ASSOCIATION NEWS

AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES ITS 100TH YEAR
BY PENELOPE BLAIR

The American Planning Association has set their sights on Las Vegas to mark their 100th Anniversary. More than 5,000 planners will come together at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas hotels, from April 27 to May 1, 2008. Anna Tibaijuka is slated as the opening keynote speaker. Tibaijuka is the first African woman elected by the UN General Assembly as under-secretary-general and executive director of a United Nations program. This year’s conference will offer hundreds of sessions, traditional workshops, mobile workshops and special events. In addition, planners have the opportunity to build their own conference online for a customized event.

The APA is a non-profit organization dedicated to urban, suburban, regional and rural planning. The organization has over 42,000 members worldwide. Visit www.planning.org, for more information about APA, their 2008 conference and upcoming events.

Does Privacy Exist Anymore? – This is one of the topics up for discussion during the global symposium at the 20th anniversary convention of The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE). More than 1,000 attendees will convene May 18-20, 2008 in Washington, D.C. to network, attend educational sessions and analyze critical issues that impact the industry.

The ACTE is devoted to providing executive-level global education and peer-to-peer networking opportunities. Membership is comprised of more than 6,000 diverse business travel professionals in over 50 countries.  For more information about the upcoming Global Education Convention or membership information, visit www.acte.org.

Atlanta Makes Faith Based History - Four of the largest Black Baptist conventions along with other Baptist organizations joined together in prayer and fellowship in Atlanta January 30 to February 1, 2008. The National Baptist Convention of America, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, were just a few of the 30 Baptist organizations who joined together to participate in a New Baptist Covenant. Conceived by former president Jimmy Carter, the purpose of the Covenant was to bring together Baptists of varying racial, geographical and organizational lines, to discuss issues plaguing society today.

More than 20,000 attendees prayed, listened to sermons, sang and celebrated the convention’s theme “Unity in Christ,” including former president Bill Clinton, who gave the closing address. To learn more about the Covenant and how you can become involved, visit www.newbaptistcelebration.org.

Atlanta continues to be the hot spot for unprecedented events– The Omni Hotel at CNN Center was the site of the historic collaboration of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and The Links, Inc. to end breast cancer forever in the African-American community. Both organizations are alarmed by the number of African-American women that succumb to the disease annually. “Since the 1980s, African-American women have had the highest death rate and lowest survival rate of any racial or ethnic group affected by breast cancer,” said Hala Moddelmog, Komen for the Cure president and CEO. The Circle of Promise campaign will empower women of color to take actions that will save lives. The goal of the campaign is to recruit 100,000 ambassadors.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. The Links, Inc. is one of the oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of women, devoted to the culture and economic survival of African-Americans. To learn more about the campaign and how to become an ambassador, visit www.circleofpromise.org

E-mail me your upcoming events at pblair_assnnews@yahoo.com.