President's Message

Greetings Alumni,

 

The Fall FBI Citizens Academy class is in full swing and the attendees are so energized to learn about all things FBI. As I sit in the classes I remember back to when I first attended in 2016 and the energy and excitement buzzing throughout the class. I would like to encourage every one of you to think back to your experience in the class and the amazing people you were able to meet. As an alumni of the FBICAAA you continue to be a part of that amazing network of people. WE NEED YOU AND YOUR NETWORK!

 

 For the second year in a row we have adopted the women of the WellHouse for a stocking drive. This year, we have also committed to provide stockings and gift cards to the children of the WellHouse. The residents of the WellHouse, both women and children, have all been victims of human trafficking and we want them to know there are people out there that care. 

 

Last year’s drive was amazing and this year we want to do even more. We recently sent out a letter to all alumni, along with a link to a Word document letter for you to customize and send to your friends and local businesses to raise money for these stockings.A copy of that announcement is inside this Newsletter as well. A page of snapshots from last year’s effort is also inside this Newsletter.

 

 We would love to have 100% participation. Even if every alumni gave a little it would go a long way. You can also donate directly through our Website at https://secure.affinipay.com/pages/fbicitizensacademyalumniassociation/payments?reference=2023%20Wellhouse%20Stocking%20Drive. 

 

As always we value your partnership and your participation to keep our Chapter energized and successful. It takes all of us to remain committed to the mission of our Chapter, which is to partner with the FBI in providing resources in support of their mission in North and Central Alabama. 

 

Thank you for your continued commitment to the FBICAAA. 

 

Jennifer

Hello friends!

 

September is upon us, which means the FBICA class in Birmingham is about to begin. It is our hope to have more than 20 attendees at the Fall Class to learn more about the FBI and their mission! I know that many of you remember the excitement of that first class. It is sure to be another great experience for those fortunate to be selected this year. 

 

With many changes this year in personnel at the local Birmingham field office, the FBI was unable to coordinate the trip to Quanitico and D.C. this year. They have assured us that it will be a priority next year. 

 

Just a reminder that the WellHouse Stocking Drive is coming up as Fall is around the bend and the Holidays will soon follow. If you signed up to assist on the Human Trafficking Team, be looking for an email in the next month asking for volunteers with this effort. We can’t do it without you. 

 

Thank you for your continued support of the FBICAAA!

Blessings,

Jennifer

 

 

 

 

Greetings Alumni,

 

Wow! What a wonderful turnout for our Redstone Arsenal Tour! It was great to see some new faces and some familiar faces! I would like to give a huge shout out to our Birmingham Vice President, Rish Wood, for helping to organize our tour and making sure the attendees were cleared for the tour. Without Rish we wouldn’t have had such a great event for our alumni members.

 

Every year we strive to assist the FBI in their outreach programs. There will be several events coming up this fall where we will need volunteers. If you volunteer for one of the events, please do everything you can to attend or at least contact the coordinator or myself if something were to come up so that we can call on other volunteers to cover the gaps. We hope to have MORE than enough volunteers! 

 

The Birmingham Civil Rights Conference                 

September 24 & 25th at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Information on times TBD

 

The FBI Diversity Agent Recruitment Event

September 26th at the Red Mountain Theatre 5-8 PM

 

National Nights Out

October dates and locations TBD

 

Wellhouse Stocking Drive

Team members needed

 

Please be looking for information on these events in upcoming announcements. If you already know you would like to volunteer at one of these events, please email me at president@fbicaaa-bham.org! 

 

Our organization is a service organization and we can’t do it without you. Thank you for getting involved!

 

QUANTICO TOUR - Please be looking for a separate email to members in the next couple of weeks if you are interested in this tour. The FBI Field Office is hoping to make it happen, but they will need enough participants and a lot of things need to coalesce to pull it off due to personnel changes at the FBI office. 

 

Jennifer

Greetings Alumni,

I hope that many of you are going to be able to attend the FBI Redstone Campus Tour on July 18th! It should be a phenomenal day of exploring and learning. I hope to see you there!

