1. 1 | P a g e
Atlanta BDPA Connection 1
President’s Corner
Seeking Professionals with the “IT” Factor
Department Highlights
Sites/HSCC 2
ACE 2
D.S. Brown 3
Sponsor Spotlight 5
BDPA 8
Amy Hill/Sheryl Key
Co Editors
Our Chapter has been
approached by several
non-profit and business
organizations seeking IT
consultation. Many
opportunities exist for
our members to further
their professional goals.
As part of our BDPA 3.0
initiative, our chapter
has created an online
member profile survey
designed to capture
information on
educational background
and IT expertise areas.
Please take the time to
complete this survey and
submit your results. Your
information will be kept
confidential.
As opportunities arise
we will be sure to reach
out to those who reply
first.
You can complete the
Atlanta Chapter
member profile survey
by accessing the
following link:
http://www.surveymonk
ey.com/s/W8VLJYS
Welcome to the re-
introduction of the
Atlanta BDPA Newsletter
the “Atlanta
Connection” it is our
plan to use our
newsletter as yet
another vehicle to
maintain contact with
our members. We realize
your inboxes may be
inundated with
numerous “e-junk mails”
which is why we only plan
to produce it quarterly.
We hope you take the
time to read our
newsletter because it
focuses specifically on
what the Atlanta BDPA
Chapter is doing in the
metro area. If you are
interested in submitting an
article or becoming a
regular columnist like D.S.
Brown, please contact
one of our co-editors at
newsletter@atlantabdpa.org.
We welcome all feedback
and suggestions for
improvement stay tuned.

2. 2 | P a g e
SITES/HSCC invited to attend Youth Education Expo
Atlanta Launches A.C.E
St. Philip A.M.E Church STEM Career Fair
The prestigious Leon
H. Sullivan foundation
invited Atlanta BDPA
and other non-profits
to participate in a
youth education
expo called “More
Than the Streets”. Our
chapter’s SITES/HSCC
instructor team
headed by Wes
Williams was in
attendance to host
an interactive
presentation about
our chapter’s youth
programs. The event
also provided an
opportunity for visiting
students and their
parents to sign up for
Atlanta BDPA’s
upcoming Advanced
Computer Education
(A.C.E.). Wes Williams
provided a very
heartfelt testimonial
to how his HSCC
participation as a
teenager was life
changing. The event
was hugely successful
and our booth easily
attracted the most
foot traffic than any
other.
August 28 - Atlanta
BDPA along with
several other non-
profit organizations
was invited by St.
Philip to participate in
a Science Technology
Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM)
career fair for middle
school students. Held
in the church’s Family
Life Center, the
purpose was to
highlight careers in
STEM related fields to
young children.
During the event
BDPA representatives
were on hand to pass
out conference flyers
and demo the new
S.I.T.E.S youth
program portal.
In October, the
Atlanta BDPA chapter
launched its new
Advanced Computer
Education Program
(A.C.E.), a one month
program that exposes
high school students
to three major areas
of IT
 Business
 Art/Media
 Technology
Some subjects that
are covered are
Business Analysis,
Project Management,
Graphic Design,
Multimedia, Music
Engineering, Robotics,
Computer
Programming and
System Network
Administration.
Students that
participate in the
A.C.E. program can
also choose to be
part of one of our
other exciting
programs such as:
High School
Computer
Competition (HSCC),
IT Showcase and
Youth Technology
camp (YTC).
Atlanta SITES/HSCC
booth receives the most
foot traffic at Youth
Education expo on
September 25th.
Upcoming A.C.E Sessions
October 9th: Graphic
Arts in Shoe Design,
Brian Miller
October 16th: Network
and Systems Admin,
Al Coston
October 23rd: Web
Programming
October 30th: Business
Analyst IIBA

