Categories
Category: Newsletter
2023 has been a very eventful year for CABPES. Because of our generous supporters, we offered all our programs this year at no cost to students—a record number of students registered for our programs. CABPES pilot Corporate Volunteer Program allowed us to decrease our student-volunteer ratio to 1-3:1 (students to volunteer). The pilot accomplished our goals, so we are continuing the Corporate Volunteer Program for the 2023-2024 program year.
For the first time in our 41-year history, we had to run our programs in two different locations. In addition, we paid for some of this space. This school year, the goal is to have the programs in one place. Currently, this is space that CABPES must pay for. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” To continue our mission, CABPES needs to move forward in a big way. The move forward is that CABPES is working toward purchasing our own space.
You will hear about the capital campaign we need to purchase this space. Many of you cannot help us with large donations to buy this space. However, we learned from President Barack Obama that small contributions can also fund a campaign. Additionally, the needs of purchasing this space are more than just financial.
CABPES families, this move forward requires help from each of you. Your children have benefited from our math tutoring and the SAT/ACT College Preparatory Program. CABPES Future City students won second place in the regional competition this year. JETS students have learned about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math careers. As a result of the Future City Competition and JETS, students have acquired teamwork, presentation, and speaking skills. Students attended field trips to Google and the Parker Water Treatment Plant. Summer Math Bootcamp students were able to improve their math weaknesses and take part in a field trip to Lincoln Hills. Summer Math Quest students solved over 80,000 problems and practiced 1650 math skills.
CABPES is committed to the continued exposure of the students. However, we must make some changes to get the funding to buy our space! We must document that our math programs are working. This documentation requires students to take diagnostic tests and provide us with math scores and grades that can reflect improvement. SAT students must take the tests given to them to help us document improvement. Students must use their IXL accounts. Funders want data, not just stories. As parents, you must ensure your students have good attendance in the programs they sign up for. We must follow up with former CABPES students. These are ways all our families and parents can help us obtain funding. Bring your students to programs consistently and on time, provide us with information about what your student(s) is doing in school and how they perform. Tell us about your former CABPES students or families you know previously had students in our programs. Together, CABPES and your student(s) can move forward.
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director
Regarding math and science, the public school system nationwide desperately needs to help our students dig themselves out of a terrible situation that will negatively impact them and society for a lifetime. According to a recent article by Governor Jared Polis, “math scores have dropped in Colorado and the nation after three severely disrupted school years during the pandemic.” The late televangelist and author, Robert Schuller wrote a best-selling book in 1983 titled “Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do.” The CABPES organization is answering the call to the dilemma Governor Polis has described regarding students struggling in math. CABPES is revamping its math tutoring program to address the need to help underrepresented minority students overcome the deficits they are experiencing in math and science. We are rebuilding our Math Enrichment Program (MEP) with the support of many of the outstanding engineering companies in Colorado.
CABPES is in the process of implementing a pilot “Corporate Volunteer Week” initiative to get companies to provide 15 to 20 volunteers per night in the MEP program. The MEP program is designed to tutor students in grades 5 through 12 in math on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8 pm. We aim to have approximately 30 math tutors in our math tutoring program every night. This approach allows CABPES to move from a student-to-volunteer ratio of 5:1 (students: tutor) to a 2:1 ratio. We encourage companies to bring swag to give to the students. Companies can provide the students with a light dinner (pizza or sandwiches). Companies can take photos to use as marketing and promotional material to demonstrate how they serve traditionally marginalized communities needing math help. So far, the companies already participating in the “Corporate Volunteer Week” initiative love the idea. They are telling other companies about our strategy. The beauty of this process is a company can volunteer once per year or as many times as they would like. Most companies plan to volunteer for one week in the fall and one week in the spring during the upcoming school year.
