THE JAMAICA Progressive League (JPL), at its recent annual general meeting at the Adam Clayton Powell State Building in Harlem, elected new officers and board members in preparation for the restoration of the 66 year-old organisation to the esteem it once held among the Jamaican community in the United States of America.
Founded in 1936 by a group of Jamaican immigrants in America, the civic organisation went on to influence the birth of the People's National Party (PNP) in 1938, and played a significant role in representing the interests of Jamaican immigrants to the United States. But, in recent years, the organisation has fallen on hard times and is a mere shadow of the influence it once held.
The new officers elected are Sadie Campbell, president; Winsome Henry, first vice president; Sharon McLean, second vice president; Dorret Aarons, secretary; Herman Thompson, assistant secretary; Vena Baker, treasurer; Vincent Miller, financial secretary; and Dermott Campbell appointed as chaplain.
Ten members were elected to the board of directors: Uriel Anderson, Adhiambo Balewa, Junior Jawara Blake, Ida Brown, Desmond Grey, Robert Nembhard, Wendell Smith, Harold Terrell, Dr. Marcelene Watler (the former president), and May Wellington.
Working with the motto, "From The Ground Up," some of the immediate programmes to be undertaken by the new administration are; a membership drive, a fundraising drive to regain control of a building in the Bronx owned by the JPL, constitutional reform of the JPL, an initiative to get Jamaican immigrants to vote in Jamaican elections, and to become stronger advocates on issues impacting the Jamaican immigrant community in the US.
In the past the League was well known for assisting newly arrived immigrants. The organisation was also noted for helping Jamaicans that were in need of medical assistance to come to the US. At its peak in the early 1970s, the JPL owned real estate on trendy West 57th Street in mid-Manhattan.
One issue that could become controversial is the intention of many in the new administration to change the "perception" that the JPL is closely affiliated to the PNP in Jamaica. It is their intention to open the organisation to membership by all Jamaicans in the United States, regardless of political affiliation, and in living up to its name as the Jamaica Progressive League.
Special focus will also be given to the Jamaican-American business community, as a number of such businesses have emerged over the past several years, and it is felt that more could be done for fulfilling the JPL's agenda, and in contributing to Jamaican nation building in general if the JPL focused on this community.
Byron LaBeach, president and CEO of Agro Foods Inc., and Alfred Simms, president and CEO of Alfred Simms Accounting and Business Services Inc., two leading businessmen in the New York community and JPL members, will be heading the business group initiative for the JPL.
