We have been blessed to experience another wonderfully organized Annual Conference and Job Fair in New Orleans.  For those of you unable to attend, you definitely missed a treat.  The host committee is to be commended for all of their tireless effort.  A special thanks goes out to our phenomenal Planning Committee Co-Chairs, Rhonda Goode-Douglas, Helina Dayries, and Suntrease Williams.  They went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure every attendee had a wonderful time in Nawlins.  Special congratulations are also extended to Suntrease Williams, this year’s Youth Conference Chairperson, and Audrey Moore, our Job Fair Coordinator.  This was our fourth Youth Conference and was, by all accounts, an overwhelming success.  Our Job Fair has become the model for prosecution-centered job fairs around the country thanks to Audrey’s commitment and dedication.  This was Audrey’s (and her committee’s) seventh year handling our Job Fair.  I would be remiss if I did not also extend a heartfelt thanks to April Christine and Ayodele (Af) Olusunde, our By-Laws Committee Co-Chairs.  They, along with their committee, undertook the Herculean task of revising our by-laws.  On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank them for their unbelievable hard work and to thank you for the hearty debate and discussion during the plenary session.

I want to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity afforded me to continue serving this incredible organization.  I remain humbled by your  confidence and trust.  I remain committed to honoring that confidence and trust.  Great things are already happening in the NBPA.  I am expecting even more great things to take place this year.  Our organization is at a tremendous yet critical time in its history.  Incredible opportunity and awesome responsibility are staring us in the face.  We will meet both with unwavering dedication and enthusiasm.  I am excited about the NBPA.  You should be too.

          These past several months have seen the worst of times and the best of times.  Personally, I suffered the devastating loss of my mother, Bettye W. Brown, on August 28th.  She was my rock, my hero, my inspiration, and   dealing with her loss has been a moment by moment endeavor.  She was an educator for nearly forty (40) years and was the 1st person in our family to graduate from college.  She completely poured herself into me, her firstborn, in an effort to mold me into the man God, my family, my community and the world needed me to be.  I credit her with every positive thing I have ever done (the not so positive stuff I developed on my own!)  Words are simply inadequate to express my gratitude for the love, care, and concern you have shown me and my family during this incredibly difficult time.  The calls, the cards, the texts, the voicemails, the emails, the prayers, and the thoughts have simply meant the world to me.  I will be forever indebted to you.  Several of you also contributed to the scholarship we established in my mother’s honor.  To date, we have collected $4,000 to assist needy high school students to pay for college! Her legacy continues.