3. 3 | P a g e
3
In today’s economic
environment the pursuit of
employment or the ability to
maintain the job you have are of
critical importance. Even if one
has a job, far too many live in
constant fear of what tomorrow
might bring. The promised day
of prosperity appears to be at
the end of a long dark road that
culminates on the other side of a
hill that is a forlorn tomorrow.
This is an ugly image to be sure.
It saps us. It makes us feel weak.
It makes Mondays much harder
and fearful than any Monday
should be. Will Monday lead to
Friday? Will it be lost on
Wednesday? This Tuesday will it
happen for me? By this time
next week will it come through?
Will I be employed?
These are hard questions for
those of us that live our lives on
the long climb back to prosperity
and happiness. Yes, the
prospect of joblessness, or its
reality for many of us, robs us of
our energy, and without energy
we lack what it takes to
maintain the critical thinking
mind, and when we don’t think
critically we lose sight, our focus
is impaired, and we see that
which is best in us, that
which distinguishes us. We
lose our ability to identify
our passion.
If you’re reading this
newsletter then you are
most certainly a member of
the IT industry, employed or
otherwise. Why, you might
ask, is it important to
consider passion when you
work in front of a
computer? Why is it
important to consider
passion when you manage
projects, allocate
resources, define
efficiencies in budgets, and
drive out methodologies
that maintain product
quality, as well as associate
morale? Why is it
important?
There are many definitions
of passion, but the ones
that are most appropriate
here define passion as the
object of such love and
desire; the object of intense
enthusiasm.
Continued on page 4
“”Even if one has a job,
far too many live in
constant fear of what
tomorrow might bring.”
The Long Climb Back
By D.S. Brown
Author of Critical Success: The 2 Rules of 3
DSBrown@TheHandMill.com www.2rules of3.com

4. 4 | P a g e
The Long Climb Back continued
Program Meetings
Consider this for a
moment. Though you
may not be suffering
the fate of a martyr
you may feel you are
suffering in your job.
You may feel you are
suffering in your lack
of a job.
This suffering, this
angst, serves as a
barrier. In order to
twist the passion of
the pain into the
boundless enthusiasm
that you and only you
can experience, you
must employ that
which will help you
seek your own truth.
3FE, the tool of
motivational
empowerment is one
such tool. It helps you
find your passion. It
helps you identify
what in you is positive
AND distinctive. It
helps you formulate a
plan to use this
distinctiveness to your
advantage in order to
find a job, or keep the
job you have. It
helps you identify that
within you which is
essential to your
success. It helps you
achieve Critical
Success. And what is
Critical Success?
Critical Success is the
planned
achievement of
something urgent
and essential utilizing
skillful planning and
judgment for the
express purpose of
attaining personal
prosperity.
Stop, take a moment
to think and consider.
What is your
approach? How do
you seek and find
that which makes you
distinctive? How do
you effectively
leverage the skills that
make you special in
order to stand out
and make a strong
impression? How do
you craft the
perception that you
are indispensable?
Atlanta BDPA held
our August and
September meetings
at Cox Enterprises.
In August our speaker
was BDPA member
Mark Dawson who is
an Assistant Vice
President for
Information Services.
He spoke on the topic
of IT Leadership
In September our
speaker was guest
speaker was Loren
King Shields who
spoke on the topic of
leveraging Social
Media to develop
your professional
network. After the
meeting Loren was
offered the
opportunity to work
with Atlanta BDPA in
our new Marketing
team under Interim
VP of Marketing Phyllis
Ferguson. In
attendance were
representatives from
Empire Board of
Realists who will be
partnering with
Atlanta BDPA for
future seminars.
Join us for our
November program
meeting at MATRIX
where we will be
hosting our annual
awards ceremony.
“How do you
effectively leverage
the skills that make
you special in order
to stand out and
make a strong
impression?”
COX Enterprises
was the host for our
September Meeting

5. 5 | P a g e
5
Sponsor Spotlight – SYNTELLUS DATAWORKS
Corporate Sponsorship
Atlanta BDPA could
not successfully
contribute to the
community-at-large
without the support of
our local corporate
sponsors.
We are committed to
partnering with
corporations in the
Atlanta metropolitan
area to increase the
awareness in diversity
and workplace
advancement in
corporate America as
well as the
community-at-large.
The BDPA Corporate
Sponsorship Program
is designed to offer
corporations opportunity
to partner with BDPA
under a formal alliance
to meet corporate goals
and objectives for
recruiting, employee
development, and
philanthropic endeavors.
The program allows
corporate sponsors to not
only offer financial
support but also
participate in programs
developed to enhance
the technical and
professional skills of the
African American
community.
Sponsorship is open to all
corporations with a
sincere interest in
pursuing the vision,
mission, objectives and
goals of BDPA.
The Corporate
Sponsorship portfolio
breaks down into 6
areas of opportunities
to provide support:
 Basic Entry
Program
 Advertising
 National Annual
Conference
 Student Programs
 Local Chapter
 In-kind Donations
SYNTELLUS DATAWORKS is
a market leading
Information Technology
Systems Integrator (SI) and
Value Added Reseller
(VAR) offering Consulting,
Architecture,
Procurement, and
Implementation (CAPISM)
of Midrange & Enterprise-
class computing
infrastructure to clients
in Commercial
Industries, the Public
and Federal Sectors.
This includes hardware,
software, consulting
and professional
services.
Syntellus was recently
recognized as one of
the Top Black/Minority
Businesses for 2010 by
the Atlanta Tribune.
+ Visit
www.syntellus.com
“We would like to
thank all of our
sponsors for
supporting the
Atlanta BDPA”

