[acb-hsp] affiliate growth

Mon Jul 23 16:41:21 EDT 2012

Peter,
Your efforts in organizing the FIA Showcase are appreciated and I am
positive that my upcoming meeting will go well as I share highlights from
the Workforce Diversity Workshop.
There is so much good to look forward to.  HSP will get better as all of the
concerns are considered and ideas for solutions are entertained.
Kind Regards,
Kenneth Semien, Sr.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "peter altschul" <paltschul at centurytel.net>
To: "Discussion list for ACB human service professionals" <acb-hsp at acb.org>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] affiliate growth

And Kenneth is an awesome singer as well.  Thanks for the kind
words, and good luck with your meeting.

Best, Peter

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Kenneth  Semien, Sr." <semien at sbcglobal.net
>To: "Discussion list for ACB human service professionals"
<acb-hsp at acb.org
>Date sent: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:15:24 -0500
>Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] affiliate growth

>Greetings Darian & HSP Members:
>My name is Kenneth Semien, Sr.  of Beaumont, Texas.  Please be
informed that
>the Workforce Diversity Workshop was enlightening and because of
the
>impression that Darian made upon me, I felt compelled to become a
member
>immediately following the workshop.  Peter provided insight in
regard to
>diversity and I enjoyed the team assignments.  I am proud to be
able to
>report that I acquired information that will be useful during an
upcoming
>meeting with my Southeast Texas Regional Workforce & Inclusion
Council that
>I serve on.  I was glad to pay my dues before leaving the
workshop and will
>try my best to participate on each call.  I am currently serving
in several
>capacities within ACB and am a candidate for President of ACB of
Texas, of
>which I serve on the majority of our committees as well as Second
Vice
>President.  I do understand that many of us are very busy and
often have to
>determine what is most feasible at the time, therefore schedule
conflicts
>will arise at one time or another.
>I look forward to meeting each of you by phone and hopefully in
Columbus
>next summer.
>Have a great and productive week.
>Kind Regards,
>Kenneth Semien, Sr.

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Darian Slayton Fleming" <darehart56 at hotmail.com
>To: "Discussion list for ACB human service professionals"
<acb-hsp at acb.org
>Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 2:40 PM
>Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] affiliate growth

>Hello List:

>I have been following this thread for the past few days and thank
everyone
>for their comments.  I thank Andy for his comments as well.

>I have remained silent, because as President, I want to be
careful and fair
>in what I say, for the sake of officers and other list members.

>I want to say first, thank you to Peter for presenting to those
who attended
>our program.  He gave an excellent presentation.  I felt it was
pretty well
>attended, and we learned a great deal,, including that we might
want to
>build on the subject at a future program.

>Our activities this year were sparsely attended with 10 at the
networking
>session, 2 at the business meeting and closer to 20 at the
Diversity
>Program.

>Several officers were unable to attend convention this year due
to finances
>and other commitments.  I attended, even though finances and my
husbandâ?Ts
>health were of great concern to me.

>We intended to have a business meeting including elections, but
we did not
>have enough members for a quorum.

>In regards to the conference calls, we cut back to every other
month due to
>low attendance and low participation in presentation.

>In terms of affiliate activities, officers may organize events,
but it takes
>the membership as well as the officers to make events successful.

>We have had strategic planning conference calls, also attended
mostly by
>officers and few members.

>We have sent articles to â?oThe Braille Forumâ? to help
publicize, but although
>we get them in by deadlines, the editor does not print them for
months, so
>by the time they are published they are not timely.

>We have advertized events on the leadership list, but that has
not increased
>participation.

>We developed a schedule for the entire year of 2011 with planned
topics for
>each conference call.  Still these calls were sparsely attended.

>We have partnered with other affiliates in the past, and plan to
in future.