Parents, the ball is in your court, plain and simple! CABPES and our corporate partners are ready to serve the students needing help in math and science. Our pilot study has shown that our new strategy will work. Parents, this is what we need you to do to help your student(s) catch up in math and science. Please bring your student(s) to our facility Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8 pm. We recommend you be on time. Our data show regular attendance is critical to your child learning math. Play an essential role in your student(s) academics by getting with their teachers and finding out what they are learning in school when it comes to math. We are not asking you to teach math; just let us know what they are learning in school. With the Governor‘s support, Colorado engineering firms, and CABPES‘ vision, we can turn these students around in math and science. We have the village!
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director
We are proud to present our virtual 39th Annual Student Awards Banquet Program Book. While COVID-19 forced CABPES to host our annual Student Awards Banquet event virtually in 2021, the support that CABPES received at this event was unprecedented. Financial contributions at this event totaled over $94,000! Please enjoy learning more about our programs and partners in 2021 while flipping through this book.
[dflip id=”1275″ ][/dflip]
I will begin this letter by acknowledging the vision of the founders of CABPES. CABPES was founded in 1980 by Ronald L. Mitchell, Larry Hancock, Janice P. Jupiter, Joseph R. Jeffary, Leothus Slaughter, Melvin Larkins, and David B. Mays. CABPES has served schools in the Denver communities for 40 years. CABPES’ most extended active member and the person that brought the JETS program to Denver is Ron Fontenot.
As I reflect on my first introduction to CABPES in 1986, I recall a group of determined men and women that came together to build a pipeline of young STEM professionals. I remember seeing committed and energetic Black professionals engaging in networking, serving as mentors and role models, and participating in professional development opportunities.
Shortly after that, I was introduced to CABPES afterschool STEM programs, including the Junior Engineers Tomorrow’s Scientists (JETS) program, Math Enrichment Program (MEP), SAT/ACT College Preparatory Program, and the Summer Math Boot Camp. These core STEM programs are still in existence today. It is estimated that CABPES has served over 10,000 students since inception.
In 1995, I became the president of CABPES. I have remained in this role since being elected, and in 2018 I became the executive director of CABPES. Many great things have transpired during my 25 years of leadership within CABPES. We serve students in the Denver Public Schools, Aurora Public Schools, Cherry Creek Schools, Jefferson County, Littleton Schools, Commerce City, private schools, charter schools, and homeschooled students.
CABPES has prepared students to attend colleges and universities throughout the United States. Our students have become engineers, scientists, doctors, nurses, educators, lawyers, business owners and are excelling in many other professions. For these and many other reasons, CABPES is recognized as the Number One afterschool STEM program in Colorado. This recognition comes to us by partnering with local consulting engineering, construction, and architecture companies, the oil and gas industry, local community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities. All these entities provide CABPES with the best and brightest volunteer professionals.
Our funders include individual donors, corporations, and small and large foundations throughout the United States. Thanks to all our supporters for bringing us this far! CABPES future remains as bright as ever!
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director
As I reminisced over the past 20 months, I felt all kinds of emotions, both highs, and lows, as I contemplated the tough decisions we had to make in March 2020 in the wake of COVID-19. I remembered CABPES having to design virtual programs from scratch. Would we be successful teaching our students online engineering and math classes? Would our students, parents, and volunteers buy into this new way of learning that was thrust upon all humanity with no warning and no preparation?
Then, I thought about our survival and sustainability, realizing for the first time in 39 years, we would not be able to host our largest fundraiser in 2020, which was our Annual Student Awards Banquet. My concern was about our students not dressing up in their lovely attire and showcasing the engineering projects they had tirelessly worked on. I thought about our graduating seniors missing out on their senior prom. Also, I thought about our seniors not walking up to the banquet stage to give their long-awaited speech discussing their experiences in CABPES and future plans in front of hundreds of people.
Little did I know, with the “Faith of a Mustard Seed,” our programs would thrive! Tirelessly, we designed virtual programs that met the needs of our students in both the Junior Engineers, Tomorrow’s Scientists (JETS) Program and the Math Enrichment Program (MEP). We served more students during the Pandemic than in the history of our organization. Also, we hosted a first-ever virtual banquet and raised more funds at this event than ever before. This past summer, we added a summer Book Club to our suite of STEM programs.
