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IPCNY Meeting Minutes: 4/24/2008
Jun 26, 2008

ATTENDEES:

Roland Laird ’82, Tiffani Scott ’98, Hayward Vereen ’88, Lorraine Anglin ’96, Nicole Clare ’99, Alexis Gorden ’00, Harold Bailey ’70, Robin Duncan Brooks ’75, Shirley Jean ’99, Ofiji Harris ’98, Jodyann Blagrove ’98, Kenya Crumel ’93, Afua Yeboa ’00, Chris Wells ’05, Russell Malbrough ‘98

1) Upcoming Events and New Event Planning

  • BAKING WITH A PASSION: THE SMELL OF SWEET SUCCESS – May 21 (New York)

    Please join us for a special cooking demonstration with culinary artist and entrepreneur Warren Brown '93, founder of CakeLove and host of the Food Network’s Sugar Rush. On this evening, attendees will not only have the opportunity to learn the finer points of baking but also hear about Warren's very personal journey that led him to leave a promising career in law and pursue his passion for baking. Fee is $55. Register online at http://www.inmanpagenyc.org/events/upcoming

  • 2008 Commencement Weekend – May 23 to 25 (Providence)

    Schedule of IPC-related events on attached sheet

  • Ethel Tremaine Robinson reception – June 21 (Trenton)

  • IPC BBQ – July 19 (Harlem)

2) Educational outreach and this year's Marie Moses Grant recipients

    Ethel Tremaine Robinson was founded in 2005 and named after the first Black Woman Graduate from Pembroke College. It is a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) Non Profit corporation whose mission is to promote innovative and strategic African-American philanthropy by organizing and directing philanthropic and volunteer efforts of Brown University graduates and their associates towards organizations and individuals that enhance the life opportunities, primarily of but not limited to African-Americans, and also towards organizations and individuals that promote diversity in society. Our approach is to raise and donate funds and volunteer time for youth development programs, community-based organizations, professional organizations, relief and assistance organizations, and cultural and artistic entities that benefit and communicate the African-American Experience.

3) Skills-based volunteerism opportunities available

  • Media development for multimedia IPC-NY website
  • Software development for multimedia IPC-NY website

4) Alumni Of Color Initiative - Harold Bailey

  • Brown University’s Alumni of Color Initiative—as part of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment— is seeking to channel the resources and energy of thousands of alumni of color to effect transformational change. Working together, this community has targeted several core areas which, when strengthened, will ensure that Brown’s history of recognizing and encouraging diversity will not only continue, but will flourish in new and bold ways. The main components of this multi-dimensional $6.2 million intiative are: immediate support through the Brown Annual Fund for either unrestricted use or Investment in Diversity (which provides financial aid to students of color); and perpetual support through gifts to endowed funds for undergraduate financial aid, the Third World Transition Program, Africana Studies, and U.S. Latino Studies.
  • Comprehensive plan designed by Ruth Simmons
  • Program is targeted toward African-Americans, Latin-Americans and Asian-Americans
  • The new pledge forms are set up so you can choose where your donation goes, i.e. 40% toward Investment in Diversity and 60% to Endowed Funding
  • Harold Bailey asked how IPC can support AOC and help increase African-American acceptance rates (African-Americans are being admitted at higher rates but the acceptance rates are historically low). The following suggestions were offered:
    • Names and contact information of accepted students should be passed on to IPC alumni so they can call to answer any questions and encourage the prospective students to choose Brown
    • Actual numbers data available to alumni of admittance and acceptance rates
    • IPC should host an event for prospective students (i.e. reception or brunch)
    • Alumni could create a brief personalized YouTube clip that can be e-mailed to a prospective student
    • Revive the “Black Experience at Brown”, a weekend where prospective students visit Brown for a few days in September free of charge (transportation and meals included)
    • Jodyann Blagrove ’98 volunteered to be the AOC coordinator for IPC-NY and be Harold’s and Bernicestine’s liaison to support this initiative
    • Recipients of the AOC initiative should be highlighted on the Brown and IPC-NY website (names of students, faculty, etc.)
    • Instructions for joining the various listservs (IPC, brownblackfolk, etc) should be passed out to current graduates at the Commencement Weekend Onyx Ceremony


IPC Philly's Meeting Minutes: 9/28/2007
Sep 28, 2007
Brown University
Philadelphia Area Inman Page Council (Philly IPC) Meeting

Friday September 28, 2007, 6:30-8:30 P.M.
1818 Market Street, 27th Floor (Booz Allen Hamilton)


I. Introductions/Sign-in/Pizza

Attendees: Thierry Fortune ’84, Carolyn Jones ’77, Joanna Lee ’97, Stephen Robertson ’82, Mike Scott ‘75, Roland Laird ‘82, Hayward Vereen ‘88, Stephana Colbert ‘77, Charisse Jackson ‘79, Jay Broadnax ‘84

II. Review/Feedback

A. Welcome to Brown BBQ for class of 2011
· Event took place on Saturday, August 11, 2007 and was generously hosted by Bernadette Wheeler ’82 and her family
· Four incoming Brown ’11 students and their families from the greater Philadelphia region attended the event, as well as several Brown alumni and their guests
· Those who attended gave very positive feedback about the event
· Follow-up question was posed:
· What kind of relationship does IPC Philly want with the students now that the event has taken place?

