NFBPA Board Installs Local Chapter During Its Meeting In GR
The Board of Directors of National Forum for Black Public Administrator's (NFBA) recently met from July 18 - 20th in Grand Rapids for a quarterly meeting.
The organization is dedicated to the advancement of Black public leadership in local and state governments.
"NFBPA is an independent, non - partisan 501 c3 non-profit that was organized and founded since 1983," said Jordoun Eatman, newly - elected president of the Grand Rapids Chapter.
The board meets quarterly to take care of the business of the organization. Approximately seventy public administrators from administrative - management roles to city managers, and assistant city managers convened for the quarterly meeting in this city.
They had come from all over the United States — from Washington D.C., Oregon, California, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Illinois and Texas.
"NFBA currently has 2500 members and it has established a national reputation for designing and implementing quality leadership development initiatives of success," Eatman said.
Membership includes public and private sector administrators. Anyone that is doing public policy or policy on an educational level with schools or anything that is impacting the quality of life is who this organization is for. It is for Black and Brown people too; anyone can join.
The national board launched the local West Michigan Chapter on July 20, 2019. "We have about seventeen current members who are going through the paperwork that is involved when setting up a new chapter," noted Eatman who also noted that organization is also reaching out to neighboring cities.
"There is a marketing campaign that we will be launching on August 1, 2019," Eatman. Our intentions are to make sure that we are inclusive to not just those in Kent County, but Muskegon, Lansing, East Lansing, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and other municipalities. That's why we went from calling our chapter the Grand Rapids Chapter or the Michigan Chapter to the West Michigan Chapter."
He also noted that Detroit is also on the way to bringing back the chapter that they once had. "We are making sure that we are including everyone who touches the West Michigan umbrella. They have an invitation to join as well."
Recently elected as the Western Michigan Chapter President, Jordoun was motivated to step up as president because of a recent trip in April of this year to a forum — a conference that is literally all day, intentional engagement with networking and building and enhancing skill sets.
He said "That is what struck my interest, but the biggest thing that was even more eye - catching was the level of depth that this organization has when it comes to their influence. There were presidential candidates who came and spoke at this forum, so it was a pretty big thing that I was just unaware of. I went to the forum with some people from Grand Rapids and got exposed to that.
He went on to say, "It is something that I looked at with the new city manager and decided that this was something missing in Grand Rapids — direct opportunities geared around policy and public sector for the advancement of professional growth, knowing that they have mentorships and executive mentoring programs available to help increase the way of Black and brown people in the public sector."
He added, "It was a bit of a mandate for us to get going to build a chapter here. That is what we did under the leadership of City Manager Mark Washington. I took lead on helping to plan the event that was here."
Tagged in: