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

19. Hathaway Brown Aspire Program. Western Reserve (OH) Chapter partnered with Hathaway Brown School to provide support and mentoring to adolescent girls with limited opportunities. The Aspire Program is a tuition-free academic and leader- ship program that connects Hathaway Brown School with under-resourced public schools around Cleveland. The program targets high achieving girls limited in opportunity because of low family income and lack of exposure to higher education. 20. Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Youth Football Team. The Western Reserve (OH) Chapter partnered with Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority to provide monetary support for the Youth Football Team Awards Banquet. Additionally, the Chapter provided each participant with the book “By My Brother’s Side” written by National Football League players, Tiki and Ronde Barber. 21. Confronting the Achievement Gap Forum. The Western Reserve (OH) and The Cleveland Chapters of The Links, Incorporated partnered with The Kettering Foundation to present a public forum focused on Confronting the Achievement Gap. This Education Linkages Signature Project brought together over 125 educators, parents, students and community stakeholders to collectively raise the level of discussion on this critical issue in our community. Sponsors included Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, Alcoa Cleveland Works, Pearson Curriculum Group, Cuyahoga Community College, and the Washington Koen Media. 22. Achieving the Dream, Incorporated (ATD) is a multi-year national initiative between ATD and The Links, Incorporated designed to ensure the success of students who attend community colleges. ATD is particularly con- cerned with student groups that traditionally have faced significant barriers to success, i.e., students of color and those from low-income families. The Western Reserve (OH) and Cleveland Chapters of The Links, Incorporated partnered with Cuyahoga Community College

and implemented a year-long mentoring program for first generation students to help them acclimate to college life. 23. Cleveland Alumnae Chapter of Spelman College Scholarship Luncheon. The chapter donated $1,000 so that ten students plus their parents could participate in the event, which was held May 3, 2014. The students (and their parents) could see other young women like themselves going to college and becoming successful. 24. Heir-o-Link, Jillian Wilkerson’s Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Literacy Library. When Heir-O-Link Jillian Wilkerson was a Junior at Hawken School, she had an idea of how she could impact the achievement gap by giving African American youth access to books and encouraging them to experience the joy of reading. She sought donations of new or gently used books, on subjects such as religion and the experiences of African-Amer- icans, for youth through age 18. She also want- ed the classics in the collection, along with books that adults could read to children. The library would also be a resource for Olivet’s afterschool tutoring program. In March 2015, the Western Reserve (OH) Chapter donated $1,000 to support Jillian’s vision of a literacy library for youth by purchasing books; chapter members also donated books. She collected over 500 books and monetary contributions. 25. Delta Teacher Efficacy Campaign (DTEC) “A Call to Action.” On October 24, 2015, members of the Western Reserve (OH) Chapter joined the Greater Cleveland Alumnae Chapter of The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and other community leaders for a town hall meeting about enhancing the effectiveness and efficacy of OUR classroom teachers. The most important factor in a student’s success is the person standing in front of the classroom. Teachers Believing = Students Achieving. Lessons learned from this symposium will be shared with the Growing Leaders during a visioning session on Greatness.

11