers, who risk their lives daily, have disproportionately contracted the COVID-19 virus and died, rendering the most vulnerable families’ recovery uncertain.

As African-American women leaders, we are committed to using the power of our collective voice, vote, leadership, and influence as we join the American people and citizens around the world to demand that the routine use of lethal force by law enforcement officers who are duty-bound to protect and serve comes to a swift end. Our #United4Reform alliance comes on the heels of global protests over the deaths of George Floyd and too many others at the hands of the police, because of the color of their skin or how they identify.To achieve these goals, we present the following actions to our 5 million plus members and the broader community to hasten universal change as we continue to advocate and demand justice. #United4Reform Summer 2020 | 2

NATIONAL VICE PRESIDENT Tanya Hand

Greetings Mothers, It

is

my

staying

sincerest safe

and

hope

that

healthy

you

during

all

are

these

unprecedented times.

The circumstances of this year did not stop us from celebrating

82 years

of

bringing the world cultural awareness, educational development, health (education and advocacy), civic (legislative advocacy and service) and social/recreational programming.

Chapters across the country were able to celebrate, in-person, the accomplishments of our organization prior to COVID-19 putting a damper on many activities.

MOMENTOUS MOMENTS Additionally, we kicked off our

MOMentous

Membership MOMents  recognition program! With the goal of celebrating mothers who exemplify what it means to be a

Thank you for your willingness and ability to adjust and continue on in our Mission!

Jack and Jill member and bringing our guiding principles to life, we recognize these extraordinary mother members for all that they do to represent the pink and blue!

Sincerely,

Tanya Hand,

National VicePresident

Summer 2020 | 3

Summer 2020 | 4

NATIONAL TREASURER

PamelaD Taylor Greetings and welcome to the final Execucom from the 2018-2020 National Executive Board. It has been such a

wonderful experience serving you as National Treasurer for two consecutive terms.

This year has proven to be one of many adversities, but you all have somehow made each day brighter!

One of many highlights from this spring was the Regional Treasurer Retreat! It was such a pleasure convening with all of the Regional Treasurers and collaborating on the implementation of new and improved systems of operations.

Notable 2018-2020 Highlights: Obtained purchase cards Implemented new year end financial submission process All chapters submitted accurate and complete financial filings before 7/31/2020 Tax returns filed on time each year of service I personally reviewed every chapter’s data file Held monthly meetings with the national budget and finance committee

Thank you again for entrusting me to serve you in this capacity. I hope that the systems we have put

Trained the new regional and budget finance committees

in place will contribute to the financial success of

Elevated the Regional Treasurer positions

this organization for years to come!

Created training for the financial secretary to work inside the same data

Sincerely,

file as the Treasurer

NT Pamela Summer 2020 | 5

NATIONAL PROGRAM DIRECTOR Lisa Grant-Dawson GREETINGS MOTHERS! During

the

greeting:

Winter

Happy

Edition,

New

Year!

I

greeted

Now

that

you

Spring

with

our

has

come

common we

now

know…It IS a DIFFERENT New Year! By the end of January, we were grieving the loss of Kobe and Gianna Bryant. In February, we were hearing

a

word

cascade

throughout

the

news

“DaRona” .

consistently – Coronavirus = COVID-19 =

lightly,

yet

Subsequently,

we would begin to use a different word which set the stage for our new year: Pandemic: adj. A disease that takes over an entire country or world. Thought the pandemic took over, Jack and Jill took a slight pause to recalibrate, but did not relinquish its Power to

Make

a

Difference.

Between

March

and

May

we’d

find

ourselves once again leaning on the power of prayer to make a difference

in

our

souls

and

calling

on

another

SAT

word

to

describe our current situation:

Racism/ against

noun

prejudice,

someone

of

a

discrimination,

different

race

or

antagonism

based

on

the

directed

belief

that

one's own race is superior.

Once again Jack and Jill would show up like an Unstoppable Train with

raised

voices,

signs,

fists,

and

virtual

platforms

ready

to

hear

the

voice

of

unrest

from

age

seven

to

age

Development)

was

seasoned.

Our

Six

Pillars

of

Power

(Cultural,

Education,

Health,

Civic,

Social/Recreational,

Leadership

immune to COVID-19 and have done more in every area to enhance and create value in not only your membership, but in the impact to your families and your community.