Recently the FBIBCAAA Board nominated and voted in the next President of our Chapter. Lisa Cooper is now the President-Elect and will officially take office on January 1, 2024. Lisa has served as Treasurer for the past year and a half and has been an amazing resource when it comes to getting things done. Lisa is extremely passionate about our organization and I know that she is going to do amazing things! I am excited about showing her the ropes over the next 6 months as she gets ready to take the helm.

I would like to take a moment to thank Board Members Brian Smith, Deb Jaramillo and Ginger Ory along with FBICAAA Past President, Paul Franklin, for attending the national conference in Boston. This group accepted our Chapter of Excellence Award and we are grateful for their dedication and contributions to our Chapter. 

Everyone stay cool during this heat wave! I hope to see you at some of our upcoming events!

Jennifer

Hello Alumni! 

We did it again!! Our Chapter has won the Excellence in Chapter Operations Award for the 2nd year in a row. The Birmingham FBICAAA has a long standing history of winning this award and it wouldn’t be possible without your support and the hard work of our Board Members. This year our Chapter submission reviewed several areas where our chapter thrived in 2022. Here is a brief summary: 

Our chapter works with Infragard several times throughout the year to conduct counterintelligence briefings for research facilities and defense contractors. In 2022 we held 8 of these events which were very well received. Topics included: 

1) An overview of the FBIs Behavior Analysis Unit

2) Made in Bejing: the plan for Global Market Domination

3) FBI Birmingham Cyber Squad

4) All things about the World Games

5)FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3.gov

6) Overview of the Online Gaming Scene

7) The Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center

8) Threat Overview of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Unmanned Group Vehicles 

Our Chapter also extended community outreach at National Night Out events in both Huntsville and Birmingham. Through these events we were able to hand out FBI pamphlets to attendees and act as ambassadors to share the good works and programs of the FBI. The National Night out event in Helena, AL brought through approximately 3,000 attendees. The National Night out in Huntsville also had a great turnout. We plan to continue setting up for these events each year and continue this outreach program. 

Our goal for 2022 was to have a fundraiser for our Stockings of Hope Drive. Through the use of social media, e-mail, and word of mouth, we were able to raise $500 for our Stocking Drive. With the monies collected we were able to purchase stocking stuffers for the residents of the Wellhouse who are female victims of human trafficking. Our Chapter came together to assemble the stockings and two of our board members delivered them to the Wellhouse before Christmas. We plan to continue this fundraiser this year.   

We have several members of our board who will be attending the FBICAAA National Conference this summer to accept this award for our Chapter. We look forward to them sharing information on how to continue to grow our Chapter upon their return.  

Thank you all for your continued support! 

Jennifer

May 1, 2023

Greetings Alumni,

The countdown is on for another graduating class of the FBI Citizens Academy. Graduation will be on May 16th and we are looking forward to having new members join our alumni association. I would personally like to thank Season Allen, FBI Birmingham Training Specialist, for everything she has done to organize the class and keep things running smoothly. Season is currently covering some of the past duties of Paul Daymond since he has transitioned to his new role.  

EVENTS YOU DON”T WANT TO MISS

July 18th - There will be a tour of FBI @ Redstone 

September 28th - Tour of Quantico

Look for Redstone Tour Agenda and  link to sign up in this Newsletter- Paid Alumni Only

Your board of directors puts a lot of time and effort into organizing special events for you. Our chapter has been historically successful in having a Chapter of Excellence in organizing events, outreach and chapter partnerships. Please take advantage of the opportunities that are offered and also let us know what type of events you would be interested in attending. 

As always we value your partnership and your participation to keep our chapter energized and successful. It takes all of us to remain committed to the mission of our chapter, which is to partner with the FBI in providing resources in support of their mission in North and Central Alabama. 

Thank you for your continued commitment to the FBICAAA. 

Jennifer

Happy March!

I hope that all of you are doing well!

There are no Birmingham or Huntsville FBICA graduates who do not know Paul Daymond. You were all selected by Paul to participate in the FBICA and he has always been known to choose the best of the best! Paul has been the backbone of the FBICA classes throughout the years and has set the bar to a very high standard. In case you don’t know, Paul is no longer with the Birmingham Division of the FBI and will now be working directly for our former SAS, Johnnie Sharp in Huntsville. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Paul for all of his support for our organization over the years. He is a dear friend to many of us. Paul, best of luck in your new role.