III. General Topics

A. Outreach to local schools to increase visibility of Brown
· Suggestions
o Sheila Royal Moses in school district- contact person through Carolyn Jones who could provide overview of Phila school district; husband was president of Stepping Stones; could involve them in conference call
o Start w/ Phila schools and then work from there, esp. b/c no Phila students went to Brown this year
o Work w/ schools to figure out how to increase awareness of Brown
o Identify school-based and local college fairs for recruitment
o Get information from alumni organization on how many black students applied from Philly and what schools they came from
o BASC interviewers can also elect to serve as representatives at high school fairs
o This particular issue can be discussed in more detail in the future; perhaps with a committee of folks specifically interested in working on this

B. Calendar of Future Events/Activities
· October- Thierry will begin putting together a Philly IPC directory
· Informal social opportunities
o Bowling: evening event for adults and/or weekend gathering for families (Oct)
§ Family event: Sat October 27th (or Nov 3rd); bowling alley in West Philly/Penn’s campus
o Halloween party
§ At a house or at a bar (pre-existing party)?
§ Maybe coordinate w/ Black Ivies
o Happy hours- November (sports bars, etc.)
§ Thierry F. will select dates and locations
o Holiday brunch in December/Gospel brunch (Charisse’s idea- may have connections w/ gospel choir); b/w Thanksgiving and Christmas
§ Jay Broadnax may be a resource (minister)
§ Perhaps put this off until the spring b/c it will take time to plan
o Other holiday events- holiday mixer:
§ IPC NYC has done holiday party 2nd Tues in December w/ good turnout; free drink giveaway; black-owned establishments; earlier is better
§ Dates: 1st week of December (1st Thursday is suggested)
o Football game- Brown not playing at Penn this year but may play at Princeton (Thierry will check)
o Men’s b-ball: Feb 15th
o Women’s b-ball: March 1st; female student who attended summer event (Paris) is on the team
o Black Ivies- a social networking organization (Thierry and Steve have more info)

C. IPC Philly BASC day: late Feb/early March: 2/23, 3/1, or 3/8 (Saturdays)
· IPC Philly members will interview African American applicants to Brown on one day
o Thierry has contacted BASC coordinator for this region to initiate process
o African American alums in IPC will interview black applicants
o TF will try to get $$ to pay for entire event
· Suggestions:
o Interviewers will be assigned to each student, but also a common area for networking
o Invite parents as well
o Need to think about venue- perhaps Philly brown club can be of assistance
o Keynote speaker? Black brown alum of note in the area?
o Need to identify interviewing region- how many area coordinators will we cover?
§ Thierry has emailed 4 of them so far; (Roland will send contact info for his area coordinator to Thierry)
o Still need to work on details of process; ultimate goal is getting Black alums back in the loop
o Positive- opportunity for applicants to meet each other and potentially influence one another to attend if accepted
· Questions/areas of concern
o Issue of early applicants: how do we capture them?
o Issue- how to identify students as early as possible so they can set aside the day
§ Can the information be passed to students before 1-on-1 matches are made?
o This would represent a change in the traditional BASC interview process; how will students perceive this process; will they be turned off by it? Have to make sure student are comfortable w/ this as something different
§ Related recommendations/comments:
o One-on-one contact between IPC BASC interviewer and assigned student
o IPC interviewer will invite individual student to event but also offer one-on-one options if IPC event is not possible
o Students will not have to stay the whole event; elective process; more social, less pressured environment
§ Another idea- set up one-on-ones separately and offer the IPC day as an additional event to meet alums
o Does this lose power of BASC process?
· Additional notes
o IPC members have to register as BASC interviewers- make a note that you’re w/ IPC; should receive application via email from Jenny Kerson
o Thierry/IPC will identify IPC interviewers to area coordinator

