Sigma Leadership Academy Trains Brothers and the Community

The Sigma International Leadership Academy (SILA) will premiere its training modules through two vehicles in July, both occurring during the 2009 Phi Beta Sigma International Conclave in New Orleans, Louisiana. SILA is providing the faculty and clearinghouse coordination for all workshops to be conducted during the Conclave for registered Brothers. Additionally, SILA is sponsoring a mini-conference entitled Community Conference 2009: Mind, Body & Spirit – From Aspiration to Application (www.communityconference2009.com), open to the local community and registered participants of the Conclave. Conclave registrants may attend all workshops; non-Conclave registrants may pay $150.00 on-site to register for the Community Conference and the workshops that will be offered there.

For Conclave workshops, registered Conclave participants will have a choice between Sigma Leadership Learning Tracks. Under the Learning Tracks, workshops will be offered that address leadership development, career enhancement, and personal growth. The offerings, included as an attached file here, will also be provided through the Conclave registration process and contained in the Conclave agenda. Workshops range from Using Web 2.0 to Become a More Effective Leader, Vision Casting: Making Sigma #1, to Sigma Wellness, Using Project Management to Implement Award Winning Programs, Creating a High Performance Chapter, to Promising Practices: Program Models to Eliminate Health Disparities in African American Communities, to The World is Your Oyster: Education and Career Development for Student Success, to Sigma Saving Our Boys, Basics for Living A Green Lifestyle and a symposium on our Conversation Among Brothers Series: Heightened National Response Program for HIV Awareness. These workshops (and more!) are designed to impact the community, develop our brotherhood and chapters, encourage personal leadership development amongst our brothers, and unify the branding of Phi Beta Sigma within our global communities.

Workshop presenters will feature our International Program Directors, faculty of SILA, and representatives of our Global Program Partners (such as March of Dimes and the CDC).

In addition to the Conclave Sigma Leadership Learning Tracks, Brothers will also have available to them the workshops offered during the Community Conference 2009: Mind, Body & Spirit – From Aspiration to Application, which convenes on Thursday and Friday of Conclave Week (July 9-10). This conference is sponsored by SILA and Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center. The conference will deliver quality leadership programs and professional development to empower people and communities. The participants will leave motivated to achieve their leadership potential and positively impact their campuses and communities through practical, focused training and opportunities to collaborate with individuals and organizations.

Says Brother Bennie Harris, Director of SILA, “It is the hope of the Academy that Brothers will commingle with the community in our first community-based conference which is designed to expose the marketability of the academy as a competitor in the global world of training organizations. Our aim as identified in our branding material is to present the Academy as a training entity for Sigma men as well as the general public.”

The Community Conference will include some of the offerings of the Sigma Leadership Learning Tracks as well as additional workshops that address leadership development, a green economy, professional development and disaster management.

In addition to the offering of workshops, featured special presenters of the Community Conference include:

• Preston J. Edwards, Sr., The CEO of IMDiversity, Inc., Bro. Edwards is co-author of “You Have Cancer,” a book revealing how four best friends who grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same schools and the same church suffered from the same dreaded disease at the same time. And how they’ve overcome.
• Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green for All (Oakland, CA). Ms. Ellis-Lamkins shares her organization’s insights, successes and struggles in working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.
• Jeff Reeves, President of AOK Enlightening Youth Foundation. Bro. Reeves, entrepreneur, senior business executive with experience garnered while employed by four Fortune 100 companies, former NFL member (Seattle Seahawks), is the author of “The Art of Branding Yourself: How to Advance your Career Quickly.” Through Jeff’s presentation, learn how to identify and structure a personal “brand” around your abilities, characteristics and personal attributes.

For further information:

• Community Conference 2009: Mind, Body & Spirit – From Aspiration to Application
  www.communityconference2009.com
• Contact Bro. Charles Talbert at email hidden; JavaScript is required