The Links, Incorporated

The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of 12,000 professional women of color in 280 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.

The members of The Links, Incorporated are influential decision makers and opinion leaders. The Links, Inc. has attracted many distinguished women who are individual achievers and have made a difference in their communities and the world. They are business and civic leaders, role models, mentors, activists and volunteers who work towards a common vision by engaging like-minded organizations and individuals for partnership. Links members contribute more than 500,000 documented hours of community service annually – strengthening their communities and enhancing the nation. The organization is the recipient of awards from the UN Association of New York and the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation for its premier programs.

The outstanding programming of The Links, Incorporated has five facets which include National Trends and Services, The Arts, Services to Youth, International Trends and Services and Health and Human Services. The programs are implemented through strategies such as public information and education, economic development, and public policy campaigns.

http://www.linksinc.org

EASTERN AREA

In 1954, when the Links decentralized into four geographical Areas, the Philadelphia Chapter became the anchor for the Eastern Area. The Eastern Area is comprised of 73 chapters in the states of Connecticut, Delaware. District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. At the 1949 national meeting, the Executive Council named coordinators to supervise chapters in defined boundaries. In 1952, each Area held an Area meeting and elected a director. Eastern named Madeline Broadus from the Central Jersey Chapter as the first Eastern Area Director, and it subsequently chose 15 others, including the latest Area Director Dianne S. Hardison, Old Dominion (VA) Chapter.