As we say goodbye to Paul, we also welcome a new SAC to Birmingham. I had the privilege of meeting SAC Carlton Peeples recently to review our Memorandum of Agreement for the FBICAAA for 2023. Mr. Peeples is very excited to be in Birmingham and looks forward to working with us as we continue to support the FBI with our outreach programs.

It’s going to be a stellar year with the FBICAAA! My hope is that you will look for opportunities to network and serve. Our board of directors works hard to put together events that will bring us together and make us a Chapter of Excellence. We hope to see you soon!

Yours,

Jennifer

Happy New Year Alumni,

We have wrapped up 2022 and the first year of my term as FBICAAA President. I can't thank the 2022 Board Members enough for everything they have done to support the chapter this year. I would like to thank all of the board members who are rolling off. They have served our chapter well!

Rolling off

Vanessa Vargas

Marc Curles

Tim Johns

Arthur Price

TJ Knight

Joe Dinoto

Graham Sisson (Graham is staying active as our legal counsel).

Amanda Jarrett

New Board Members

Sam Roberts - Birmingham

April Tolbert - Birmingham

Ginger Ory - Huntsville

Emerald Jones - Huntsville

Lindsay Rice - Huntsville

The Board will be meeting to plan events and outreach efforts for 2023 in mid-January. We hope to arrange a tour of the new FBI facilities in Huntsville for all members sometime this summer. Be checking for announcements on upcoming events.

If you haven’t yet paid your dues for 2023, remember that you now have the Lifetime member option for only $500. We hope to increase our outreach and our membership this year and we can’t do it without you. We humbly ask that you help support our chapter with your renewed membership and plan on ways to get involved with our outreach efforts.

Again, thank you all for your commitment to the organization.

Blessings,

Jennifer

Greetings and Happy Holidays Alumni,

It’s one of the busiest times of year for so many of us as we get ready to transition through the holidays and into a New Year! We’ve had a successful 2022 coming off the backside of the pandemic, however, I’m hoping that 2023 will bring even more engagement from our alumni! As you are making your new year resolutions, remember the FBICAAA and find ways to get engaged!

As many of you know, our Chapter partners with The WellHouse to help support female victims of human trafficking. The WellHouse provides residential therapeutic programs women who have been sexually exploited, offering medical, spiritual, mental and emotional care. The FBIBCAAA has adopted The WellHouse this Christmas to provide each of these ladies a “Stocking of Hope”. Hopefully you have seen the flyer by now. Please think about giving a donation to help fund this project. Items for Stockings of Hope will be purchased with the donations and all other donations between now and Dec. 16th will be donated to the WellHouse. Thank you for considering your gift, big or small! Every little bit helps these ladies who are starting over. 

If you haven’t already, please look for our Facebook group, “FBI Birmingham Citizens Academy Alumni Association.”

I pray you and your families have a safe, happy and healthy holiday season and look forward to the great ways we can serve our communities in 2023!

Thank you, 

Jennifer

Greetings Alumni,

The FBICAAA Birmingham Board of Directors recently voted to start offering a Lifetime Membership in 2023 for the great value of $500! This membership fee would be non-refundable and non-transferrable. Non-transferrable means that should you move to another state and want to join their chapter you would have to pay their fees. Not all chapters offer the Lifetime option. The Lifetime option is also not retro-active. 

As many of you know the benefits of joining the chapter include: 

• Official Communications
• Invitations to select activities
• Alumni newsletter
• Invitations to exclusive briefings
• Range Day
• Field Trip to Quantico & FBIHQ
• Members-only communications, Group social media and website access
• Eligibility to serve as an officer or board member
• Voting privileges 

When you start receiving renewal reminders this year, please consider the Lifetime Option. Of course you are still able to pay year-to-year for $75.00. 

We continue to add volunteer and community outreach options every year. We plan to vote in our new Board members at our Annual Meeting on December 1st! We hope you will join us! Be looking for details! 

Thank You,

Jennifer