Keynote Speaker Floyd Jones Inspires at TCC’s Nonprofit Summit

Tidewater Community College’s Academy for Nonprofit Excellence hosted the 2025 Nonprofit Summit: The Power to Thrive on Tuesday, March 11, in the Virginia Beach Campus Student Center. The Summit included two speeches by keynote speaker Floyd Jones and multiple workshop discussions to help local changemakers expand their nonprofit organization impact and help repower them to succeed in their future work. TCC staff and local nonprofit organization leaders from the Hampton Roads area presented their fundraising advice and experience in the concurrent sessions in the morning and afternoon.

Jones, a renowned coach and community builder, shared his insight on engagement and nonprofit leadership for fundraising campaigns. The New York City native is the founder of Floyd Jones Enterprises and BackBlack—an initiative that has raised over $2 million for Black-led nonprofits.

Jones has a mission to provide leaders of nonprofit organizations with tools and confidence to succeed with their fundraising campaigns, specifically actionable strategies to transform their followers into loyal supporters and donors. He also has experience with partnering with leaders to help grow their grassroot organizations and create lasting change. Jones has worked with several brands in the past including Nonprofit Storytelling Conference, VISA, Nike, AfroTech, Neon One, Man Talks, NBA 2k, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

At the Summit, Jones presented two strong keynote speeches to inspire the audience of nonprofit organization leaders and purpose-driven entrepreneurs: “The Significance of Your Story” and “Community as Catalyst”.

The afternoon keynote speech “Community as Catalyst” was devoted to providing organizational tools to help nonprofit organizations engage the community. It focused on the process of mobilizing passionate advocates, volunteers, and board members into joining the fundraising campaigning and connecting with others to build a network of supporters.

Jones noted that Sarah Linden-Brooks, Program Director of the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, had heard him speak at another convention and reached out to have him speak at this year’s summit.

“I love when I see organizations so intentional about supporting changemakers. We have so many people who are making an impact, but they don’t have the support they need to fly and succeed. So, when Sarah told me about this event, I was like ‘I’m going to be there’. I decided to make my way to TCC and speak,” Jones said.

Jones first spoke on his fundraising success with the Volo Kids Foundation, which is an organization that uses the power of play to build communities of active, resilient, and confident kids through quality sports programs and opportunities at no cost to families. The foundation launched its first Giving Tuesday campaign in 2017. Jones played a role in the peer-to-peer campaign, which had a goal to raise $5k. The campaign evolved as he started the trend to change his profile picture on social media to him as a kid playing a sport to spread awareness of the campaign. It sparked conversation online where the campaign’s supporters received hundreds of likes and dozens of comments to help spread awareness of the campaign. Jones and his team ended up raising $30k, and the success of the campaign drove momentum into the next year.

Jones shared his tools for fundraising success including the 5 S’s of success: set an intention, set a goal, segment your audience, mobilize your supporters, and share your story. He also shared the significance of goal setting and collaboration. He emphasized that fundraising should be easy and engaging and to be creative while in the process.

Jones shared his final piece of advice: “People want to support you. Let them.”

TCC has many Nonprofit Summit Supporters including the United Way South Hampton Roads, Hampton Road Community Foundation, ODU: Monarch Humanities Internship Academy, Towne Bank, Association of Fundraising Professionals VA: Hampton Roads Chapter, The Curtis Group, Network Peninsula, and Nisenson Consulting.

To learn more about TCC’s Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, visit https://academy.tcc.edu for more information.

Virginia’s House Speaker Don Scott Honors Black History Month with Inspiring Address

Tidewater Community College’s Student Life Committee closed Black History Month 2025 on Wednesday afternoon, February 26 at the Portsmouth Campus Student Center. The Virginia Speaker of the House, Don Scott, served as the keynote speaker to discuss workforce development and shared his story of his rise to earning a spot in the Virginia House of Delegates. TCC students, faculty, staff, and the public were invited to attend the keynote speaker presentation, “African Americans and Labor: Resilience, Innovation, and Empowerment” which included a networking lunch.

TCC’s Associate Vice President for Professional Development Solutions with Workforce Solutions, Kodi Fleming, was onstage with Speaker Scott to discuss workforce development and the industry within our area. Speaker Scott said he is pushing for paid internships and workforce employees’ access to quality training. He praised TCC for providing resources and opportunities for people to earn a certification and go into the workforce with skills that can help them succeed in multiple fields.

In Scott’s keynote speech, he shared about his upbringing with his single mother and siblings in Houston, Texas. Scott attended Texas A&M University and graduated with a degree in agriculture. After earning his undergraduate degree, he served as a naval officer on the destroyer USS John Hancock. In 1994, he earned a law degree from Louisiana State University, hoping to continue into the legal world.

Around that time, Scott said he had many struggles and challenges which led him to serving time in prison. Throughout that time, he reconnected with his faith and felt guided in a better direction.

Scott said he cherishes the workforce development programs. His first job after prison was welding. In 2002, Scott joined the KRA Corporation, a workforce development company, working in case management followed by a promotion a year later to project manager. In 2005, Scott moved from Philadelphia, where he and his wife originally resided, to the Hampton Roads area. At that point, he was running the project and serving as the senior vice president at the firm.

In that decade, Scott addressed this part of his life as the period of “resilience” as he worked his way through a difficult time of his life, regaining his strength and identity as a person.

Scott spoke on how he reached a point where he wanted to be able to use his law degree and skills to contribute to making change in society. In 2014, he passed the Virginia bar exam and was licensed as an attorney in 2015. He opened his own firm where he took on criminal defense, family law, and civil cases. In 2022, Scott partnered with Breit Biniazan Trial Lawyers.

Scott said that “it’s easy to have a pity party” but people can “redefine” themselves like he did. He called this “innovation” because he was able to make a new name and story for himself.

Eventually, Scott stepped into politics. He ran in 2019 for the House of Delegates to represent the city of Portsmouth. He served as the minority leader from 2022 to 2024. In 2023, Scott was nominated unanimously by his caucus and became the first black Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates in history.

“Politics don’t matter, humanity is what matters,” Scott said.

In his time in politics, he has advocated for many important causes including criminal justice reform, economic development, affordable healthcare, and public education.

Scott spoke on “empowerment” as the last message to the TCC community. He encouraged people to speak up and not to be afraid to be their authentic self.

“People need to use their voice to speak up. Representation matters,” Scott said.

TCC Introduces Men’s Basketball Head Coach Clint Wright Sr.

Tidewater Community College introduced the college’s new men’s basketball Head Coach, Clint Wright Sr. to the TCC community and families at an athletics news conference at the Portsmouth Campus Student Center on Wednesday, February 12.

Wright is a Suffolk native and has over a decade of experience coaching at the high school level. He previously coached basketball at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Nansemond River High School, King’s Fork, and Lakeland High School in Suffolk before joining TCC as the men’s head coach.

Wright is honored to be a part of TCC athletics and this new milestone in the institution’s history, “I’m extremely excited for this opportunity. It’s one that I dare not take for granted. To be a high school coach and now a college coach is something that I’m just simply overjoyed with. I can’t wait to get with the kids at the four campuses to get those guys at the basketball gym and get some training going.”

Coach Wright gave props to his wife, Javonda, along with other family members and friends, for the overwhelming amount of support they have provided him during this career transition.

Chad Smith, TCC Athletic Director, welcomed Wright to the TCC Athletics program and applauded Wright on his most recent coaching success which was around the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright led Lakeland’s boys’ basketball team to the 2020 3A Region Championship as well as a state championship. The same year, he was selected as the 3A Region Coach of the Year.

Wright is also a former college-athlete, who graduated from Norfolk State University in 1991. He was a team member on the basketball team during the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Tournament Championship in 1990. He also played a huge role for the three South Atlantic Region berths for the Spartans.

Wright remembers his time as a student-athlete and how special it was for his personal and professional growth. He wants to be able to give back and serve as mentor to his student-athletes.

“I want to establish some significant relationships, so they can do anything they want to do when they leave here. As we know, TCC is “From here, go anywhere,” Wright said.

TCC will join the Region 10 conference of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and compete against other two-year colleges in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia starting in the 2025-2026 academic year. TCC will be the largest community college in Virginia to offer competitive athletics.

TCC’s president, Marcia Conston, is excited to have a competitive athletics program added to the college.

“The advantages of an affordable higher education experience coupled with an engaging athletics program are something students in our region deserve. We are eager to see all of the doors that will open for our students and community as a result,” Conston said.

The college’s StormBird mascot was unveiled, embracing and evolving the former STORM identity. The StormBird will make its debut when competition begins this fall. Game schedules, ticket information, and TCC Storm merchandise details will be announced in the coming months.

More information about TCC’s new athletics program is available online at tcc.edu/sports or by following TCC athletics on Instagram at TCCStormSports.