>Some of these issues are brought forward by people who do not
necessarily
>participate in phone or face-to-face events and who are not paid
members.
>Some of the complaints are offered by people who do nott share
the entire
>story.  For example, presenters who agree to speak on calls fail
to show up
>on time and only join calls when they receive calls asking if
they were
>going to present, and then they join the call 30 minutes late.
This after
>reminder emails have been exchanged and assurances of attending
on the
>prescribed date.  These calls are on Sunday evenings, and those
in the
>Eastern time zone, especially, are on the phone late in order to
fulfill
>their commitment to the organization.  If a speaker shows up
late, this makes
>calls longer, and people are anxious to get off the phone when it
is that
>late.  So, letâ?Ts all remember that there is always more to
stories than we
>may hear at times.

>As president, I am very aware of my other life obligations, and
that my
>officers and friends/affiliate members, have lives beyond HSP.  I
understand
>that my attending only through Thursday indicates a lack of
commitment.
>However, I submit that I weighed my commitment to HSP against my
hardships
>and feel I made the best compromise I could-I arrived in time to
place an ad
>about functions in the student paper in time to publicize events.
I was
>available for affiliate role-call and I attended the nominating
committee
>meeting.  I asked at affiliaite role-call if any other members of
HSP were
>present at convention, could they help represent the affilaite
durign
>voting.  No one offered to help.  I learned later, throughout the
week, of
>members who were present, but to heavily committed to other
activities to
>help.  I chose to leave early to honor my commitments to my
marriage and my
>family.  I felt this was the best compromise I could reach given
my
>circumstances.

>We welcome input and participation.  I would appreciate hearing
from people
>as things arise.

>I intend to hold a business meeting by phone prior to our August
5th
>conference call.  I hope we will have enough paid members on the
business
>meeting part of the call to allow us to have elections  If not,
I may need
>to appoint people to positions that are vacated because current
officers
>cannot continue to serve.  Marlene will send out a conference
call reminder
>shortly.

>I urge you to attend the call on August 5th.  Letâ?Ts discuss
what you want
>out of this affiliate, what part you are willing to take in
improving the
>affiliate and make a plan for the next year if we can.  Please be
thinking
>of ideas.  I expect to discuss current problems and solutions.

>Sincerely,

>Darian Slayton Fleming
>ACB-HSP President

>Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 11:38 AM
>To: Discussion list for ACB human service professionals
>Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] affiliate growth

>Actually, at least in this group, that is what we do.  But, you
can lead a
>horse to water, but you can't make him drink.  We had a
conference call in
>June, and I think that all of 4 of us showed up, and half of that
4 were not
>going to convention, and the other half were leaving on
Wednesday.  This
>isn't the NFB.  Many people do not attend convention, and many
who do do not
>stay the whole time.  I recall Mitch saying on Friday that there
were so few
>people there that he could identify all of the voices that he
heard.  Perhaps
>organization business should be shifted to earlier in the week.

>Andy

>From: acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org] On
Behalf Of
>Kevin LaRose
>Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 9:50 AM
>To: Discussion list for ACB human service professionals
>Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] affiliate growth

>IMO, a lot of this is stuff that needs to get sorted out before
the
>convention, if at all possible.  Since a vast majority of
convention business
>is done on Friday, I think itâ?Ts extremely important that the
affiliate has a
>presence then.  I have to say it does bug me when affiliates go
to the
>microphone on Sunday night without knowing who the delegate
and/or the
>alternate and/or the nominating committee rep will be.  To me, it
makes
>affiliates look really disorganized.  I think there needs to be a
conference
>call right before convention on which it can be determined which
affiliate
>members will be attending, and for how long.  That way
assignments could be
>made ahead of time.  Just a thought.

>KL

>-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
>----
>_______________________________________________
>acb-hsp mailing list
>acb-hsp at acb.org
>http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-hsp

>-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
>----

>> _______________________________________________
>> acb-hsp mailing list
>> acb-hsp at acb.org
>> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-hsp

>_______________________________________________
>acb-hsp mailing list
>acb-hsp at acb.org
>http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-hsp

_______________________________________________
acb-hsp mailing list
acb-hsp at acb.org
http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-hsp