I enjoyed all of the in person and virtual initiations, installations, and associate group and bridging ceremonies and was grateful to attend several events in the Fall prior to COVID-19. Today, my soul looks back in wonder of how our ancestors made it over and through so much oppression and mistreatment of black folks in a country they did not choose

to

migrate

emboldened

as

we

to.

Our

execute

lives all

of

have the

been civic

uprooted

and

social

in

so

justice

many

ways

training

to

and the

our

call

streets,

to

action

stages,

necessary

churches,

and

and civic

buildings to raise our voices in outrage at the continued social injustice. Coronavirus isn’t the only thing killing Black People in 2020…Stay Woke and Stay Lifted my Sisters! We MUST overcome For The Children!

As this journey as your National Program Director concludes, thank you Mothers for trusting me to work with and for you. I have had an amazing time and appreciate the work, play, and the strategic programming risks we took to DO MORE to enhance your experience in Jack and Jill. It is through these efforts that I pray you were motivated and encouraged to do more as we prepare to look to the future of a centennial celebration of service in 2038. Once again,

I

thank

the

dynamic

28

mothers

that

I

liaise

with

in

their

various

areas

of

focus

in

addition

to

my

6

NEB

SisStars that I thoroughly enjoy working with.

With Love Traveling Up the Hill with You,

Lisa Grant-Dawson, Summer 2020 | 6

National Program Director

Webinars: Due to COVID-19, we expanded our reach to the membership and expanded not only the number of Webinars but the method of delivery by trying new concepts in light of our advanced reliance on technology. We added more Bedtime Stories, For Mother’s Only, and For Father’s Only sessions. We also developed two May Webinar Sessions starting with May 1, 2020 National Black Family Day: Uncorked interview with Writer and Director and Jack and Jill Dad, Prentice Penny. We were thrilled to have over 1,337 registrants and 733 attendees: An Unprecedented Webinar Record! The experience and feedback was amazing and we were excited to not only showcase a Netflix Movie that reached #1 two days after it first aired in March, during COVID), but we were elated to include our Memphis Chapter President Tracy McGee and our beloved National Editor Gina Williams-Jackson.

We did not stop there. As the shelter in place orders

continued

to

spread

throughout

the

country, we begin working on a new plan to support

our

unprecedented

families migration

during

to

a

new

this lifestyle

of living. On Friday, May 22, 2020, Jack and Jill

of

America

Night/Girls featuring

Night

Actor

hosted Virtual

and

the

Live

first

Date

Comedy

Comedian,

Bill

show

Bellamy.

The success of this webinar was beyond our expectations

as

we

had

over

3,500

registrants and 2,700 participants. The chat comments

exceeded

8,000

and

continued

after the show concluded. The laughter and connected we experienced as a Jack and Jill family was tremendous. As Bill shared with us, he

needed

us

and

we

needed

him:

the

laugher was truly good to our souls.

Summer 2020 | 7

NATIONAL RECORDING S E C RGEe nTt r yAARn dYe r s o n Michelle GREETINGS MOTHERS, Welcome behalf

If

you

2019 I

was

due

Children's

was

The

committee

travel, to

Trip

Jack

fulfill

to

our

cancelled

strongly

and

the

extenuating

Jill

of

plans

and

of

the

Our

hope

our

the

rich

surrounding mission 2021

marks

our

With

areas.

and

wouldn’t see

to

purpose the

want

JJOA

love

The

be

a

families

to

and

that

the

we

task

of

the

part

of

such

part

of

gratitude,

Recording

OK,

Secretary

edition,

for

the

like

famed a

remains to

a

know

how

excited

to

in

on Wall

my

19th, a

full

refund.

travel

to

with

is

safe

Tulsa, the

OK

next

and

opportunity,

journey

together.

massacre.

Wouldn’t

to

exposing

Oklahoma

the

Street

milestone?

it

support

to

the

Trip.

our

once

Tulsa,

the

Hometown,

Children's

would

milestone?

historical

at

that

committed

Black

look

Committee

continue

Tulsa

a

all

should

Americans

historical

such

Trip

you

given

on

NEB!