CABPES engaged in many Zoom discussions and meetings on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in large part because of the earth-shaking murder of Mr. George Floyd. As an organization founded and built on African Americans’ struggles and lived experiences working in STEM, we welcomed a seat at the table on this topic. I met with companies and colleges throughout Colorado sharing how our vision and mission focused on DEI beginning in 1980. DEI is not new to the CABPES organization.
As the summer ended and school began, CABPES made a courageous decision to resume in-person programming in September 2021. We are off to a great start with our math tutoring program, SAT/ACT College Preparatory Program, and preparing a cohort of middle school students to compete in the Future City Competition in late January 2022.
Finally, we are planning to have an in-person JETS program starting in January 2022. Companies and colleges are excited in supporting us as we teach the students about “Engineering and Designing Smart Cities for Americans with Disabilities.” We plan to enroll 100 students in the JETS program. Be on the lookout, registration will start soon!
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director
Categories
See It Through- President’s Letter
The 2020/2021 school year was one of the most challenging times of my 35 years of involvement with the Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers and Scientists. The uncertainty of the pandemic left all of us fighting for survival. In a two-month time frame, CABPES learned how to develop and administer afterschool Virtual STEM Programs to serve our students effectively. In addition, we sponsored a Virtual HBCU Roundtable Event, a Virtual STEM Career Fair, and a Virtual Women’s Table-Talk Event. Finally, we ended the school year with our Virtual Student Awards Banquet and Silent Auction. All of these events were enormously successful!
There are no words to express the grit that our students, parents, and volunteers demonstrated in helping CABPES successfully navigate through these challenges. But now that it is all over, I am trying to figure out what made us succeed against all odds? I am reminded of a poem I learned at Prairie View A&M University when I pledged the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, in the fall of 1972. The poem is entitled, “See It Through,” by Edgar A. Guest.
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders
Plant your feet and take a brace;
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it Through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
In spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it Through!
Even hope may seem but futile
When with troubles you’re beset
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whatever you do
Eyes front, head high to the finish
See it Through!
Because we “Saw it Through,” CABPES served more students in 2020/2021 than in the history of the organization. Our funders worked with us to ensure we had the funds to manage and run our afterschool virtual STEM programs effectively. In other words, our fundraising was at an all-time high. We recruited a cohort of new STEM firms excited about supporting our afterschool STEM programs as we move back to in-person learning. We are already registering new students and volunteers to join us in the fall. Because of the support and encouragement from all of you, our future is brighter than ever. Thank you for believing in CABPES!
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director
In February 2021, Americans came together to celebrate Black History Month. CABPES, like many American companies and nonprofit organizations, paid homage to historical Black pioneers and today’s African American leaders that played a significant role in shaping how Black people are viewed and treated by the majority race in the United States. The CABPES website presented information on Black historical figures, Black music, poetry, and inspirational speeches by Black leaders. CABPES highlighted on its website the pain and sufferings that Black people endured to teach the world about diversity, equity, and inclusion. In other words, a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion are nothing new to African American people.
Black people have been fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion since Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Senseless hangings and killings of young Black males like Emmett Till, Rodney King, and Trayvon Martin were not enough to awaken the American consciousness to the injustices of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the United States of America. Ruthless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery erased all doubt in many Americans’ minds that racism, social injustice, and police brutality exist in the United States, especially in large cities where there are large demographics of African American people. It was not until the world saw an evil person press his knee on the neck of Mr. George Floyd as he begged for his mother while dying that many Americans finally acknowledged that enough was enough. There was no denying the hatred and systemic racism in America.
The aftermath of these cruel atrocities led companies and mainstream nonprofit organizations to have a change of heart in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. These companies are interested in learning about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). They want to create internship positions for students of color in high school and college. Companies want to hire professionals of color to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations.
