Professional and Community Affiliations
It's impossible to operate any business in a vacuum. TLD is active in a diverse group of organizations some of which are highlighted below. We encourage you to visit the websites of these organizations or contact us if you have any questions about our involvement with them.
Professional Trade Affiliation
The American Society for Training & Development is the world's largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. ASTD's 70,000 members and associates come from more than 100 countries and thousands of organizations--multinational corporations, medium-sized and small-businesses, government, academia, consulting firms, and product and service suppliers. ASTD is the voice of the profession, provides resources to professionals, brings learning professionals together, offers professional development, and recognizes and sets the standard for best practices.
TLD has been involved with ASTD for nearly 20 years. Toni Duval was President of the Smoky Mountain chapter in 1995 and attends the annual national conference as well as local chapter events. Associates who work with TLD are encouraged to join ASTD and prior to conducting any TLD learning event are certified as TLD facilitators using ASTD learning model benchmarks.
Community Involvement
Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, organization dedicated to eliminating substandard housing and homelessness worldwide and to making adequate, affordable shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat is founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a simple, decent, affordable place to live in dignity and safety.
We build simple, decent, affordable homes in partnership with those in need. Volunteers and the future homeowners provide the labor in building the homes. Tax deductible donations of money, land and materials are provided by individuals, organizations and corporations.
Qualified families contribute 500 hours of "sweat equity" by working on the job-site, attending one year of budget classes and participating in home maintenance and construction programs. With a $900 closing fee, families then purchase the homes with 20-30 year, 0% interest mortgages. Their monthly payments go into a revolving fund to help provide for the construction of additional homes.
As a member of the Knoxville Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors, Toni Duval has become actively involved with the Family Partnership committee which involves conducting home visits of prospective applicants and conducting workshops for future homeowners. In addition, she conducts staff development and board workshops.
Minority Supplier Council Affiliations
Providing a direct link between corporate America and minority-owned businesses is the primary objective of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, one of the country's leading business membership organizations. It was chartered in 1972 to provide increased procurement and business opportunities for minority businesses of all sizes.
The NMSDC Network includes a National Office in New York and 39 regional councils across the country. There are 3,500 corporate members throughout the network, including most of America's largest publicly-owned, privately-owned and foreign-owned companies, as well as universities, hospitals and other buying institutions. The regional councils certify and match more than 15,000 minority owned businesses (Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American) with member corporations which want to purchase goods and services.
TLD is certified with two regional councils in Tennessee and Florida, sponsors and exhibits at regional and national trade fairs, and actively recruits and encourages MBE certification. Toni Duval was a consultant to the Knoxville branch of Tennessee Minority Supplier Development Council from 1997-2000.
TMSDC is an active council that acts as an advocate by assisting corporations implement effective supplier diversity programs to diversify their supplier base. TMSDC is a catalyst and makes business introductions between MBEs and corporations. And as an educator, TMSDC provides training programs, awards and recognition programs, as well as a scholorship program. Annual events include trade fairs in Nashville and Knoxville, awards and scholarship dinner, and golf tournament.
