Detroit, MI –

On March 10th of this year, The Links Incorporated celebrated it’s 70th year of serving Detroit and the surrounding area. Founded in 1946 (the Detroit chapter was founded in 1951) The Links Incorporated is a service organization that empowers women of African decent to achieve their goals and further the community through civic, educational, and cultural initiatives. Comprised of over 16,000 women from all over the country, The Links Incorporated has quietly had an impact helping young women to do great things in their lives, all without much national media attention.

Every year, these women commit to collectively volunteer 1 million hours of their time to improve their communities. Members include CEOs, executives, business owners, and medical professionals – not generally people who would have much free time. Though, as successful women, they know how important it is to give back and what kind of challenges our communities face. Their solutions to some of these challenges include a partnership with the TRiO Upward Bound program and the University of Detroit Mercy, which has allowed Links members to provide academic enrichment, career exposure and mental health support to potential first-generation college students; and the sponsorship of a leadership camp presented by Figure Skating in Detroit, an organization for girls of color that combines education with the artistic discipline of figure skating.

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, local chapter president Therese Peace Agboh explained “With the help of partners like the Motown Museum and the Michigan Opera Theatre, we are able to expose our youth to the arts and different career paths, which helps to expand their minds. We also had a police officer, an attorney and a judge speak to our young people about how to handle a traffic stop safely because we want to prevent our youth from becoming statistics…It all shows the commitment of our members — including our charter and alumnae members — along with the commitment of our sponsors to our youth and community.”

Each member is a link in a chain of success that reaches back over 70 years to the founding of the chapter. And though Detroit has had it’s ups and downs over the years, this group of women is proving that through community, we can persevere through the tough times and come out better on the other side.

Well, isn’t that nice?