YBM Leadership Alliance april 2016
ewsletter
to our digital newsletter As we look back on 2015 and the first months of 2016, we are excited about the continued development of our young men and the increased investment of time, talent, and finances of those who became more aware of our stated mission,
Creating A New Reality
“Creating A New Reality by Building Leaders that Impact the World.” Examples are our YBM Ambassadors, who went away to college and immediately became involved with the local community, and our High School Ambassadors and Top Scholars who are participating in the Third Grade Reading Program,
a newly partnered program with the CMS NorthStar initiative. These young men clearly demonstrate their understanding of the need to “pass it on.” It is important to support our young men TODAY! Investment in our youth is like the planting of a fruit tree. The nurturing and care will in time produce beautiful fruit. Please assist us in the planting of integrity, educational achievement, and community service in our young men by volunteering your time, or via your financial support.
Top Scholars orientation sessions .................... see story on page 5 © 2007 - 501c3 - All rights reserved.
The YBM Evening of Excellence was held on November 6th at the beautiful Mint Museum. A crowd of over 200 attended this exciting event. The event was made even more memorable as it was hosted in large part by a number of our high school Ambassadors. Their collective poise and ability to facilitate the evening’s activities made us all proud. We also experienced the music of the violin virtuoso, Ken Ford. The audience was captured by the performance as chairs were bumping and feet were moving to the dynamic sounds. We thank those who supported this event, as it is our primary annual fundraiser.
Executive Leadership Luncheon 11/11/15
Chris Arline
Chris Arline
Director of Client Engagement at Dale Carnegie Training for Charlotte and Western North Carolina was our November speaker. Chris discussed the importance of creating a business culture that engages and retains millennials.
Chris has been with Dale Carnegie since 2013 as a coach, trainer, sales, and management roles. Chris oversees the organization’s sales process, Performance Consultants and establishes relationships with North Carolinian companies who benefit from Dale Carnegie’s services. He is also a certified trainer for the Dale Carnegie Course. His background includes media as a Salesperson, Sales manager, General Manager/General Sales Manager at television/cable stations where he oversaw sales departments, and coached salespeople for over 9 years. He has worked with businesses of every revenue size including virtually every B to C category. He has also consulted retail clients on operations/personnel/market penetration and also built marketing programs for municipalities and adjoining school districts. Chris has a B.S. in Business Management from Guilford College and a Masters of Business of Administration from Wake Forest University.
YBM Ambassadors’
12/20/15
Year-End Party This year-end celebration was held at the home of Raki and Kim McGregor. Achievements of the ambassadors in attendance were highlighted. It was an excellent opportunity for freshmen and sophomore college ambassadors to share their experiences with high school seniors as they prepare for their first year of college.
January 2016
January 2016 has yielded another successful induction of high achieving young men into the YBM Top Scholars of Charlotte program via orientation sessions held during the month. Training for these young men is already underway with February events, such as the college language session held in February. These individuals will be highlighted in the YBM Top Scholars Publication that will be released at the Top Scholars recognition ceremony in June. The entire community is invited and encouraged to attend.
MLK PRAYER BREAKFAST at the NASCAR Hall of Fame
YBM had twenty members in attendance at the prayer breakfast, including twelve Ambassadors who served as greeters and hosts. YMB’s Ambassadors were publicly thanked for their service.
MLK SERVICE DAY YBM Ambassadors and adult leaders participated in providing over twelve hundred sandwiches and one thousand bag lunches
for Charlotte’s homeless citizens. Operation Sandwich contributes to Urban Ministry
Center’s mission of bringing the community together to end homelessness.
This year YBM was honored to have other community service minded partners participate, including, South Charlotte chapter of Jack and Jill, Be There Dad, and students and men from our host for this event, Irwin Academic Center.
01/17/16
TOASTMASTERS Toastmasters Speech Final Presentations were hosted by Rebecca’s Taste Of The South Restaurant. The Ambassadors obtained insight and weeks of training from Larry Edwards prior to this final presentation. Edwards works for Mecklenburg County, but volunteers his time in our community to train others, often youth, in public speaking, as well as how to manage time when doing public presentations.
JANUARY STRATEGIC PLANNING The YBM Executive Leadership Team met at Rebecca’s Restaurant in January. Goals and strategies for the year were the key topics of discussion.
