Washington, DC — The Northeast Region of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc will meet for its 70th Regional Conference Thursday, April 26 through Sunday, April 29, 2012 at the Omni Shoreham, located at 2500 Calvert Street, Washington, DC 20009. The Washington, DC community is invited to attend the region’s Public Meeting on Friday, April 27, 2012, 7:00pm-8:30pm in Blue Room of the Omni Hotel. The Region will host an Awards and Achievement Banquet on Saturday, April 28, 2012 from 7:30pm-10:00pm located in Blue Room of the Omni.

Attendees will learn how the sorority is making a difference globally as well as in the Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland communities by supporting the following:

• Military Families at Fisher House by donating gaming systems for their Family room.
• Phyllis Wheatley Young Women’s Christian Association by donating toiletry items for the residents and providing a monetary donation to the organization.
• Ronald McDonald House Charities with a donation of board games for the Family room. This is the second year that the Northeast Region of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc has supported Ronald McDonald.
• “Sigma on the Hill”, at Capitol Hill, in support of initiatives that important to the Sorority.

The Northeast Region Syntaktes (Director), Vanetta Cheeks Reeder, shares her excitement about this year’s conference in the Nation’s Capital. She welcomes the affiliates of Sigma, the Philos and Rhoers of the Northeast Region who “strengthen our foundation and keep us standing strong”. She believes “we are a team of women of all ages who are committed to making a difference in the world”. This event is being hosted by Phi Sigma Alumnae Chapter of Washington, DC and their undergraduates from Alpha Phi, Beta, and Omicron Phi chapters. The conference co-chairs are Mae Frances Frazier and Aida Dunn of Phi Sigma Alumnae Chapter.

Sigma Gamma Rho’s aim is to enhance the quality of life within the community. Public service, leadership development and education of youth are the hallmark of the organization’s programs and activities. Sigma Gamma Rho addresses concerns that impact society educationally, civically, and economically. Please visit www.sgrho1922.org for more information on the international organization and www.sgrhoneregion.com for more information about the Northeast Region. For media inquiries please contact Zaria Davis-Humphries at 704-380-1313 or by email at zdhumphries@salisburysgrho.com.

The Alpha Mu Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. won the 2011 Outstanding Alumni Chapter of the Year Award at its district convention in Johnson City.

The Knoxville chapter has been in existence since 1930. The criteria for the award is based on fraternity and community service, as well as developing programs and activities to promote education and awareness on several causes in the Knoxville area, including voter’s education, Go To High School Go To College and Project Alpha.

The chapter will represent the Tennessee District at the regional Alpha Phi Alpha convention in Columbia, S.C., in March.

For more information, visit http://alphamulambda.com.

The General Board of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., unanimously voted to authorize the Fraternity, in concert with the International President, to expel any member found guilty of hazing. The decision was made on January 7, 2012 at the winter of the General Board in Memphis, Tennessee.

International President Jimmy Hammock has expressed deep concern over the effects of hazing on the Fraternity: “There are members of Phi Beta Sigma, and other fraternities who have pretty much ignored the anti-hazing, no pledge policy for new membership intake, as state by the member organizations of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. Underground pledging has overshadowed a system designed to eliminate hazing and reduce the liability pledging and/or hazing has on Black Greek Letter Organizations. No one wants to be a called a “paper” brother, or to allow someone to “skate” into the fraternity, or be accused of being “soft”; so the madness continues. We must work to change this culture, by taking the lead on the enforcement of the anti-hazing policies set by all Black Greeks”

The General Board also unanimously adopted the following procedure measure to the expulsion process: After investigation by Regional Director, and upon the recommendation to the International President, members found guilty must receive notice via US mail to their known address. Members will be given 30 days to respond to that letter; if there is no response within this timeframe, then the General Board will expel the member(s) pending verification at the next Conclave.

These decisions are the beginning of a series of anti-hazing actions and initiatives implemented by the General Board. Members of Phi Beta Sigma will receive more information on risk management matters in the near future.

