I am honored to be entrusted with leading the organization this year and excited about the opportunity to contribute to shaping the culture of our young organization.  TMBA's vision for 2020 is "Igniting the Village."  Some of the key characteristics of a village are (1) the members' ability to recognize the humanity of every member of the community while honoring their unique differences, (2) a shared culture and belief system understood by its members, (3) a joint-family support system and (4) everyone's unique gifts and talents contributing to the collective success of the whole.  We believe that the legacy of Thurgood Marshall and TMBA's founders embody these village characteristics.

This year's Awards and Installation Gala is representative of the "village."  The honorees, guests and sponsors are a diverse representation of members of our Orange County legal community, attorneys and judges from neighboring countries, OC faith leaders, community leaders, law students, pre-law students, professors, judges, other professionals, and community members.  

TMBA's programming for 2020 will be "Village Centered."  We want to know who our members are, and we want TMBA members to know one another.  To that end -- TMBA will focus on identifying the needs of the TMBA Village and creating a "joint family support system," in order to meet TMBA's mission of connecting, supporting and increasing the black legal community in Orange County.  To accomplish this, we will leverage monthly newsletters, social media and revamp TMBA's website to improve communication.  We will also seek feedback from members to help shape the resources, events and CLEs' we conduct in the 2020 year.

Finally, TMBA will launch our very own internship program and membership directory.  We will tap into the unique gifts and talents of each TMBA member to contribute to our collective success and create a safe space for attorneys, law students and judges of color practicing in Orange County.

Congratulations to Desirae Hutchison for leading TMBA through a successful year and accomplishing your vision of "building bridges" with the community.  It was a pleasure serving as your program chair!  To the incoming board, thank you for volunteering your time, energy and talents to serve TMBA and the OC community this year!  We're off to a great start and I cannot wait to see what this year unfolds!

Lakeshia Adeniyi Dorsey Esq.