March

administration

African force

were

Execucom

take

2020

on

families

to

you

recommends

Youth

next

would

Michelle Gentry Anderson National

of

chance

welcome

Incorporated

year

a

a

participants

National

current

be

had

FINAL

the

2018-2020

circumstances,

all

history

and

100th

to

is

the

whole-heartedly

America,

administration. families

and

this,

of

Winter

Tulsa, Unfortunately,

to

we

Who

want

to

GOING VIRTUAL: Attended virtual teen conferences: Central Far West South Central Mid Atlantic Attended virtual Provisional Group training for CoMo Tiger Moms Virtual New Mother installations Virtual Teen Officer installations Virtual Mother Officer installation

SPRING 2020 NOTABLE HIGHLIGHTS Technology Worked with HQ to improve MIS-Digital Cheetah Improved for member interaction and information Committee assisted with 7 Virtual Regional Teen conferences Worked on virtual National Convention

 Regional Secretaries Worked with the Regional Secretaries on new Registration platform and conference planning Attended January's Regional Secretary Retreat

 Nominating Committee Worked with the National Nominating Committee to plan for the election process at virtual conferences Facilitated a virtual meet and greet

Alumni Task Force Worked with the Task Force to add a section on the Scope for Alumni activities Planned additional ways for our Alums to meet and serve JJ as Alums

Summer 2020 | 9

NATIONAL CORRESPONDING S E C R E uTi lA Ry Y Adams r o l suella G Con

GREETINGS TO EACH OF YOU WONDERFUL JACK AND JILL MOTHERS, It is with a sincere heart full of gratitude that I come to you in this final Execucom of the 2018-2020 NEB tenure.

I

am sure you can appreciate the dedication to the work and

commitment to excellence by the mothers working on the National Bylaws Committee and Policies and Procedures Committee during these past two years, as well as, their expertise on the subject matter.

Thank you for your

EVERYTHING! My experiences over the past two

years will stay with me forever!

Sincerely,

NCS Connie

NATIONAL BYLAWS & POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEES When we started our journey nearly two years ago, the National Bylaws Committee and Policies and Procedures Committee members committed to work closely together as a team. It made sense to us because the work of these committees is codependent. The aligned influence helps the Organization establish reasoned sustainable governance that enable the members to lead, manage, and accomplish the work of Jack and Jill. These efforts are beneficial to the committee members, our membership, and the Organization. We fondly called ourselves the Good Governance Team.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Good Governance Team was schedule to have a retreat. Although we could not meet faceto-face, we did manage the Inaugural Good Governance Retreat virtually on March 21 and 22, 2020. We had 100% participation by the committee members. The agenda included productive discussions on the proposed bylaws amendments, the implications of the proposed amendments to the policies and procedures; and a workshop facilitated by National Parliamentarian Ramona Marsalis-Hill. The learning experience, welcoming fellowship and an innovative retreat platform, made for an extraordinarily successful retreat. This is the commitment of your Good Governance Team.

The Team consistently and continually reviewed the eight major characteristics of Good Governance. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. One of our goals was to educate, engage, and empower our members on the elements and operations of good governance.

In doing so, we committed to enhancing the quality of governance of the Organization, as a whole, and increasing the governance IQ of our members around the nation. The first step in this process was to review the status of our current governance on the local and national levels. What we discovered were great variances in the quality of how our national governing footprint was being implemented on the local level. Next in addressing this variance was to provide comments to each Chapter on how their local governance should or could be enhanced using a preliminary draft of a bylaws template to allow the Committee to comment consistently on the local documents around the nation. What we ultimately realized was that what was most needed was a Chapter Bylaws Template that could provide quality guidance to chapters at the local level. The preliminary template was reviewed and refined to reflect the best practices around the nation.

Summer 2020 | 10

BYLAWS COMMITEE The Bylaws Committee provided each chapter an editable version of the Chapter Bylaws Template to be used as a guide to enhance or fully revise their local governing document.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES The Policies and Procedures Committee accomplished three main objectives including:

(1)

Delivery of the newly revised

2018-2020 National Policies and Procedures Manual.