February 13th - The Crown Jewels NC chapter of the Links, Inc. honored John and Tammy Martin as the 2016 Crown Jewels Mardi Gras King and Queen. As one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women, The Links are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of our community. John and Tammy were honored for their work through YBM Leadership Alliance. Each year, YBM implements over thirty events and workshops targeted toward highlighting successful young black men and inspiring them to reach their highest potential.
01/16/16
Ambassadors On The Move
Operation Sandwich Bag This event was held at the United Institutional Baptist Church in Greensboro. Ambassador Harold Lowe Jr., now a freshman at NC A&T, spearheaded this service project,
providing 500 meals for the homeless in Greensboro. This event was completed with the support of over 30 NC A&T students, including every YBM Ambassador who attends the college.
Once prepared, the meals were boxed and taken to the local Urban Ministries for distribution. Special thanks to Harold and Lydia Lowe for sponsoring a great majority of the event!
Ambassadors Spreading the
Ambassador William Gibson started the Mu•bay•dai•ye project whose mission was to collect 1,000 books to send to the youth of Liberia and Haiti. This effort was designed to promote literacy, which is very low in both countries. The project was a huge success as they were able to collect over 1,200 books and 8 early developmentlearning kits, ranging from K-6th grade. This program received a generous donation from Teach for America Charlotte. Special thanks to Dr. Christa Flood of Teach for America Charlotte, Donna Reynolds of the Mint Hill Public Library, and Rocky River High school through Brandy
YBM Word
Tammy Reed and Ambassador William Gibson met with Keith Kelly, District Director for Alma Adams, North Carolina District 12 Congresswoman, to speak about YBM Leadership Alliance and the impact being made on him and in our community via participation in YBM programs. Keith Kelley expressed his support and the powerful impression he gained of YBM by attending the YBM Top Scholars Orientation program the following week. We are grateful to Mr. Kelly for investing his time in order to attend this important community event. 10
CMS AWARD: Superintendent Ann Clark, during the “State of our Schools” annual meeting, gave this year’s CMS game ball to YBM Ambassador William Gibson for his outstanding community service, dependability, and learning achievement. The game ball is given to people who put in much work behind the scenes and whose actions inspire others. It is considered the superintendent’s highest honor. William was selected from over 14,000 students. We applaud him for his unrelenting effort to provide service to his community.
Pictured above from Left to right, John Martin, Bradford Gibson, (William Gibson’s father), Superintendent Ann Clark, and the award recipient, YBM Ambassador, William Gibson.
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YBW Leadership Alliance
Young Black Women This event was held on January 30, 2016 at Rebecca’s Taste of the South restaurant. Twentyone young women and sixteen professionals and parents attended YBW’s second leadership luncheon. The speaker was Pamela Lue-Hing, whose message was entitled Selfie Awareness. This focused on young ladies being aware of the potential positive and negative implications of
social media networks. Pam also presented the young women with the DISC personality assessment, helping them to identify their own personality types and learn tips on how to work well with others. Special recognition to YBW’s cofounders, Jalyn Martin, Chidera Udeh, Lauren Merritt, and Paula Wambui, for helping with the planning of this event and the development of YBW. 12
Third Grade Reading Program
This important program
grade students. YBM
recently extended the
is taking place at the
Executive Leadership
program to Stoney
First Ward School
Team member, Tony
Creek Elementary
in Charlotte. It is
Reed, with the support
with a group of
designed to help
of eight Ambassadors,
young women.
improve the reading
heads this program.
comprehension of third
Tammy Martin has
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YBM Leadership Alliance
is proud to present our 2016 Success Leaders For the second year, during Black History Month, we are acknowledging individuals who have achieved a high level of success in their chosen profession. Additionally, these selected individuals have demonstrated the importance of “paying it forward.” Their involvement with various organizations, charities, and mentoring of our young men and women creates a positive impact in our community. Please join us in congratulating these leaders and wishing them continued success. You can view the complete list and watch
their videos on our website or on our Facebook page. We are proud to have such leaders to showcase and lift up as examples for our young men – our future leaders. These leaders were honored on Sunday, March 6th at a glorious event on the 46th floor of the Duke Energy Building. For more info, visit the links below: http://www.ybmleadership.com/ybmsuccess-leaders-2016/ http://www.ybmleadership.com/ybmsuccess-leaders-2016/ 14
YBM Board of Directors
Board members are the fiduciaries who assist in guiding an organization to a sustainable future by adopting sound ethical and legal governance, and sound financial policies. We at YBM are proud to have focused board members to provide direction and insight for the management of our organization.
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Special Thanks for Your Support: Data tech Information Services, Inc. Connecting BOD member Kirk Beatty Michael Cureton Bertram Scott Osyris Uqoezwa William Brown “It’s exciting to be able to connect with those who possess an understanding of the power of the village mentality that our young men need in order to become their best selves, and the difference that we can make together in Creating A New Reality by Building Leaders Who Impact the World! We feel certain that YBM has been blessed by a soon to be Charlotte resident in William Brown, who contacted YBM inquiring about areas that he could assist, and had the following to say when asked why he would donate to YBM prior to relocating to the area.”
Tammy Reed
YBM Director of Donor Development
.....
“My life long belief has been that education and exposure are two of the key principles leading to advancement, a more fulfilling life and greater degrees of success. The concept of a good education needs little explanation, but exposure might need just a little context. By exposure I mean, “having first person experiences” with the possibilities, the opportunities, the options available to you, and the ways to achieve them. In other words, seeing it for yourself, being there, touching it, feeling it, hearing it, and being immersed in the reality that the world is both large and small and all of its doors can be made open to you, but you have to first know those doors exist. Exposure to the larger world of possibilities lets you know your dreams can and should be big, because your true potential lies in your biggest dreams not your small ones. I believe that our young people have dreams but all too often those dreams are kept private, perhaps because they just don’t believe achieving them is possible. I also believe that there are dreams our kids don’t have because they may not know just how big they can dream. Exposure lets you know how big your dreams can be, education is the key to achieving them. Certainly, the issues facing our children and young adults are far more numerous and complex than just education and exposure to the positive things life can hold for them, but these are the two areas where I have decided to focus my efforts. I spent a good deal of time trying to find a local organization that had the same point of view. My research led me to YBM. After talking with John Martin and Tammy Reed and hearing of the amazing work they are doing, I was convinced that YBM was that organization. I now look forward to the day when my wife and I move to Charlotte so that we can further support YBM in its work of helping our children and young adults achieve their biggest dreams.”
William Brown Orlando, FL
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UPCOMING EVENTS
APRIL April 1st and 2nd – NC Diversity Summit April 16th – Global Youth Service Day April 16th – Wealth Summit (During National Financial Literacy month happening at UNCC)
JUNE June 5th – Scholar Day June 5th – Top Scholars recognition ceremony and the unveiling of out 2016 Top Scholars
JULY July 18th – Mandela Service Day
AUGUST August 4th through 9th – Haiti Mission Trip
For questions and event information contact:
Ken Currence at
currenoct@carolina.rr.com
Creating A New Reality 17
The President Speaks Welcome to 2016! We at YBM are off to an amazing start in 2016 and we know that the best is yet to come this year. Looking back over the past quarter, YBM has been busy working toward our mission of Creating A New Reality! We are creating this new reality by building leaders who positively impact our world. Our leaders are having a positive impact today and will continue to do so well into the future. We are creating a pipeline of leaders, and we are empowering our leaders to be agents of change in their homes, schools, communities, and across the globe.
We are also excited to announce the following for 2016: 1. After many requests, YBM has launched a sister leadership program for young women called YBW (Young Black Women) Leadership Alliance. The YBW program, which will mirror the YBM program, will be focused on empowering young ladies to be future leaders.
name change allows us to expand our reach beyond 100 high school juniors to a much larger population. The first edition of the rebranded Top Scholars Publication will be released in June 2016.
3. In September, YBM and YBW will be launching a leadership academy for young men and young ladies in our respective 2. Announcing the Top programs. The leadership Scholars Program! We academies will focus on have changed the name of developing well-rounded the Top 100 program to the students who are well Top Scholars Program. The 18
prepared to compete for college admissions and scholarships. The leadership academies will be open to young men and women from 8th to 12th grades. Interest meetings for the leadership academies will begin in August 2016.
CEO and Founder YBM Leadership Alliance
SOCIAL MEDIA Find us online at http://www.ybmleadership.com
YBM Leadership Alliance
Newsletter articles contributed by: Ken Currence: currenoct@carolina.rr.com Tammy Reed: treed@ybmleadership.com Chief Editor: Wesley Reed of Hofstra University Assistant Editor: Tammy Reed of Diversified Print Management Graphic Design: DesignZoneUSA http://www.designzoneusa.webs.com/ Creating A New Reality 19
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