D. IPC NYC and IPC NYC-Philly Website
· IPC NYC
o So far Philly and NYC chapters are the only ones who are active; Atlanta had a kick-off event, DC may have a chapter
o Possibility of joint Philly NYC event held in Central NJ (New Brunswick); joint programming w/ Brown faculty
o Venue- crossroads theater in New Brunswick; run by class of 61 alum; possible event there; Roland will look into their productions for the 07-08 season
· IPC website/ListServ (http://www.inmanpagephilly.org)
o How can IPC Philly use it more in order to maximize its function?
§ Posting events there
§ Using website as a possible vehicle for fundraising?
o To get individual (university) credit for donation, would need to find a different vehicle than NYC 501c3
o Currently website is set up to accept money through the 501 c 3
o Listserve- being underutilized?
§ Currently only Thierry sends announcements, but other IPC members can use it to send messages; can be used as a way of creating and enhancing community
§ Thierry will send out instructions on how to use ListServe

E. Maintaining Contact w/ Current Brown Students
· Darrell Harrison: current junior at Brown; current IPC representative- can be used as a person to help contact current Brown students from Philly region
o How to maintain contact w/ current Brown students and serve as network for them- question posed
o Other outreach efforts not under the auspices of IPC have been initiated w/o follow-up; objectives were unclear; previous efforts have generated interest from students on campus- interested in professional/career development

F. Additional Information/Events
· October 26th- event at Schomberg in Harlem; 6-10pm
o Film screening: ‘James Brown: The Man, The Music & The Message’
o Schomburg Library, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., Harlem, NY 10037 US
o Evite link: http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=DUCGSJJOPSZFYBIFXAWF&li=iq&src=email&trk=aei6
· Brown Neuroscience department working on grant to identify Trenton HS students who will receive pre-college training in neuroscience
· IPC might consider lobbying for increased financial support for low-income students
o Looking into focused donations for black students
o Recognition- Deborah Lee from BET as a possible donor;


Next meeting: Friday, December 7th
· Possibly revisit time/day of meeting
· Location- if alternate is needed, contact local Philly Brown alumni chapter
· Think about asking Philly Brown club for $$ for next meeting
· IPC Philly has more active members than Philly Brown club, but that may change w/ new brown club president (Larry Kerson); IPC also driven by mission
IPC Philly Meeting Minutes: 6/29/2007
Jun 29, 2007
Once again IPC Philly is getting it done. Here are some of the most thorough minutes and notes you'll find anywhere. Please read, there's a lot of good stuff in it.

Brown University

Philadelphia Area Inman Page Council (Philly IPC) Meeting

Friday June 29, 2007, 6:30-8:30 P.M.

1818 Market Street, 27th Floor (Office of Carolyn Jones)

Attendees: Jay Broadnax ’84, Thierry Fortune ’84, Onyeka Iloabachie ’03, Carolyn Jones ’77, Joanna Lee ’97, Lorie McGee ’01, Stephen Robertson ’82, Bernadette Wheeler ‘82

I. Introductions

II. Informal review and acceptance of minutes from April 4, 2007

III. Updates since April 4th Meeting


Thierry & Stephen Attended Brown Club of Philadelphia meeting; discussed goals of Philly IPC at meeting and w/ Larry Kerson
Thierry, Stephen & Troy Wilson ’83- Conference call with Jennifer Aitken, Assistant Director of Brown Alumni Schools Committee (BASC)
Discussed alumni involvement and access to alumni contact info
Contact w/ Al Gerstein, regional BASC coordinator
Topics of discussion w/ Brown & Brown Club
Welcome to Brown summer event
IPC Philly BASC interview day for African American/Black applicants, target date in late Jan/early Feb
Talent Quest program- currently only 3 Philly high schools involved
How (if at all) Brown flags African American applicants

IV. General Topics

A. Welcome to Brown Party, August 11, 2007, 2-6pm; hosted by Bernadette Wheeler & Lawrence Wells

Need to know numbers ASAP (local alums, accepted students)
Still need to identify African American/Black accepted class of ’11 students
Party announcement was on IPC-NYC website; need to be sure that invitees are kept regional and that info is not readily accessible to general public
Evite will ask for RSVP 1-week in advance of event
Other possible invitees: Larry Kerson, Roland Laird (IPC-NYC)
Party organization
Party planning committee to meet via telephone on 7/5/07 at 6:30 PM
Conference call participants will include: Bernadette, Carolyn, Jay, Lorie, Onyeka, Stephen, Thierry, and Troy Wilson
Committee will make final decisions about invitation (evite), food, program, gifts, etc. and will disseminate information to IPC Philly community
Photos should be taken at the event for publicity
Party Expenses
General agreement that burden should not fall on particular person (e.g. party host); however, alumni who have resources and are willing to volunteer them are a necessary part of the process
Costs will include food, time, labor (clean-up, etc); party planning committee will define tasks and solicit volunteers
Catering preferred over potluck; Carolyn & Bernadette will coordinate w/ assistance of party planning committee
Agreement that party will be a ‘dry’ event due to liability associated w/ underage youth
Gifts for class of ’11: Lorie will contact Brown to request Brown paraphernalia (hat, t-shirts, etc.) for ‘goodie bag’

B. IPC-NYC Connections

Internet/Web services
Roland Laird (IPC NYC) helped set up Philly list serve
IPC NYC will provide space for Philly IPC on its webpage (“Metro NY” and “Metro Philly” chapters accessible on one site)
Will also look into domain names specifically for Philly (e.g. IPCPhilly.org)
Resources guide for alumni who are new to NYC area: Philly could put together a similar document including local resources (grocery stores, dry-cleaning, gyms, etc.)

C. Tracking local alumni and new Brown applicants

Brown Club of Philadelphia
Does not track by gender/race
Communicates primarily via mail, only recently using electronic communication
Has smaller listserv (~40) than Philly IPC (~75)
Access to Brown databases
BASC has a database but IPC is not allowed to access it; however, Brown can generate a list and send out communications on behalf of Philly IPC
Turnaround for email communications sent by BASC (Jennifer Aitken) or Mary-Kim Arnold (Director, Multicultural and Regional programs) pretty fast, 1-2 days
Other ethnic affiliation groups:
Asian/Asian American Alumni Alliance (A4)
Brown University Latino Alumni Council (BULAC)
Should Philly IPC extend invitations to Latino students/alumni for events?

D. BASC Involvement/IPC Philly Interview day

Thierry nominated Troy Wilson to coordinate the BASC process for Philly IPC; nomination was seconded by Steve
Suggested space ideas for Philly IPC interview day in late Jan/early Feb- space large enough to have a central common area plus small private rooms/offices for one-on-one interviews
Currently Brown’s involvement in recruiting from Philly high schools is limited (Central, Masterman, etc.)
Philly IPC might benefit from inviting someone from the school district to a meeting (in-person or via conference call) to provide insight into local high schools
It might be beneficial to look at SAT/standardized test scores for area high schools to determine where recruitment should be targeted
Outreach to programs like Stepping Stones and local ABC chapter could also help with recruiting Brown applicants of color

E. Organizational/Structural Issues for IPC Philly

Dues
IPC NYC does not have formal dues but is looking to establish something
Dues can be problematic if there’s no specific purpose established
Dues can be exclusionary for people with limited resources
Suggested that we hold off on dues until Philly IPC has a specific focus and a larger membership
Fundraising
IPC NYC recently held charity concert to raise money to send middle school students to summer SPARKS program at Brown
Event was subsidized by Brown
Should Philly IPC choose a ‘cause’ for which to raise money?
Need clarity of purpose- are we looking to raise seed money for the organization in order to support our own events, or are we looking to fundraise for a specific charitable cause?
Fundraising idea- gospel brunch w/ assistance of Charisse Jackson
Need to determine how much financial support will be available from Brown and Brown-related organizations (e.g. Brown club of Phila has money that may go unspent)
At present time, Brown Alum/IPC members with resources might be inclined to offer those resources until alternate sources have been established

F. Brown Executive Committee/Brown Leadership Weekend

Brown Executive Committee (BEC)
Holds monthly meetings for local alums; functions of the committee are not entirely clear
At least 2 IPC Philly members (Onyeka and Thierry) have attended; additional IPC representation could be useful
Might provide insight into getting resources from Brown
BEC did discuss local schools at last meeting; discussed idea of selecting a middle school to focus on for shaping future Brown applicants
Brown Leadership Weekend
Weekend event on campus for alumni interested in holding leadership positions
Explains how to ‘work with’ Brown- accessing resources, etc.

G. Looking ahead to next meeting (9/28/07)

Goals
Clarifying goals of Philly IPC (short-term and long-term) would be useful in moving forward
Members should review goals established at first meeting in April 2007 and begin to prioritize
Discuss ways to generate resources that will be necessary for achieving goals
Members should remember to review minutes before meeting; might help to re-send meetings from previous meeting when emailing about upcoming meeting(s)

H. Miscellaneous

Brown Club of Philadelphia will be hosting an event for class of ’11 students in King of Prussia on 8/19/07 (details TBA)
Philly IPC list serve can be used to make announcements about events
All IPC members can use list serve if needed; emails do not have to come from Thierry
Philly IPC may want to compile ‘profiles’ of members for a directory
Carolyn has a template for this and will send to Thierry
Thierry will compile profile information

Reminders:

Conference call for party planning committee on 7/5/07 at 6:30 PM
Welcome to Brown event hosted by Bernadette Wheeler and Lawrence Wells on 8/11/07 from 2-6 PM
Next IPC Philly meeting: Friday, 9/28/07, 6:30-8:30 PM