On the evening of November 9, 1946 in Philadelphia, Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott invited seven of their friends to join them in organizing an inter-city club. This was the first meeting of The Links. These women were already involved with other organizations, such as sororities, business and professional associations, NAACP, the Urban League and Jack & Jill and were invited to become linked in this club of friendship. The vision was to form an organization that would respond to the needs and aspirations of Black women in ways that existing clubs did not.
In 1949, at the First Assembly, The Links became a national organization with 14 chapters located in 10 states. Geographically, the once Philadelphia-based organization grew in 1950 to 28 chapters with three in California. The Links organization was incorporated in 1951.
During the early years, the National Links organization directed the major portion of its Grants-in-Aid support to three other national organizations, the NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Urban League. The organization possesses a life membership in the NAACP and supported the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund at its inception. In the 1960s, The Links, Inc., began a period of priority support for the United Negro College Fund. To date, The Links contribution to UNCF totals more than one million dollars. In its over 50 years of existence, The Links, Inc., has made its name almost synonymous with strong programming and philanthropy.
In 1985, Projects L.E.A.D. (Links Erase Alcohol and Drug Abuse) was introduced as a national project of The Links, Inc. The Links organization has four geographic areas, which are Central, Eastern, Southern and Western.
By 1990, there were 240 chapters in 39 states and two foreign countries. Today, there are more than 17,000 Links in 299 chapters, representing 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Bahamas and the UK. Visit our headquarters in Washington, DC.
The National Program of the Links, Inc., consists of five facets:
