Business

BGE Employees’ Charitable Acts Set New Company Record

WASHINGTON INFORMER — Hundreds of BGE employees celebrated National Volunteer Month in April by volunteering close to 2,000 hours on 51 different arts and culture projects that encouraged community development, championed the environment, and supported education initiatives.

Published

7 years ago

May 16, 2019

Oakland Post

By WI Web Staff

Hundreds of BGE employees celebrated National Volunteer Month in April by volunteering close to 2,000 hours on 51 different arts and culture projects that encouraged community development, championed the environment, and supported education initiatives.

BGE’s Powering the Community program aims to help power a cleaner and brighter future for customers and communities through company-sponsored service events across central Maryland.

“We’re honored to continue the tradition of supporting neighbors and communities through volunteerism, not just for National Volunteer Month, but throughout every month of the year,” said Valencia McClure, vice president of governmental and external affairs for BGE. “While we set a record this year with the number of events BGE participated in, it should come as no surprise that our employees rolled up their sleeves and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with community organizations working to enhance the lives of our customers in a myriad of ways.”

Service highlights during the month include:

• Forty BGE volunteers joined Rodney Oddoye, BGE vice president of customer operations, at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore to build a goat castle and playscape for the goats to climb and romp on. Click here to watch the Zoo’s time lapse video from the event.

• Nearly 200 BGE employees and local partners took part in the American Red Cross Sound the Alarm event where they canvassed neighborhoods in Harford County to install free smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms, and helped families create escape plans.

• Valencia McClure, BGE vice president of government and external affairs, and 22 BGE employees participated in the Susan G. Komen Letter Writing event in Baltimore, where volunteers wrote “Notes of Encouragement” to women and men going through breast cancer and survivors who reside within BGE’s service area.

• Members of BGE’s Demand Response Business and Behavioral Energy Efficiency teams worked with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to “hatch” oyster reef balls at the Maryland Oyster Restoration Center in Anne Arundel County. The team successfully “hatched” over 50 concrete reef balls by removing them from their molds, cleaning, and prepping them for eventual placement on an oyster sanctuary in the Chesapeake.

• BGE participated in the Hero Dogs clean-up day in Montgomery County. BGE volunteers joined veterans to help clean the training room and kennels of skilled companion dogs that will be placed with veterans and first-responders.

Employee service projects for National Volunteer Month extended across the Exelon family of energy companies.

This article originally appeared in the Washington Informer.

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Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

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5 days ago

September 7, 2026

Oakland Post

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Business

Longtime BWOPA Member Brendalyn Goodall Appointed to California Workforce Development Board

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed longtime Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) member Brendalynn Goodall to the California Workforce Development Board. Goodall, an Oakland resident with decades of experience in public service, has held leadership positions focused on

Published

2 weeks ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Post Co-Publisher Gay Plair Cobb with Brendalynn Goodall. Courtesy photo.

By California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed longtime Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) member Brendalynn Goodall to the California Workforce Development Board.

Goodall, an Oakland resident with decades of experience in public service, has held leadership positions focused on employment, aging services and assistance for underserved communities.

“Brendalynn will be a great addition to this Board,” said Gay Plair Cobb, who served as former state Assemblyman Sandre Swanson’s alternate to the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB).

“She understands that California’s non-profit organizations serve persons who have the most significant barriers to their labor market success and that the Board should help these groups navigate the complicated requirements of state funding.

“In other words, she will be a strong advocate for our most marginalized populations. Her voice is needed now, more than ever.”

CWDB works with the governor to shape workforce policies, programs and investments designed to strengthen the state’s economy. It collaborates with employers, workers, labor organizations, educational institutions, community groups and California’s 45 local workforce development boards to expand access to quality jobs and respond to regional employment needs.

According to the board, its work includes coordinating state programs and guiding investments in workforce training and development.

BWOPA California celebrated the appointment, describing Goodall as a dedicated advocate for workers, families and older adults.

“Her appointment reflects a lifetime of leadership, service, and unwavering commitment to strengthening California’s workforce and expanding opportunity for all,” the organization stated in a press release.

Goodall served as summer jobs program coordinator in the Oakland Mayor’s Office from 2012 to 2014. In that position, she helped connect young people with employment opportunities and job experience.

Before joining the Mayor’s Office, Goodall was division manager for Aging and Adult Services in the City of Oakland Human Services Department from 2002 to 2011. She previously served as senior services supervisor and program director for the city’s Department of Aging, Health and Human Services from 1990 to 2002.

Goodall is also a member of the California Commission on Aging, which advises the governor and state officials on policies and programs affecting older Californians.

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Black History

Jackie Wright Champions Bay Area Stories, Filmmakers and Cultural Institutions

As an award-winning communications professional, Wright has worked with corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, artists, and community organizations. In 2026, she expanded that work by launching an introductory public relations class for small businesses and nonprofits, offering practical tools for gaining visibility, shaping messages and building productive relationships with the media.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises. Photo courtesy of Wright Enterprises.

By Carla Thomas

Jackie Wright has spent more than two decades helping people, organizations and communities understand the power of a well-told story.

As founder and president of Wright Enterprises, a San Francisco-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, Wright has built a career spanning journalism, public relations, media relations, crisis communications, community engagement and multimedia storytelling.

Wright’s commitment to storytelling is also deeply personal. She wrote and co-directed the 15-minute documentary, “Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor,” which chronicles the story of her parents, Specialist Five (S5 Wyley Wright Jr. and Ouida Fay McClendon Wright. Her father, a U.S. Army helicopter crew chief, died in Vietnam in 1964 while serving as an honor guard during a visit by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Decades later, Wright and her siblings had their father exhumed from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, and their mother moved from her burial place in Georgia so the couple could be reunited at Arlington National Cemetery in 2014.

The family journey later took Wright and her sister to Vietnam, where they discovered the former military compound that had been named in honor of their father and another fallen soldier. The documentary, centered on love, war, family, racial understanding, and remembrance, earned festival recognition at screenings.

“It was quite an honor to learn about my family’s history and share it on film,” said Wright.

That filmmaking experience complements Wright’s longstanding advocacy for independent cinema. She has served as a media partner and brand ambassador for Bay Area film festivals, including the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, and the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.

“It’s important to help filmmakers and underrepresented stories reach broader audiences,” said Wright.

Whether promoting a neighborhood organization, championing an independent filmmaker or preserving her own family history, Wright has remained consistent. Through Wright Enterprises, she has turned communications into both a profession and a form of community service, telling stories that might otherwise go unheard.

“Our stories are an integral part of our history, and our history is not only American history, but worldwide,” she said.