“Sigma will become the global brand reference for fraternities and community service organizations,” shares President Hammock. “A major threat to our brand today is the threat of hazing. We are determined to seriously address and eradicate this culture of hazing.”

In November 2010, I watched “HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” and saw a piece on the hazing antics at several historically black colleges and fraternities. I took to Twitter to share my thoughts on the issue.

Much of the report focused on Southern University, and man, did the floodgates open as a number of students from the university angrily tweeted me back, cussing, yelling and screaming, with some defending hazing, while others were angry at the national attention focused on their university.

For hours we went round and round, and were joined in the discussion by members of several black fraternities, including my own Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. A number of these individuals actually supported hazing, or “pledging hard” and not becoming a “paper” member who “skated” into the fraternity.

Despite the anger and vitriol, I refused to back down, making it clear that getting beaten for being in a band or fraternity was absolutely dumb.

Here was a young man who went off to college, planning to earn a college degree while leading one of the nation’s most colorful and exciting bands, only to be returned home to his parents in Georgia in a coffin.

While hazing immediately was suspected, we could only speculate about the cause of the 26-year-old’s death. That is, until Friday, when the medical examiner released details of his autopsy, concluding that Champion “collapsed and died within an hour of a hazing incident during which he suffered multiple blunt trauma blows to his body.”

News of the death has rocked the Florida A&M campus, angering its students and alumni, triggering multiple state investigations and leading Gov. Rick Scott to call for the suspension of school President James Ammons. That prompted FAMU students to march to the governor’s mansion on Friday and camp out on his lawn, demanding he rescind the resignation call.

Champion’s death isn’t the first time we have seen individuals in a band or fraternity die. It is incredible that some folks have given their lives — literally — for just being a part of a student group.

State laws have been passed, organizations have been kicked off campuses and national fraternal and sorority groups have paid millions in settlements because of hazing, but we continue to see these stories.

“Why?” is a consistent question that is asked, and at the end of the day, it boils down to power and a desire to demand others kowtow to someone else’s demands in order for them to be accepted.

A decision not to follow through means you can be ostracized, ignored and marginalized. That’s the last thing any young person wants to experience when in an organization.

Every one of these organizations is overseen by adult leaders or advisers. But in truth, fellow students run the show. Normally in a band, a drum major sits at the top of the food chain, but Champion clearly had to bend to the band’s culture to be fully accepted as a member of FAMU’s “Marching 100.”

So what you have is a bunch of students between the ages of 18 and 22 calling the shots and making it clear who is accepted and who isn’t, who gets in and who doesn’t. You aim to please them and no one else. Oftentimes they are leading based on how they were led, and it has been indoctrinated into them that this is the way of life, take it or leave it.

These are powerful forces that can only be changed by peers. Hazing will only be brought to a close when members of organizations make it clear the vile hazing traditions will not go forward. No one today can be hazed if the student leaders make it clear that it’s unacceptable. Yet because of the natural turnover in student organizations, that mindset has to be created and passed on for it to succeed.

When I was about to pledge Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. in spring 1989, I met with my four other pledge brothers and made it clear: I’m not getting hit, I will never use alcohol and I will not agree to be hazed.

Even though my older brother pledged the same fraternity at Texas A&M two years earlier without any nonsense, I was making it clear that such shenanigans were idiotic. All five of us agreed and in the four weeks, two days, 16 hours, 38 minutes and 39 seconds I was on line (yea, having to recite such specifics was a part of our process), the behavior that we often heard was associated with pledging didn’t exist.

Yet because of that, we weren’t always as accepted by other fraternity members at other campuses. Our chapter was called soft; we were criticized as not “pledging the right way” and had to constantly defend our manhood.

Me, I didn’t give a damn. I would look others in the eye and say, “In the history of our chapter, only one brother has failed to graduate, and we do nothing with him. Are you guys on the six- or seven-year plan, and can you match our graduate rate?”

From my perspective, we were supposed to be in college to graduate, not to pledge. And if my fraternity was founded as a study group at Cornell University on December 4, 1906, why would we eschew academics?

