Matthew M. CoatsOutstanding Alumni Brother of the Year · Electronic Evidence Book
ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC.
THETA ZETA LAMBDA CHAPTERELECTRONIC EVIDENCE BOOK
Build Leaders.
Strengthen Families.
Empower Communities.
Documented leadership, service, program development, resource stewardship, and community impact during the 2025–2026 award period.
Identify the need. Organize people and resources. Deliver measurable impact. Build the system so the work can continue.
Competition Materials
Open the evidence book, executive summary, competition display, speaking guide, checklist, specifications, and official handbook from one place.
Final Headline Results
The grant total overlaps with program revenue: the $5,100 AAACF grant is already included in the $26,707.20 revenue figure, so the two headline totals are not added together.
Judge Roadmap
The final competition board presents three focus areas while the Executive Judging Book maps the record to all eight scored award criteria. Use this page as the digital route from result to supporting evidence.
Current-year accomplishments and evidence are emphasized throughout. Historical recognition appears only under Active Participation because that scored category specifically requires years of active Alpha participation with documentation.
Operating Architecture
The final judging book documents 31 supporting operating systems: CEI backbone (6), ELMP (10), Caring & Sharing (7), TZL Empower (7), and Power of Nine (1).
National-program alignment: Build Leaders → ELMP → Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College + Project Alpha™; Strengthen Families → Caring & Sharing → A. Charles Haston Brother's Keeper; Empower Communities → TZL Empower → A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People (VPHP).
Umbrella Organization
Governance, financial stewardship, performance management, partnerships, three-pillar coordination, and five-site digital program infrastructure.
Pillar 1 · Build Leaders
Two workbooks carry leadership and service through four age pathways, supported by mentoring, tutoring, verified progress and family communication.
Pillar 2 · Strengthen Families
Referral review, family support, Senior Connection/A. Charles Haston Brother's Keeper, Food Gatherers food access, seasonal operations, privacy, and impact tracking.
Pillar 3 · Empower Communities
TZL Empower is Theta Zeta Lambda's local delivery framework for A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People (VPHP). Nonpartisan civic education, seven-area deployment, precinct measurement, election-cycle operations, team structure, quality control, and after-action improvement.
Collaborative Literacy
Collaborative literacy planning, implementation, and follow-through across the Divine Nine partnership without creating a fourth CEI pillar.
Rubric Category 1
Leadership roles are presented here once. The operating systems created through those roles are documented under Category 6.
Led board activation, governance, strategic planning, resource development, accountability, and the connected three-pillar operating model.
Provides overall vision, risk oversight, program quality, family and partner coordination, curriculum direction, finances, and long-range planning.
Coordinates family support, food access, partnerships, Senior Connection/A. Charles Haston Brother's Keeper, referrals, service operations, and follow-through.
Supports the current civic education strategy, operating framework, public communications, quality controls, community outreach, and measurable implementation.
The work connects youth development, family support, civic education, literacy, partnerships, financial stewardship, and evidence-based reporting instead of operating as isolated projects.
Rubric Category 2
Resource Development
Community economic development through resource development, civic leadership, workforce readiness, service foundations, partnerships, and sustainable support.
Rubric Category 2 · Continued
Documented partnership planning connects food access, service, and responsible stewardship.
Caring & Sharing advanced its food-access work into the YCMS Healthy School Pantry partnership with Food Gatherers. The September 25, 2026 kickoff brought volunteers, YCMS staff and youth leaders together to launch year-round pantry service with dignity, choice, and care. This expands family support beyond seasonal basket distributions while reinforcing coordinated volunteer service and responsible food-access stewardship.
$50.39 baseline retail cost per basket → $22.45 projected retail cost per basket under current Food Gatherers coverage assumptions. For 50 planned baskets, the model projects $1,397 in savings per major distribution and $4,191 across three planned events.
Planning estimates only. Actual savings depend on Food Gatherers availability, donated quantities, and other donor support; these figures are not presented as realized savings.
Rubric Category 3
Current evaluation-period awards and achievements, listed with documentation.
Recognized by Theta Zeta Lambda Chapter for outstanding service during the current fraternal year.
Two Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation grants supported ELMP youth leadership and continued program growth.
The "Reading Together, Leading Together" effort was featured in the inaugural national NPHC Stronger Together newsletter.
Rubric Category 4
The evaluation sheet specifically states: list active participation with documentation; this is not simply length of membership.
Documented chapter service recognition.
Documented service and support to Theta Zeta Lambda Chapter.
Documented recognition for commitment and dedicated chapter service.
Current-year recognition paired with active leadership across CEI, ELMP, Caring & Sharing, and TZL Empower.
Highest-Value Rubric Category · One Mission. Three Pillars. Four National Programs.
TZL Community & Education Initiative organizes Alpha's four National Programs through the three existing service pillars rather than creating parallel programs. The local program and its national-program alignment are shown together below.
Local delivery: ELMP integrates academic support, mentoring, tutoring, Life Plan development, college/career exposure, scholarship awareness, résumé preparation, and readiness experiences.
Open ELMP →Local delivery ages 8–17: ELMP intentionally begins age-appropriate Project Alpha education earlier than the national 12–15 target range because youth encounter relevant information, pressures, relationships, and decisions at younger ages. Responsibility, healthy choices, communication, respect, and sound decision-making are integrated throughout ELMP.
