Finally we got somebody in here with “ the juice” to get things flowing. That was what I felt early that same morning at a coffee and donuts morning brunch held at the Bank of Boston in downtown Hartford. Mfume’s delivery would prove to be  as forthright there as it was at the Hastings Hotel later on that afternoon. I got the feeling that New Haven’s Mayor Destephano, George Clark and Al Kinder of the Greater New Haven Business and Professional Association, Hartford’s Mayor and a host of bankers, business persons, and professionals felt the same . Mfume is the real deal!

The NAACP is undoubtedly a vital organization within the global village of the African-American here in New Haven, in Hartford, and throughout America. If it “takes a village to raise a child” in the 1990’s; it will take a global village to raise a child in the year 2000. The purpose for the Inner City’s presence at the NAACP state conference was to ascertain the NAACP’s readiness to operate in an environment that has gone “high tech.” Why? In this writer’s opinion, the NAACP is a reflection of what is happening in African-American communities throughout America. The organizations readiness to communicate within determines its ability to receive and get information out to its members world wide.  This , in turn affects , in direct proportion,  the organizations ability to act on information received and transmitted from its rank and file members. In a word, the NAACP will be only as good as its communications system.
 

It will take a global village to raise a child in the year 2000 and beyond.

How well local branches of the NAACP pass on information to regional and national offices from its members determines greatly how effective the local  branches of our global village will impact upon local issues. Likewise,  the flow of information between chapters will determine how effective the NAACP is at the State, Regional and National levels of our global network. There is no doubt in this writers mind that once information on important issues hits Mr. Mfume’s desk it will be acted upon relative to its importance. By the same token, in order for Mfume to act he must be informed on a daily basis about what is taking place in “every Middlesex  global village and farm”.The best way to obtain that information is via email fortified by existing POTS (plain ole telephone lines). Lets take a peek at how and why this system could enhance its flexibility in terms of speed of reaction to important events affecting the minority community and how the NAACP could advance itself in terms of sustained membership drives. Keep in mind that the email letter you received from BSNNET informing you of the existance of AstroTimes reached more than 1 million readers within the same hour.

Case Scenario

"Carl" a Jewish friend of mine began," Had there been an interet during the time just prior to the second world war it is possible the holocoust would not have occurred."
" How so," I replied.
"Well. First, each family that had access to a computer that was hooked to the net would have relayed information about the many separate incidences of brutality that were taking place within seconds of the occurance to other families that did not have that information. If a synagouge was burned down in Frankfurt, Germany all of the Jewish families and people that were sensitive to the Jewish predicament at that time, whether they lived in Paris, France or London, England or Chicago in the USA would have known about it. Secondly, to be forwarned is to be forearmed.As it were, many Jews were aware of isolated brutal attacks upon us but, according to those who survived the holocoust, the magnitude of the problem and the frequency of the acts of brutality were unknown to many members of the Jewish community. Once the Jewish newspapers were outlawed and/or firebombed out of existance, it was relatively easy to contain us and eventually march us off to the gas chambers."
"Wouldn't the Nazis have isolated servers that would have relayed that information?"
" If the root Jewish populus were included in the strategy there would have been millions of computers world wide in possession of information concerning each and every act of brutality committed against our people. It would have been impossible to hide the reality of the situation from the Jewish people! Furthermore, if web TV had been in existance, and just about every home has a TV, that would have eliminated having to rely upon POTS. The emergence of celluar transmission is looming large on the horizon negating the need for telephone lines. Soon email sent via cellular transmission by computer will be the common way of communicating for almost everyone.Had our people in Europe had access to these emerging technologies I doubt seriously that the evil ones would have caught us off guard."
End case scenario.
 

Cookies: The life blood of one organizations Sustained Membership Drive (SME)

Sustaining current membership and enrolling new members can be greatly enhanced by proper use of email preping members and potential members for products that extoll the spirit and dedication of the NAACP to causes that concern minorities.

Case #2

Cookies! This writer exclaimed loudly to himself as his new boss, Diane, expostulated upon the virtues and benefits of these little round tasty objects of delight. They are the life blood of this organizations Sustained Membership Enrollment (SME) drive." Eat one of these and we will sign you up for life." Upon making that statement she left me with a stack of files on the SME and cookies that covered the large production desk just outside of my office in the Girl Scouts of the Greater Washington Area's suite of offices then located on Wisconsin avenue in the nations capital.
 
 

"Eat one of these and we will sign you up for life!"

 

Concealing a chuckle, I opened the master file and flipped to the budget section. "Great goga-moga!" The figures beside the cookie sales column were staggering. After shifting through what seemed like a mountain of paper work on the Sustained Membership Enrollment drive, I smelled the coffee(or should I say the cookie). The cookie was the hook. The little card that came with the box of cookies was the line and life time membership was the real possibility and sinker. The cookie sales drive was the life blood of the sustained membership enrollment drive. The SME lasted for three months out of the year. The cookies sales drive overlaped that on the back end and lasted for another month. The enrolllment increased by over 85% when cookies were offered during the same period as membership enrollment!
End scenario #2

I'm not advocating that the NAACP sell cookies. I'm sure it has a great method for enrolling new members. I am advocating that it use email to double its worldwide membership. It is possible that in some geographical locations that cookies or some other commodity that is easily shipped and stored can be used in conjunction with email to acquire new members and internal funding. Based on the results attained by other organizations (i.e. the Million Women's March committee) that have used email as their primary information distribution vehicle. The NAACP has made great strides, technologically speaking, in the past few months. The organization's President has indicated that telecommunications will be a priority.

This article focused on the NAACP's usage and potential for growth using email. Part 2 of this article will focus on the NAACP's envolvement of its rank and file members in the overall process.
 
 

NEXT MONTH: THE GRASS ROOTS PHILOSOPHY OF THE NAACP

Carl Baker is an alumnus of Hampton University and holds a Masters from the University of District of Columbia in Instructional Media Technology. Baker has served as Chief Operating Officer at Novanet, Inc. and as Director of Educational Services at ISS and is a member of the Inner-City Technology Council. Information on his book “ Notes on the Information Superhighway with observations on the NAACP” may be obtained by email: entbaker@snet or voice mail (203)389-6921