Lately, I’ve become hyper-aware of the cycles that occur in our chapter. Certainly board meetings leap to mind – probably because I must call them, set the agendas, etc.; but there are others as well, and there are those that are sources of excitement and enthusiasm. We express our appreciation to board members and committee heads who have rotated off or whose terms have ended, and we warmly welcome our new board members, officers, and committee and project heads. We have a great crew heading up our chapter, and our future looks bright.

A perfect example of our cycles is that, as March arrives and spring approaches, we anticipate the launch of a new Citizens Academy class in Huntsville. And as you all no doubt remember from your own experiences, the Alumni Association will be present in force, to warmly welcome the new students into our very special company (remember – we are a select group of community leaders, nominated by our peers to attend the CA class) on their opening night, and to provide a meal for the class and the alumni and FBI staff in attendance.

And our board is hard at work in this (still new) year, renewing our commitments to long-term projects -- beginning anew to arrange “Chasing the Dragon” showings in both Birmingham and Huntsville, planning efforts to deal with human trafficking in conjunction with our partners at The Wellhouse, and of course, much, much more, such as a second annual FBI Day at Childrens of Alabama, and a second sub-regional gathering that we expect to offer  – a Summit at the Lake, bringing several chapters together at Lake Guntersville in the Fall. But as certainly as these cycles recur, we continue to innovate. In fact, our chapter probably initiates more new projects than any other chapter in the nation does or ever has. This year we have an important new project; a ground-breaking one, unique to the Birmingham chapter that we hope and expect will be a long-term commitment for our chapter. Let me tell you a bit more about it.

Four of our members – Dr. Joe Popinski, Tom Polk, TJ Knight, and I – attended training last year on the DHS’s Bomb-Making Awareness Program. We are now authorized to train volunteers to visit merchants and others and teach them to recognize efforts to obtain the materials to make explosive or incendiary devices. Now to you: If you would like to receive this BMAP training and become a Community Liaison officer, we would love to have you. We anticipate holding training sessions (4 hours) in Birmingham and Huntsville in March, and already have several volunteers signed up to attend the training sessions. There are still several slots available, so if you’d like to participate in a potentially life-saving program, call us or write us and volunteer to attend training. We’ll get you on board right away.  

Thanks for your attention and support.

--- Paul H. Franklin, President

     FBI Birmingham CAAA