The Four Pillars of The Alpha Standard

Economic Development

• Annual Economic Development Summit – Annual summits would bring brothers together with investors, franchise corporate offices, business owners and other like-minded brothers to invest in franchises, business start-ups, and other types of investments. Additionally, we will develop a strategy for the fraternity and members of the fraternity to take advantage of the economic opportunities of franchises and entities seeking to do business with African-Americans and African-American businesses.
• Creation of a credit union – Having experienced starting a credit union, I would propose the creation of another one that brothers could turn to for regular checking needs as well as for financial assistance for entrepreneurial pursuits.
• Alpha Marketplace – This marketplace would provide a forum for brothers to advertise their own products and services on the fraternity web site. he fraternity would initiate a “Buy Alpha” campaign to entice brothers to engage in commerce with each other. The fraternity would raise funds through advertisements of businesses and placement of links and banners on its web site.

Community Development

• Katrina-911 Commission – This commission will address issues of planning for man-made and natural disasters, and will address various types of economic relief the fraternity would provide to brothers who are affected by such disasters. Initial emphasis will be on the New Orleans area.
• Habitat for Humanity Partnership – This national partnership with Habitat for Humanity of America, and provide the financial as well as physical resources to assist with construction of houses in cities or areas where we have chapters.
• Housing investment opportunities – The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and many state housing finance agencies provide many opportunities for private individuals to provide affordable housing to citizens, while making a profit. Informational seminars will be provided through the building and economic development foundations.
• Political & Social Action – A very active Political & Social Action Committee will address issues related to discrimination against minorities in employment, housing and public accommodations; will stage lobbying efforts on Congress and state legislatures related to issues of global importance and will lobby and challenge school boards regarding treatment of black youth, etc.

Professional Development

• Enhance Alpha University – Alpha University must move to the next level! College brothers could receive fellowships through the Education Foundation to take leadership and professional development courses. Such courses could prepare college brothers for leadership positions within the fraternity, as well as in their career fields.  Alumni brothers would be eligible to take leadership and professional development courses and earn CEU credits for their careers, and at their employers’ expense. Continuous efforts will be made to partner Alpha University with an accredited university. Consideration will also be given to the offering of online courses.
• Enhance C2C (College to Career) Program – I would like to take this program a step further by creating a service similar to what Monster.com, or Jobs.com offer where the fraternity would solicit employment information from brothers in hiring positions and place job vacancies on AlphaNet for brothers’ consideration.  Brothers would use this service similar to how they use other job boards. This service will become the premier hiring authority for members of Alpha Phi Alpha.

Fraternal Development

• Reclamation –  The fraternity, through its newly appointed Public Information Officer would purchase exhibit space at the top African-American conferences and events and use that as a mechanism to attract inactive Alphamen.   I propose to increase the fraternity’s total membership to a round figure of 25,000, as opposed to the less than 16,000 that we currently have. The Public Information Officer would also provide constant public relations on behalf of the fraternity. 
• Charitable Giving Program – I plan to create a formal charitable giving program that would generate funding for the fraternity, as well as many of the programs of our 501(c)(3) foundations, and in turn provide continued growth and development of college and alumni brothers.  This program would accept charitable contributions in the form of cash gifts, appreciated securities, real and personal property, matching gifts and deferred giving from wills and insurance policies.
• Ring of Honor Recognition – I plan to create a ring of honor with several named categories, and once individuals contribute to certain levels, or take out life insurance polices in certain amounts (listing the fraternity as the beneficiary) that they be placed in those categories, respectively.
• Strategic Planning – Alpha must operate pursuant to a strategic plan.  The plan will be addressed and updated on an annual basis.  I will require that all programming done through the fraternity, be done pursuant to the strategic plan.
• Adoption of Zero-Based Budgeting – This concept requires that any program be justified from the ground up each fiscal year.  This concept forces the budget setters to examine every item very carefully, and to even look for alternatives to projects that may be deemed wasteful.  Further, the resources allocated are more likely to be linked to results and needs.
• Intake Feasibility Study – This committee of 3 college brothers and 3 alumni brothers from each region (30 brothers total) will evaluate the current system and render recommendations for improvements thereto, provided risk of injury, liability to the fraternity and insurability to the fraternity are considered. The recommendations will be presented to the 2009 convention for adoption.