Open ELMP →Local delivery: Caring & Sharing's Senior Connection and widow/senior support provide structured contact, need identification, assigned follow-up, and documented closure within the broader family-care model.
Open Caring & Sharing →Local delivery: TZL Empower is Theta Zeta Lambda's local delivery framework for VPHP—not a separate national-program track. It carries voter education, civic awareness, forums, verified public information, outreach, and informed participation.
Documented examples: Alpha Day at the Capitol (June 11, 2026 · Book pp. 55–56), Public Power ballot education (September 23, 2026 · Book pp. 57–58), and the Community Conversation with State Representative Jimmie Wilson, Jr. (September 28, 2026 · Book pp. 57–58).
Open TZL Empower →EMPOWER COMMUNITIES · TZL Empower · Local Delivery of A Voteless People Is a Hopeless People (VPHP)
Local-to-national alignment: TZL Empower is Theta Zeta Lambda's local delivery framework for VPHP. Documented civic participation includes Alpha Day at the Capitol · June 11, 2026 (Judging Book pp. 55–56) and two completed civic-learning engagements preserved at Judging Book pp. 57–58.
6:30–7:45 PM · Online · League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County
I attended the forum, examined competing perspectives, and prepared a nonpartisan community synopsis covering cost, reliability, governance, financing, clean energy, and the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU).
7:00–8:00 PM · Ypsilanti Senior Center · Zoom option available
Attendance is documented through the official event notice, the Zoom-link email sent directly to Matthew Coats by Rep. Wilson's office, and a live Zoom screenshot captured during the session.
Community value: These engagements support access to verified public information, community dialogue, and informed civic participation without endorsing a candidate, party, or ballot position. TZL Empower is presented as an attending civic-education initiative, not the organizer or sponsor of the September 28 event.
Rubric Category 6
Operating Systems
Thirty-one systems are grouped here once to eliminate duplication. The new ELMP workbooks make this concrete: four age pathways, increasing leadership challenge and adult-verified service evidence. Future Brothers can operate and expand the program using shared tools.
Rubric Category 6 · Operating-System Inventory
Part of the final 31-system inventory documented in the Executive Judging Book.
Criterion 6 · ELMP Innovation and Continuity
The program can be run from shared lessons, coaching prompts, reflections and review standards. The older the Esquire, the greater the challenge and responsibility.
Age-specific monthly lessons, leadership practice, mentor circles, service reflections and a record of personal growth.
Open complete workbook · 69 pages12 badge categories. Four criteria per badge. Evidence, reflection and approved adult verification before a badge is earned.
Open complete workbook · 58 pages| Age group | Service badge example | Leadership responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| 6-8 | 2 activities · 3 hours | Guided helper or leadership role |
| 9-11 | 3 activities · 6 hours | Leadership or team responsibility |
| 12-14 | 3 activities · 8 hours | Lead or co-lead a service component |
| 15-17 | 4 activities · 12 hours | Plan, lead or coordinate a component |
All four pathways require reflection and adult verification. Staff can expand activities as needs change while keeping leadership, service and evidence expectations clear.
Rubric Category 6 · Operating-System Inventory
Part of the final 31-system inventory documented in the Executive Judging Book.
Rubric Category 6 · Operating-System Inventory
Part of the final 31-system inventory documented in the Executive Judging Book.
Rubric Category 7
The final display is a 48 x 36 freestanding three-panel board using a 12 / 24 / 12 layout, designed for a single-table footprint and matched to the evidence routes in the 89-page judging book.
Three-panel display: 12-inch left wing, 24-inch center panel, and 12-inch right wing.
Board callouts point judges to the matching pages in the final 89-page Executive Judging Book.
Production specifications call for black Gatorboard/Gatorfoam with clean edges and a non-glare matte finish.
Plan around the smaller 30 x 60 table footprint, with both wings angled inward for stability and viewing.
Rubric Category 8
Close with purpose, ownership, measurable results, and sustainability - then answer from the evidence.
During the 2025-2026 program year, I focused on creating systems that will continue to serve our community beyond one term of service. Through mentoring young men, supporting families, expanding civic education, developing partnerships, and establishing the TZL Community & Education Initiative, I worked to build sustainable structures that strengthen our chapter's impact for years to come.
Why did you do it?
To expand Alpha's ability to serve youth, families, Brothers, widows, and residents with consistency, accountability, and measurable follow-through.
What changed?
CEI and its three pillars gained documented workflows for governance, safety, mentoring, tutoring, family referrals, Senior Connection, civic outreach, measurement, and quality control.
What lasts?
Two workbooks that guide leadership and service across four age groups, with increasing challenge and verified evidence, alongside governance, trained people, partnerships and five public-access websites.
Judge Evidence Index
Evidence routing has been audited against all 89 judging-book pages. This index prioritizes the core records that verify leadership, operating systems, financial stewardship, program alignment, and measurable community service.
Judge Evidence Index · Continued
Supporting financial, service, partnership, recognition, and rubric records.
Outstanding Alumni Brother of the Year
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. · Theta Zeta Lambda Chapter
Purpose → Action → Proof → Sustainability