CABPES sought to bring these companies together during Black History Month by hosting its first-ever Virtual Career Fair. Sixteen companies participated in the Career Fair. The Aerospace Industry, the Oil & Gas Industry, Consulting Engineering Firms, Construction Companies, and the City & County of Denver put on a magnificent display of STEM presentations to over 150 people. The audience included students, parents, STEM professionals, educators, and representatives from HBCUs. We had presenters and guests from all over the United States, Australia and the Philippines. The Career Fair was an excellent show of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our parents emailed and called to thank CABPES and let us know how mesmerized their children were to see such high-quality STEM presentations demonstrated by people of all races, gender, and nationalities. Collectively, we showed when people come together for the common good, racism, ignorance, and fear must take a backseat to redemptive goodwill and service to humanity. CABPES will continue to be a drum major in the fight for diversity, equity, and inclusion. We encourage our funders and corporate partners to join us to educate others on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director
Categories
CABPES Awarded Grant from State Farm
CABPES has been awarded a $25,000 grant from State Farm! The State Farm grant will be applied toward the Junior Engineers Tomorrow’s Scientists programming.
“CABPES STEM program is a great fit with State Farm’s focus on education,” said Louis Materre, State Farm agent and longtime advocate for CABPES. “We have a commitment to support local organizations and provide students with experiences and training to ready them for college and/or their future occupations.”
The mission of State Farm is to help people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams.
Sometimes obstacles are placed in our lives to encourage us to make changes. Changing is difficult and tends to generate unwanted fears. Often, we hear people say, “that is how we always did it.” COVID-19 has caused all of us to make some new adjustments in our lives. Today, we live in a world of virtual workdays comprised of virtual meetings, virtual education for our children and grandchildren, virtual graduations, and virtual programs and events.
COVID-19 has meddled with how CABPES has run its after-school programs for the past 40 years. We can no longer go into a school and speak to STEM classes or hand out flyers at parent-teacher meetings or other community events. Recruiting students to participate in our after school programs has been challenging in 2020.
I discussed my frustrations with a colleague a couple of weeks ago who works in leadership in public schools. This person stated, 90% of all nonprofit organizations like CABPES face the same problem. My friend went on to tell me that students are facing Zoom fatigue. Students are not interested in participating in after-school programs in Zoom because of being in front of a computer all day. I was informed that 30% of Denver after-school programs would not survive COVID-19.
This enlightenment was a wake-up call for me. I learned that even though CABPES numbers are not where we want them to be. We are doing better than most after-school programs. I begin to reflect on the things that CABPES is doing to generate success. However, we are nowhere near our ultimate goals.
CABPES has dedicated and committed volunteers that are meeting the challenges of teaching in a virtual environment. To date, we ran successful summer online JETS and MEP programs. Our virtual Future City Competition Program is operating almost flawlessly. Our fall online Math Enrichment and SAT/ACT programs are improving daily. Our volunteers continue to generate new ideas and different ways of doing things every day in this virtual environment. Our students and volunteers are working tirelessly in IXL, a computer math software program.
CABPES increased its marketing and branding efforts one-hundredfold. We have a brand-new website that promotes all the work we do in teaching STEM to our students. CABPES elevated its grant writing efforts to overcome lost revenue from not hosting our largest fundraiser event in May 2020. We are improving our social media presence through Facebook and LinkedIn. Our quarterly newsletters, marketing brochures, program flyers, and videos are produced with a passion for presenting the excellent work that CABPES is doing in serving our students. Finally, we are writing a 3 to 5-year Development Plan to ensure our organization and its programs continue the trajectory that we are currently experiencing.
Parents and educators, if you are looking for an organization that can help your students stay on track for academic success, please contact our office. To the many companies that are looking for volunteer opportunities for your employees, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” To the numerous foundations and companies looking for organizations to invest your funds, please contact CABPES; we are the #1 STEM Program in Colorado.
Blessings,
Dewey F. Brigham, Jr., Ph.D.
CABPES President and Executive Director