Even though we pledged the right way at Texas A&M, that peer pressure was still unbearable for some. That summer at our national convention in San Antonio, hazing was on the agenda, and I made it clear I was going to speak. Some other brothers in my chapter pulled my coattails and said, “Don’t tell the brothers you didn’t take any wood (that’s being paddled).”

I yelled, “If we pledged brothers the right way, why in the hell are we afraid to say it?”

Since those days, I’ve never wavered from my anti-hazing position. It is deplorable and shameful to think that someone would beat another person for them to prove something. Prove what? They can take a punch? No. I prefer to challenge his mind, his intellect.

Our goal as fraternity men is to take young men and mold and shape them to be better men. It is not our aim to take young men and train them to be collegiate mercenaries, hellbent on inflicting as much pain as they got onto the first person they have control over.

Is there tremendous value in fraternities, sororities, bands and student organizations? Absolutely. The leadership opportunities are tremendous, and the lifelong relationships are vital.

But what has to be preached and preached and preached to every student, whether they are white, black, Asian, Latino, male or female, is that if they love that frat, sorority, drill team or band, they shouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it for the next person.

Do we need tougher hazing laws? Yes. Do we need universities to take punitive action, including kicking students out who break the rules? Yes. Do we need national organizations to ban chapters for years for egregious behavior? Absolutely. Should fellow student leaders turn in others who break the rules and haze? Of course. There must be a zero tolerance attitude from every state official, administrator, student leader and organization member. To hell with tradition, rituals and “the way we do things.” All that must end. Now.

But we also must raise a generation of young people who have enough confidence in themselves to say, “I will not take a beating just to be accepted by you. I’d rather not have your affection or support if it means putting my life on the line.”

And if that means other students calling you out or teasing you, fine. I’d rather you talk about me like a dog today than be hazed and have my friends search to figure out what to say at my funeral.

Texas police on Friday released a composite sketch of a man they believe broke into the homes of four former members of the same sorority, then sexually assaulted them.

No name has been given for the suspect in the alleged break-ins and attacks, which took place between November 2010 and October 2011, according to a timeline from the Plano police.

Detectives, however, do have “a definite DNA profile on the suspect” after a crime lab report, the police statement noted.

Plano police in October released a video — dated in April — showing a man with a distinctive swagger who they believe is responsible. Snapshots from that video were distributed Friday.

The alleged assaults occurred in the cities of Plano, Coppell and Corinth, all suburbs of Dallas.

The alleged victims — all females in their mid-50s to mid-60s — were alumnae of the same predominantly African-American sorority: Delta Sigma Theta, according to police.

They offered similar descriptions of their assailant as being a black male in his late 30s to mid-40s, weighing from 275 to 300 pounds and standing between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall.

“He made it obvious to our victims that he knew information … about them personally,” Plano police spokesman Andre Smith said this fall, adding that none of the women believe they knew their attacker in advance.

According to Corinth Police Capt. Greg Wilkerson, all the assaults occurred in “residential settings” between 9:15 p.m. and 4 a.m. when the victims were alone. The alleged attack in his city, 35 miles northwest of Dallas, took place on October 14.

The late-night setting, the fact the victims were often asleep and the alleged assailant’s “attempts to conceal his identity” make it challenging to definitively identify the attacker, said Wilkerson.

Wilkerson said that the nature of the assaults suggest the alleged assailant was “possibly suspecting surveillance, spending some time around the areas … prior to the attacks.”

The police captain said authorities do not know how the suspect learned details of the victims, speculating it may have been over the internet, by accessing an old directory or noticing would-be victims with Delta Sigma Theta jewelry, placards or other paraphernalia out in public.

Delta Sigma Theta’s President Cynthia M.A. Butler-McIntyre this fall issued a statement urging members in the Dallas area to take precautions.

“To think that our members are being targeted is disturbing and extremely disheartening,” she said.

The-CNN-Wire/Atlanta/+1-404-827-WIRE(9473)

Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards is a man of his word. And because he is, 100 students are going to college on his dime. In 2007, Edwards promised 100 Cleveland high school students that he would pay for their college tuition—a total value of $1 million—if they maintained grade point averages at 2.5 or higher and performed 15 hours of community service. The students lived up to their end of the bargain, and now Edwards is living up to his end, according to CBSSports.com and the Detroit Free Press.