(2)

Development of a comprehensive

The National Bylaws Committee received 185

Chapter Level Policies and Procedures

proposed bylaws amendments from across the

Implementation Strategy to facilitate

nation.

chapters’ understanding of the importance of

Conversations were had with the

members who submitted some of the proposed

policies and procedures, and to facilitate

amendments to ensure the best idea possible

their ability to draft or revise a Chapter Level

was presented. The Bylaws Committee

Manual.

members presented 106 proposed bylaws

series to roll out the Implementation Strategy

amendments to the membership for

and to introduce the Chapter Level Policies

consideration at the 44th National

and Procedures Toolkit containing the

Convention. The presentation was informative,

framework, guidance documents, checklists,

comprehensive, and educational

and other tools to facilitate successful

(3)

Delivery of a three-part webinar

implementation.

Summer 2020 | 11

2020 NATIONAL FATHER'S RETREAT The Father’s Auxiliary hosted and facilitated the Inaugural Father’s Auxiliary Retreat on January 16-29, 2020.

Nearly 70 dads and

moms enjoy a weekend of activities, workshops, and relaxation at the PGA Nationals in Palm Beach, Florida.

Date: Luther

January King

Duration: evening

Reception, Activities, Committee

dads’ activities, relax while reaffirming or

Food: 3

receiving support from other committed dads.

–

19th,

(Arriving

Golf,

Resort

Sport

Workshop,

Banquet,

morning) &

Spa

Fishing,

Forum,

Networking

Community

Service,

and

Work

Meals/day

Experience Prerequisites: dad

(Martin

Thursday

Sunday

National

PGA

2020

Weekend)

Departing

Tours,

dads to bond with each other, participate in

learning new personal and parenting skills and

days

PGA

Activities: Cultural

The weekend was specifically designed for

4

and

Location:

16th

Holiday

(current

or

Being

a

JNJ

past)

In addition, the dads discussed their roles and commitment to Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated.

The theme for this conference was Stronger Together. How appropriate!

WORK THE

AND

JACK

AND

WAY!!!

Summer 2020 | 12

PLAY JILL

NATIONAL E D iIl lTi a mO R s-Jackson Gina W GREETINGS MOTHERS, Who

could

prepared year

have for

of

by

coronavirus,

is

state

transitioned starting

in

from

March

year.

have

been

all

Shelter met

in

to

Greater Advisor,

orders,

best

White,

by and

Mr.

Regional

hard

Golf.

Membership heart

of

virtual New

Member

conducted Directors May

has

of

deadline

and

assisted

platforms for

to

sessions

County

nationally

Public

the

Programming

is

even

Teen

Charters,

with

very play

the in

a

times, Officer

were

all

Regional

ceremonies

and

compliance

with

Creative and

of

Teen

Adolescent

Officers,

completion.

continued

Regional

to

ensure

for

more

ready

and

Group

we the

met

unprecedented

National

staff

to

learn

Incorporated,

Mother

Associate

HQ

and

the

assistance

hard,

were

of as

Presidents

included

Broward

these

Initiations,

technology 31

During

to

and

working

America,

virtually.

programming

It

lifeblood

Jill

and

and

provided

moms

the

and

Board

the

of

platforms

Prior

Peters,

Presidents

safety

advice

Teen

and to

agenda

Mujica,

America,

family

Teen

Mom

were novel

organization

each

Regional

After

Teen

environment.

Installations

the

is

Jack

pandemic.

RTP’s

Lenny

competitive Top

this

Thanks

we

remainder

with

we the

the

virtual

are

National

As as

the

the

the

the

practices

Worker.

on

to

for

Juandalyn

it

of

ensuring

events

Chapter

the

Dr.

by

Jill

to

Based

seven

to

However,

officials,

Wellness.

Lauderdale

Social

at

the

The

share

Raye

Psychiatrist

by

bring?

caused

and

continuing

prayers

Mental

presented Schools

in-person

retreat.

Fort

Jack

families.

and

would

referred

vision.

committed

impacted

bond,

Teen

we

pandemic

national

Our

Place

annual

about

and

and

program

their

always

members

local,

clear

global

2020

year,

COVID-19.

Incorporated our

and

a

what

special

perfect

blindsided

of

predicted

this

and

quality

regionally

for

teens.

been

an

absolute

pleasure

serving

you

in

this

capacity!

With

love,

Gina Williams-Jackson National

Editor

Summer 2020 | 13