ABOUT US
ABOUT THE LINKS, INCORPORATED
The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946 by Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott. The membership consists of more than 17,000 professional women of African descent in 299 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. 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.
To learn about the links, incorporated, please visit the national website.
OUR HISTORY
The journey of the Greater Bronx (NY) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated began more than 15 years before its official charter when a group of passionate, civic minded women envisioned a better future for the borough.
In the spring of 1998, Rev. Ann DuBuisson Hare called upon Cheryl Rose Simmons-Oliver to help organize a new community group rooted in the ideals of friendship and service. The eager ladies were informally guided by Joan Stukes and Jewel R. H Moolenaar-Marsh of the Greater Hudson Valley (NY) Chapter. During the group’s early days on the path to Linkdom, these prominent women also introduced Ms. Simmons-Oliver to Past Eastern Area Director Betty King Obiajulu of the Greater New York Chapter.
Forty-seven women attended the first informal meeting at The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College later that year. The group, composed mostly of educators, agreed that pedagogy was a cornerstone of community uplift and opted to tackle childhood literacy. They began to tutor P.S./I.S. 218 students twice each week and strengthened their bond during several social activities. Although eager to proceed, the group’s journey to Linkdom was not completed at that time. Several of the interested women moved on – some joined previously established Links chapters, others relocated, and many elder members passed away. The original group may not have reached its ultimate goal, but fertile seeds were planted. The desire to make an impact in The Bronx through a chapter of The Links, Incorporated would grow for years to come.
In October 2012, Cheryl Rose Simmons-Oliver received a long-awaited and fateful call from Betty King Obiajulu; subsequently, the two met in November and December 2012 to discuss the bigger vision. Ms. Simmons-Oliver was once again charged with organizing a group of talented women who would become a formal interest group of The Links, Incorporated.
On February 26, 2013, thirteen women assembled at CUNY Hostos for the first official meeting of what would become the Bronx Women’s Service League (BWSL). Over the next year, BWSL expanded its membership through the bonds of friendship including Juanita Shell-Peterson from the original 1998 group, and focused on the important business of service to the borough. The group’s flagship umbrella program , “Fit Families for the Future” was launched to combat the dire systemic health conditions facing Bronx residents of African descent. The women leveraged their diverse backgrounds and a burgeoning rapport with its community partner, Mind Builders Creative Arts Center, to address a community suffering under crushing rates of childhood obesity and asthma, a “food desert” with a daunting concentration of fast food establishments, and minimal access to affordable quality healthcare. BWSL was granted chapter-elect status by The Links, Incorporated on April 18, 2014 following the loving mentorship of Betty King Obiajulu and Chapter Establishment co-chairs Sandra Dorset Malone and Jeannine Quick-Fraser.
The Greater Bronx (NY) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated was chartered and welcomed into Linkdom on May 31, 2014.