PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Panthers:

I am privileged to so serve as the 9^th President of the Historic John H. Cross Chapter of the Virginia Union University Alumni Association. It is humbling to know that I am following a long list of illustrious servant leaders and community activists who have committed themselves to advancing the mission of Virginia Union University in Greater Atlanta and surrounding areas. I am excited to continue current traditions and introduce new ones to our membership. My plan is to foster new strategies for chapter growth and membership retention. This growth should lead to an increase in our fundraising capacity enabling us to provide more financial support and assistance to students from the Metro-Area who attend VUU, and to improve the visibility of the VUU brand in Metro-Atlanta. 

The theme of my term is “Better Together – Advancing the Mission of our Beloved VUU”. Our vision is to promote and support university programs; provide networking opportunities for alumni; and recruit, support and provide financial assistance to metro area students who attend VUU. If you are a current member of our chapter, thank you for your continued commitment and support. If you live in the area or new to the area, we welcome you and ask you to join our mission. If you are a prior member, we need you back. We can accomplish great things together while advancing the mission of our beloved alma mater, VUU.

Goals:

Retain and Recruit Chapter Members – We must retain and recruitment members to our chapter to realize our vision. Our goal is to implement a new member Onboarding Program which will match a new member with a current chapter member for support, encouragement, and accountability. We will expand existing committees and create new ones to engage each member in chapter business. We will also host quarterly social activities to keep chapter members engaged.

Increase Our Fundraising – We will continue to expand on the success of our Annual Community Awards Brunch. We will increase our Annual Fund Giving to the University by hosting a Signature fundraising event annually. Additionally, we will host a bi-annual, multi-day Fundraising Alumni Weekend which will raise funds for student scholarships.

Recruit and Support Students – Metro Atlanta and the surrounding areas have an abundance of talented students and student-athletes. Universities from around the country come here to recruit. We will increase our participation in local college fairs and event to tell our story to attract quality students to our alma mater. We will also send information packets to local high schools highlighting the attributes of VUU.

Promote the VUU Brand – Atlanta is a hub for HBCU’s so we must work harder to highlight the many attributes of our esteemed University. It is our plan to utilize our chapter promotional video wherever possible and to create other forms of marketing material to publicize our chapter and university. We will develop a chapter logo and create our own brand apparel. We will continue and expand on our participation in the Atlanta HBCU Alumni Alliance activities and events.

I am making a personal appeal for your participation. We need all hands of deck to realize our vision. We are better together and will accomplish great things for our alma mater.

Sincerely,

Terri A. Harmon