The Links Fort Lauderdale

 Program Facets

 The Fort Lauderdale Chapter of the Links, Incorporated has been engaged in many community programs over the years through the four facets of services, which are: The Arts, Services to Youth, National Trends and Services, and International Trends and Services. These programs have provided many activities for the Broward County community dwellers. Some community initiatives and involvements are:

The Arts

The Arts Facet Committee championed and/or supported the following:

1. King Tut Exhibition with Heir-O Links and White Rose Honorees.
    
2. Sponsor of opening reception of Highwaymen, Florida's African American Landscape Painters by Gary Monroe at the Museum of Art.
    
3. Musical and Stage presentations in both Broward and Dade counties.
    
4. Walking Fete to Better Health Art Drawings with high school students.
    
5. Queen Diana Exhibit at the Museum of Art.
    

Services to Youth

Service to Youth Facet Committee championed and/or supported the following: 

1. Annual signature program—"White Rose Honorees," which honors local high school seniors for academic achievement, leadership, and community service. Honorees participate in a series of workshops that help prepare them for life after high school and future careers. This program also provides support for those honorees that vie for the Miami Herald's Silver Knight Award. More than $95,000 in scholarships has been awarded to these honorees since inception of this program. Approximately $60,000 has been awarded to deserving graduating seniors over the past four years.
    
2. Sponsorship of the Kid's Vote Broward, Voter Education Project. Chapter members participate by working at precincts and demonstrating the voting process to students who come to the polls with their parents.
    
3. Ugandan Children's Foundation through sponsorship of the award winning Ugandan Tour of Light at the Broward Performing Arts Center.
    
4. Collaboration with Broward Community College and the Brotherhood of Man Lecture series, giving local youth the opportunity to be involved in workshops and presentations featuring notables such as: Tony Brown, Vinnette Carroll, Nikki Giovanni, Alex Haley, Roosevelt Grier and others.
    
5. The Fort Lauderdale Chapter of The Links, Incorporated published Black Pioneers in Broward Counter - A Legacy Reveal 1976.
    
6. Provided tutoring in the evenings for students of parents in the Community School Adult Program at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School.
    
7. Provided books for and reading to students at Central Charter School.
    
8. Provided about 100 lunches for students on Spring Break who helped to build homes for Habitat for Humanity in Broward County.
    
9. Participated and supported the Annual Community Kwanza festival.
    
    

   International Trends and Services

International Trends and Services Facet Committee championed and/or supported the following events and activities:

1. In response to the Southern Area's initiative, developed the Fort Lauderdale Links International Scholars Endowment Fund and on March 24, presented to President Albert Smith of Florida Memorial University, a contract for the total Endowment of $10,000, and the first check of $1,000. This Endowment is provided for students to apply and receive over the next ten-year period.
    
2. International HIV/AIDS Project through funds allowed promoting more awareness of this project through high school graduating seniors, and participation in the annual ML King Community Celebration parade and HIV/AIDS workshops at the African.
    
3. Haitian Project – Provided support and housing for a young Haitian woman who was enslaved by a local family as reported by the local Sun Sentinel News Paper. Chapter members became surrogate parents through counseling and general support .
    
4. Sponsorship of the Haitian Relief Program in collaboration with the L. A. Lee Branch of the YMCA.
    
5. Purchased a number of African water wells through Africare. Financial support for the Rwanda (Africa) National Links School in a Box Project, which provides school supplies for Rwandan Children.

National Trends and Services

National Trends and Services Facet Committee championed and/or supported the following events and activities:

1. Chapter members conducted Health Challenge Educational Programs at various sites in the community. Youth were made aware of risks of obesity and given information to help them develop more healthy eating habits, Additionally, the members of the Fort Lauderdale Chapter of the Links,Inc. conducted the Health Challenge Educational Program to combat Childhood Obesity.
2. An annual signature program: In collaboration with the Broward County Sickle Cell Disease Association, sponsor a Walk-A-Thon that raises funds for the Links Foundation National Health Initiatives and the local Sickle Cell Disease Association. Funds are equally divided between the two organizations.
    
3. Financial support for the "Feed the Homeless Program" that is sponsored by First Baptist Church Piney Grove.
    
4. Provided financial support for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life Program.
5. Provided financial support for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
6.  Working as members of the Millennium Quilting Circle, the Broward County Historical Commission. Involvement in the quilting circle enabled the chapter to include vital historical information and landmarks of the local African American community on the Millennium Quilt and making quilts for Habitat for Humanity home that is completed here in Broward County.
7.  Support for Women in Distress, as financial support to the organization, as gifts and food for clients and their children.
8. NAACP Life Membership and additional financial support for NAACP Legal Defense Educational Fund.

Other community services and projects sponsored by The Fort Lauderdale Chapter are the following:

1. Sponsor annually an Anniversary Luncheon that brings speakers and personalities of national prominence to the community. Proceeds from this event are used to fund local projects. Recent speakers have included: Congresswoman Carrie Meek, Tavis Smiley, Susan Taylor, Lynn Whitfield and Attalah Shabazz and others.
    
2. Financial support for the construction of the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. The chapter donated $50,000 to the project in memory of the late Kathleen Cooper Wright, civic activist, child advocate, and the first African American to hold a countywide office—member of the School Board of Broward County, Florida.
    
3. Provided clothes for students and parents of students at Sunland Park Elementary.
    
4. Provided financial support to the United Negro College Fund.
    
5. Financial support for "Friends of Children," an organization that works to save teenagers who are severely "at risk."
    
6. Published a hardbound documentary entitled Black Pioneers in Broward County: A Legacy Revealed, 1976.
    
7. Hurricane Katrina: Responded to this tragedy included a Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund to assist displaced evacuees. The Links, Incorporated also partnered with the Children’s Defense Fund, Women of the Storm, and The Links Foundation to respond to the needs of displaced victims and support of Universities in the area.

The program facets and activities of The Links, Incorporated are implemented through strategies such as public information and education, economic development and public policy campaigns.