6. 6 | P a g e
Around the Metro Area
Call for Future Presenters
On August 18, 2010,
Chapter President
Carter Hill spoke before
the general body of the
Empire Board of Realists.
Empire Board is an
organization of African
American real estate
brokers dating back to
the early 1930’s.
Mr. Hill’s topic was the
various ways that
Atlanta BDPA can
consult on IT matters
with Empire Board
members to help scale
up their businesses.
During the meeting
opportunities for IT
workshops for the
Empire Board were
discussed such as
workshops on Social
Media.
On September 4, 2010
Atlanta BDPA partnered
with Beta Bahil to
market their Digital
Animation Panel event
at the Auburn Research
Library entitled Alien
Encounters: Speculative
and Imaginative Fiction.
In attendance were
representatives from
education, digital
entertainment and IT.
Chapter President
Carter Hill was on hand
to act as moderator for
the event. Newsletter
representative Amy
Chandler- Hill was also
present and acted as
photographer.
icture Here
corporate sponsors
to not only offer
financial support but
also participate in
programs developed
to enhance the
technical and
professional skills of
the African American
community.
As we enter the 4th
Quarter of 2010, the
leadership board is in
the process of
developing our 2011
strategies for the
Atlanta BDPA
chapter.
As part of this effort
we would like to give
members of our linked
in and Facebook
groups the
opportunity to present
at one of our
meetings next year.
Here are a few topics in
particular that we
would like to see
covered in 2011:
• Content
Management Tools –
Drupal, Joomla!,
Wordpress etc.
• Cloud Computing
• ITIL
• IT Security
• Social Media
• Mobile Computing
(i.e. – tablets, smart
phones, etc)
• IT and Healthcare
Please be prepared to
submit an abstract of
your proposed
presentation and
provide references of
prior speaking
engagements to Carter
Hill Chapter President at
president@atlantabdpa.org
or Katrina Collier VP of
Membership Services at:
membership@atlantabdpa.org
Please fill out the
prospective speaker
survey by accessing the
link below:
http://www.surveymonkey.co
m/s/96ZFGL3
Showcase
Black Science Fiction
Authors
Digital Animation Panel

7. 7 | P a g e
7
From the Classroom to the Boardroom
About Our Organization
Black Data Processing
Associates (BDPA)
was founded in 1975
by Earl A. Pace, Jr.
and the late David
Kimberly after the two
met in Philadelphia to
discuss their concerns
about minorities in the
data processing field.
There was a lack of
minorities in middle
and upper
management, low
recruitment and poor
preparation of
minorities for these
positions, and an
overall lack of career
mobility.
Through ceaseless
drive and personal
networking, the
founders built an
organization of 35
members, hosted
presentations to
improve data
processing skills and
launched a job
opportunities
announcement
service. This nucleus
has grown to over 55
chapters throughout
the United States and
thousands of
members.
Today, BDPA is a non-
profit 501(c)(3)
organization
dedicated to the
professional and
personal
development of
African Americans
who have an interest
in Information
Technology and
related fields. Our aim
is to mentor and
develop minority
youth from the
"Classroom to the
Boardroom."
BDPA – Atlanta Chapter
P.O. Box 50462
Atlanta, GA 30302 - 0998
678.677.5428
Info@atlantabdpa.org
Follow us on the web:
BDPA ATLANTA
ATLANTA BDPA
ATLANTA BDPA
BDPA 1.0 -
Establishment of a
national professional
organization for
African Americans in
Information
Technology –1975 –
mid 1980s
BDPA 2.0 –
Creation of IT youth
programs at the high
school and collegiate
level – mid 1980s to
early 2000s
BDPA 3.0 – ?
2011 and beyond”
Stay Tuned…