“As the 2nd most hated man in Clev & a man of my word, today I will honor a promise made to 100 students in Cleveland years ago,” Edwards tweeted. “The last of my Advance 100 students will graduate from my program and head off to college on scholarships that I will provide them with. Guys, enjoy and embrace your new beginnings and remember your promise to me, to reach back & help someone else along the way.

Edwards, who caught 53 passes for 904 yards and seven touchdowns last season, is currently unsigned but says he would like to return to the Jets.

The Braylon Edwards Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing and meeting the needs of under-served youth in the concentrated area of education. The Foundation’s goal is to emphasize the importance of education by providing scholarships and incentives to youth who demonstrate strong commitment and effort to excel in academics, conduct and community volunteerism. The Foundation also supports and contributes to organization’s whose programming includes health and hunger prevention. “It is in our service to others that we achieve true greatness.” – Unknown

http://www.braylonedwardsfoundation.org/home

It is time to remit dues for fiscal year (FY) 2012!  NPHC, Inc. operates on a fiscal calendar of January 1 to December 31. Annual dues are to be remitted by January 31 of a given fiscal year.

Undergraduate councils are responsible for dues in the amount of $150, Graduate councils with 1-9 Chapters in the amount of $250,  Graduate Councils with 10-19 Chapters in the amount of $300, Graduate Councils with 20-29 Chapters in the amount of  $350.00, and  Graduate Councils  with 30+ Chapters in the amount of $450.

Members remitting dues after February 15 must include a $25 late fee with annual dues. (1) If a council has not been financial in the previous fiscal year that council is responsible for remitting dues for the previous and current year, as well as a $50 reactivation fee (Ex. Undergrad councils = $350.00; Graduate Councils with 1-9 Chapters = $550.00; Graduate Councils with 10-19 Chapters = $650.00;Graduate Councils with 20-29 Chapters = $750.00;Graduate Councils  with 30+ Chapters = $850.00); and (2) if a council has not been financially active within a five year time period, that council must be re-chartered.

Again, you are advised not to wait until the last minute to remit your dues.  Should you have questions or concerns as to your council’s financial status and/or account balance, please contact NPHC National Treasurer at  treasurer@nphchq.org.

Attached is the link to the remittance form http://www.nphchq.org/docs/2012Remittanceonline.doc

Also use this link if you would like to remit payment online  http://nphccouncildues.eventbrite.com

$1,000 Economic Success = Partnership Grants Available

Lawrenceville, GA – November 30, 2011, the Upsilon Alpha Omega Chapter, along with its non-profit affiliate, The Gwinnett Pearls of Service Foundation, Incorporated, will end the application phase in their second Economic Success = Partnership business grant program.

First awarded at the beginning of 2011, these $1,000 grants were designed to aid newly established businesses owned by African-American women. To stress the importance of building a business within the community, the grants include a membership to the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce.

The ESP grants are awarded to two non-traditional entrepreneurs in an effort to help them increase their area of influence and reach their full potential. “In today’s economic climate, women are finding opportunities to cultivate their niche and focus on gaining a piece of the market share,” said Sarah Lewis, Upsilon Alpha Omega Vice President/Program Chairman. “While starting and sustaining a business is no small task, many women are choosing entrepreneurship as a means to securing their future.” Kathy Jackson, president of Upsilon Alpha Omega, added, “We are honored to support these dreams by providing a stipend that could push these new and rising businesses to the next level. We care, and we want them to succeed.”

Applicants must have a business that is three years old or younger, must have a valid business license and must have a business account (awards will not be written to individuals). For-profit and not-for-profit businesses are welcome to apply. Applications for the ESP grant can be downloaded from http://upsilonalphaomega.com/upsilonalphaomega/?page_id=34. Scroll to the bottom of the page to download a description of the award and the application.

