Western Reserve (OH) Chapter Links, Incorporated, 30th Anniversary Program 2017

6. Camille A. Brown’s BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play embodies all of the movement languages that have been rooted in the African American culture. Through a partnership with DANCE- Cleveland, Western Reserve (OH) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated assisted in funding and providing young dancers from the Cleve- land School of the Arts and the Inner City Ballet an opportunity to participate in a master class lesson with professional male and female dancers from CAB. We helped to shape the choreography of the dance through partici- pating in the research with Camille A. Brown, a prolific and award-winning choreographer.

The impact lead to a new body of work about the lives of Black girls -- BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play. On November 14, 2015, we supported the Cleveland production of this dance at the Hanna Theatre where we generated 20% of the audience (100 people). We invited girls (and a few boys); each youth was accompanied by a parent or an adult mentor. This audience pair was able to see the dance, participate in a talk-back session im- mediately following the production, and share in an on-going dialogue about the messages in the dance production.

INTERNATIONAL TRENDS AND SERVICES FACET expands the global platform for programs designed and developed to service the educational, health and cultural needs of people of African descent throughout the world. All programmatic components of the facet are delivered through measurable and sustainable service delivery methods that reach women and their families. The foremost goal of the International Trends and Services facet is to provide opportunities for tangible service in other countries. Our “boots on the ground” approach provides for more personalized methods for assisting and improving the lives of men, women, and children worldwide through long-term programs committed to empowerment and public policy leadership in advocating for social justice.

7. The Lost Boys of Sudan Project, a drive to support the thirty-eight young men, orphaned by a fourteen-year civil war in the Sudan, who were brought to Cleveland by the Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services to rebuild their lives. Western Reserve Link members, with the assistance of Catholic Charities and Sudanese representatives, completed a needs assessment to collect critically-needed items to supply “Arrival Survival Kits”. 8. Western Reserve Links supported the Books for Africa Library Project, an on-going effort to establish libraries in rural areas of Ghana. We worked directly with the Chief Execu- tive Officer and organizations founder, Hilda Bromley to deliver over 800 books to Ghana for this project. 9. St. Jude School, Kampala, Uganda, a partner- ship with St. Jude School in Kampala, Uganda; the Community Support for Capacity Develop- ment (CSCD); Dr. Margaret Musoke Bukenya; and Empowering Parent/Guardians for Quality Childcare to provide hygiene and educational

kits to approximately 400 young boys and girls, grades 1 through 7 who attend the only public school in Kampala. Each child received a kit in a tote with the joint logos of The Links, Incorporated, Western Reserve (OH) Chapter, St. Jude’s Primary School and Warner Girls’ Leadership Academy. The partnership also included a “pen pal” program between 60 of the girl students at St. Jude’s and the fourth and fifth grade students from Warner Girls’ Leadership Academy. 10. The Western Reserve [OH] Chapter has committed to a five-year transformational program to support St. Mary’s Preparatory and Kindergarten School (St. Mary’s Prep), which is in Montpelier, St. James Parish, Jamaica. In October 2016, six members of the chapter went to the school to implement a modified-version of the Read, Write and Illustrate! Program, which is a language arts skills development program, to help sixth- grade students prepare for the Grade Six Admissions Test (GSAT). The chapter has committed over $30,000 to support this international program.

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