Atlanta Chapter President’s 2006 Message - Time for a Change
Everton Barrett
Greetings Brothers and Sisters. The time has come again for us to assess our efforts and grade the results of our contribution to Kingston College . Overall, we have had an appreciable effect. While we have continued to do some things well and we have launched into dynamic new areas like building classrooms and improving small portions of the plant, the full force of our potential is yet to be realized. KCOBA is still a lion asleep. We have only scratched the surface of what we can and must do for Kingston College . Lately, some among us have consistently posed the nascent question "whose responsibility is it to guarantee KC's survival?" While some feel it's the church, others feel it's the government as they are the ones given the charter to educate and train the citizenry. Even as we ponder this, we must admit that without the contribution of responsible alumni the church and government would have long left the school in absolute depravity and today, if the school existed at all, it would be one derelict cesspool of shame. So needless to say, we are forced to play the part of saving the school.
This challenge we have at times embraced enthusiastically. We have set about putting feeding programs in place, providing volunteer services, funding extracurricular activities, funding teams and programs, funding buildings and being the overall godfather yet all this still is not enough from keeping the school from slipping further and further behind in its ability to educate and socialize a sizable portion of Jamaica's young men.
It is apparent in so many ways that our gallant efforts still fall under "stop gap" and is not large enough in its scope to solve the myriad of shortages that plague the institution.
When the founding fathers of the KCDTF came up with the fund, it was an effort to address the complexities of some of the school's most challenging needs. It was a good idea and for a moment we all had high hopes for this fund and its implication for the future of KC. We worked and poured money into the fund, seeing it as the elixir for our ills. We knew that the fund's growth and success would demand good stewardship and austere guidelines, so we were satisfied with the edict that said, "no spending before the goal is reached" all the time the goal kept sliding due to inflation and Jamaica's untenable currency situation. Well, we've watched for over five years now as the fund played "snake and ladders" gaining deposits but losing value as it struggles to capture our imagination and besiege our wallets. Well, the time has come to assess the fund, is it doing what it set out to do? Is it being properly managed? Is it being led with vision and dynamism?
You can answer some of these questions yourself, when you ask what has the fund done for KC lately; What is now the goal of the fund, and who determines its targets, especially since 95% of the fund's deposit over the past two years is derived from North America, specifically New York and I dare say because of the efforts of the NY executive board. The looming question then becomes, how long will they keep dumping money on this dead horse when the trainer is asleep and the jockey needs corrective eye surgery. When I ask my friend who is a financial stalwart himself to assess this, his response was that if we continue to operate like this and keep making deposits to this fund, then we are simply "throwing good money after bad". This is no scientific inquisition, but a closer look at leadership and management would say, a change is needed. Just for the mere fact that you are sending a stable currency to invest in a declining one is cause for review; you compound that with the fact that the leadership has not enunciated a clear vision and it looks like we are in for a dismal future.
After asking and writing the management team repeatedly asking them to review their decisions or lack of it, I have concluded that they simply don't think of us as worthy of a response or explanation. They have ignored us and continue to put out the moribund report signaling another lethargic chapter in the book, "How not to manage a Fund and attract Depositors." Well, I've had enough, so Atlanta will be establishing a new fund centered in North America and receptive to North American input, this fund will be responsive, it will be dynamic and most of all it will be able to excite depositors because they will be able to see it at work. It's growth will run parallel with addressing some of the school's immediate needs; we will not fiddle while Rome burns. We will ask for the best planning and financial minds among us to point the direction. This fund will not seek to gobble up all proceeds from fundraisers and direct solicitation. We will leave room for others to pursue projects that they are passionate about. Most of all, we will use the depositors money wisely and employ engaging strategies to keep depositors adding to the coiffeurs. So brothers look out, the Jamerican-KC Trust Fund is coming and you're welcome to join us.