The Upsilon Alpha Omega chapter and Gwinnett Pearls of Service Foundation strive to not only empower the nontraditional entrepreneur, but to also make an investment in the economic betterment of Gwinnett .

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Upsilon Alpha Omega, the Gwinnett County Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, has served the County and beyond since 1994 and is nearly 200 members strong.  For more information about the chapter, visit www.upsilonalphaomega.com.

The Gwinnett Pearls of Service Foundation, Incorporated is the non-profit 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Upsilon Alpha Omega Chapter.  Gwinnett Pearls of Service Foundation was established on October 13, 2005, in Gwinnett County, Georgia. The purpose of the foundation is to focus on education, health, youth development and mentoring. Visit www.gwinnettpearlsofservice.com for more information on the foundation.

When more than 100 undergraduate and alumni fraternity brothers gather for a state convention, it’s time to roll out the kegs of beer, right?

Well, good fellowship will certainly be a part of this weekend’s conference in Erie of Alpha Phi Alpha’s Pennsylvania chapters, but the fraternity’s leaders have more important things on their minds.

Since 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans. The fraternity’s alumni include such heavyweights as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Adam Clayton Powell, W.E.B. DuBois, Jesse Owens, Paul Robeson, Andrew Young and many others.

Unlike many college fraternities, Alpha encourages its graduates to form alumni chapters to continue to provide direction to younger brothers.

“Many of us benefitted from the advice and guidance of an older person during our college years,” said Fred Rush Jr., a charter member of Alpha’s Kappa Beta Lambda alumni chapter, which marked its 40th anniversary this year.

“We had people we could go to before we enrolled at school, during our time there and after we graduated.”

One such person, longtime Erie dentist Dr. William Trice, who counseled scores of young people over the decades, will receive the fraternity’s top service award for his longtime dedication to Alpha.

Listening to the stories the brothers in their 50s and 60s tell about the influence of adults who made such a difference in their lives makes me believe the Alpha brothers — young and old — have something special.

During my years in a college fraternity, we relied on alumni brothers only for their largesse in providing for the next keg. After they forked over beer money, we hustled them out the front door.

Edinboro University of Pennsylvania administrators Kahan Sablo and Wayne Patterson remain integrally involved with the Alpha chapter at their college. Unfortunately, at this time Alpha at Edinboro has only two undergraduate brothers, Fred Hodges, a senior, and Fred Underwood, a junior. Both students are from Pittsburgh.

“This is an important weekend because we want our younger members to connect with the older brothers who are established in their careers,” Sablo said.

“Frank Pogue, who served as president at Edinboro, and Antoine Garibaldi, Gannon University’s past president, are both Alpha brothers, and I know they always went out of their way to help students.”

At a full schedule of events, which starts Friday and continues through Sunday afternoon, Rush said the conference’s leaders want to bring in as many high school students as possible to mingle with the lawyers, doctors and business people from throughout the state.

“Today’s challenge is to show young people what’s available to them at college,” Rush said. “There’s a sense of urgency because the numbers of young black men who enroll at college is dropping precipitously. Poverty is directly related to lack of education.”

It’s easy to imagine that a high school student who lives in poverty might scoff at the notion of even getting to college in the first place.

“Yes, the system might seem stacked against them,” Rush said. “They might look at the price of tuition, for instance, and immediately dismiss the idea of going to college. But that’s what the older brothers are there for, to help the kids navigate the financial aid forms and any other problems that might seem overwhelming, but really aren’t.”

Sablo and Patterson emphasize that a commitment to Alpha extends beyond four years of college. “We start during the pledge period with a service project that will benefit the community,” Patterson said.

“After the members become full-fledged brothers, they remain active with charities such as the Erie City Mission, My Father’s House and Emmaus Soup Kitchen. It’s part of the responsibility of brotherhood.”

Terms like scholarship, good character and fellowship might sound woefully outdated to young people immersed in poverty, who see so little promise in days ahead.

That’s the big challenge for the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha and every other organization that invests in the future of young people.

“I found a family in Alpha and I just wish we could show these kids just how good it can be,” Rush said.