A Bio for the Board Election

If you were asked to write an auto-biography on one page, what would you say? I suppose it would depend on who you thought the audience would be. Here is one I wrote for a condo board election coming up soon.

David May

I am the former Social Service Director for Ramsey County. As such, I. oversaw a team who broke all records for the numbers of foster children who were placed in adoptive homes. I then became the District Administrator for the Florida Department of Children and Families in West Palm Beach and broke the same records in that district.

Charlene and I moved into Lexington-Riverside in August 2012 and immediately moved to Port au Prince, Haiti, to host a guest house for medical mission teams for two years. We came home here in 2014 and have been here for six years. We were raised in Memphis and are delighted to be back on the Mississippi River.

We love Lexington-Riverside. When Charlene and I came here we determined to help the residence become more of a community, to be more like a neighborhood of friendly neighbors. Whether elected or not, we will continue that effort. 

I put out the monthly newsletter, “Down by the Riverside.” Charlene agreed to chair the Social Committee and I make most of the flyers and help them balance the books. I co-chaired the Water Committee for a while and opened it to everyone interested. I sat on the Amenities Committee for as long as it lasted and am a member of the Recycling Committee. I was a board member here for one year.

I was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, with time in Viet Nam during the war. I served as an elder in two churches, one in Florida and one in Minnesota. I am the author of five books, and Charlene has published one as well. All our writings are aimed at encouraging others to help anyone they encounter who could benefit from their assistance.

If I am elected to the board, I will approach each issue seriously, keeping a watch on the budget, the short-term need, the long-term benefit and the effect on property values. Thank you for the opportunity to stand for election.

AAAP

As the Ramsey County (St. Paul) Social Service Director, I assigned several projects to a young man I had rescued from oblivion in a Planning Office position. One of the projects was to supplement efforts already underway to increase the number of Black foster children being adopted. He took it and ran with it. Art Tredwell is his name.

The problem we were trying to address was first that more Black children were being permanently separated from their parents by the courts and then were being adopted at a much slower rate than their White counterparts. It is widely known in Social Service Circles that it is hardest to find adoptive homes for boys, older children and Black children. Older Black boys are at the bottom of the barrel. 

Art partnered with a woman from the Minnesota Department of Human Services and together they established the African American Adoption Project. The project got the word out in both the Black and White communities, made the issue known and organized all kinds of events to push the adoption of Black kids. 

I have noted elsewhere my pride in the two organizations I managed, one in Minnesota and the other in Florida, both of whom broke all-time records in the adoption of children of all colors. This project was a part of that effort. I also have a “Thank You” plaque from the project expressing gratitude for my support for their efforts in promoting the adoption of “our children.” “Our children” in this instance is Black kids.