President’s Message for 2011-2012
On behalf of the almost 400 members of the Huntsville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., I am delighted to welcome you to our informative website. This website serves two purposes. One is to keep our community informed of our local programs and projects and the other is for our internal membership information. We hope that if you do not already know about Delta, you will check here periodically to see what we are doing in the Huntsville-Madison community. We created this website to keep our community informed of the extraordinary public service projects and programs that we offer throughout the year!
Our sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 at Howard University in Washington, D. C by twenty-two young African-American women who wanted to make a difference in their community. Those 22 founders started a rich tradition of promoting personal excellence and social progress that continues today. We are following in their footsteps, almost 98 years later. As we continue their legacy, we strive to empower our members to make a difference in this community. This is even more important to us all as we approach our Centennial anniversary in 2013. One of the highlights of our celebration will be the total number of community service hours we have accumulated in pursuit of our goal to provide the best programs we can in support of the youth of our community. Locally this Delta chapter has been serving the community since 1954 when we were chartered on the campus of Alabama A & M as an alumnae chapter. Since that time we have now grown to a chapter of almost 400 members strong. We are professional women such as educators, engineers, business owners, doctors, lawyers, dentists, realtors, politicians, and others , just to name a few.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority has a five point program thrust to include the following:
• Economic Development
• Educational Development
• International Awareness and Involvement
• Physical and Mental Health
• Political Awareness and Involvement
In the area of economic development, we provide information throughout the community on financial education such as how to build wealth and financial security by understanding the basic principles of earning, spending, saving and investing. We are also tasked with paving the way for sorors, family and friends and the African American community to achieve the dream of homeownership, as well as living in your home and keeping your home.
One of our strongest areas is the area of educational development. In this area, one of our signature programs in the Delta Betty Shabazz Academy, which is an educational program for at-risk young girls between the ages of 11 to 14. The program offers mentoring, educational activities, and service learning opportunities to the participants. The Delta Academy program’s major emphasis is mathematics, science and technology and helps young girls to excel and want to pursue careers in these areas. Anchored on the basic tenants of the sorority, sisterhood, scholarship and service, the Delta Academy also features a book club for the girls and a health education component that imparts awareness of the HIV/Aids disease and a new module on parenting education to involve parents in the Delta Academy Program.
We also have a Delta GEMS Program (Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully), which targets girls between the ages of 14 to 18. The goals of the GEMS program is to provide tools that enables young ladies to sharpen and enhance their skills to achieve high levels of academic success, to assist girls in proper goal setting, decision making and planning for their future (high school, college and beyond); and to create compassionate, caring, community minded young women by actively involving them in service learning and community service opportunities. For the last few years we have done several joint community service projects with our Delta Academy, Delta GEMS, members of the local collegiate chapters (Delta Delta and Omicron Gamma), and our chapter to include the CASA Garden, Habitat for Humanity, the Manna House, and the Christian Women’s Job Corps.
We also recognize the plight of the young men in our community and even though we are an organization of females, we know we must do more to address this need within our community. We support our national’s newest educational initiative called EMBODI (Empowering Males to Build Opportunities for Developing Independence). We will be partnering with other local organizations and fraternities to implement our EMBODI program for our young teenage males here in the community. This summer we volunteered and supported our CAFY event which recently took place at the Jaycee Building encouraging various organizations and groups to come together in support of our youth.
Our chapter is known for its annual honor’s day convocation which recognizes over 300 high school students in our community who have achieved A/B honor roll status. This takes place every March. Check the website and with school counselors beginning in January to submit applications.
During our regional conference which was held here in Huntsville in 2009 we donated $8000 in school supplies and gift cards to our local school districts, Huntsville City, Madison and Madison County (Bridging the Gap).
We also award approximately $10,000 annually in scholarships to students attending Alabama A & M, UAH, J. F. Drake State Technical College and Calhoun.
In the area of International Awareness and Involvement our national organization has funded a Delta House in Swaziland in 2002 for children who have become orphans due to the outbreak of HIV/Aids. There is also a school for the physically disabled in South Africa which was adopted by Delta in 2001. Locally we participate in World Aids Day which is December 1. We also have supported the clean drinking water campaign for projects in Africa and recently in Haiti. We also adopted/sponsored a child through World Vision. Our International Day of Service takes place each year in March. The theme is “A Journey to Wellness” with an emphasis on the Fight on Obesity.
Physical and Mental Health: The theme is Healthy Lifestyle: The Total Woman, Mind, Body and Spirit. This is an initiative to address health issues disparately impacting the African American family such as heart disease. We are uniting with other chapters and organizations to participate in the 50 million pound challenge. Visit www.50millionpounds.com to join. In special recognition to our Founders walking for social justice the national organization rolled out its kick off on January 13, 2011, the founding day of our beloved sorority. This walk launched the initiative to get sorors motivated about moving and exercise. All members of our sorority are being asked to keep track of their exercise program and events focused on this initiative. The new competitive physical activity is entitled, “2013 by 2013.” Our goal is to walk 2012 miles by January 2013. The mileage walk is based on tabulated miles walked per soror in each chapter. Chapters are asked to include family members and community members in this challenge. We have line dancing classes each Tuesday at the Richard Showers Center from 6-7 pm, which are free and open to the public. We also participated in the Let’s Move Campaign this summer hosted by Radar Magazine at the Alabama A & M Fitness Center; featuring 100-200 of our local teens in a Beyonce video. “My Cry in the Dark” is a campaign designed to elevate awareness of the mental health disorders that families are facing such as anxiety, anger management, depression, stress management, and substance abuse. Our sorority is planning a women’s retreat in the spring in Puerto Rico to address these issues.
Political Awareness and Involvement/Social Action: Voter registration continues to be a priority to assure that all members of our community are registered and are able to vote. Our voices were heard in the last Presidential election and they need to be heard just as clearly in the upcoming election. With this economy in the current state we have to stay focused and cognizant of what decisions are being made locally, statewide and nationally by our elected officials. This can only be done through the power of voting!
As you can see, our chapter is very busy within this community! When we come to you with various fundraising projects it is to raise money to support these noteworthy projects and programs; as well as to fund our scholarships which are awarded each year. We invite you to visit our web site regularly for updates on these programs.
Jacqueline P. Wyse
22nd President-Huntsville Alumnae Chapter
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.