Title: Honoring the 75th anniversary of The Links, Incorporated.
Policy area: Social Welfare

Summary:
This resolution commemorates the 75th anniversary of The Links, Incorporated, a nonprofit volunteer organization with a mission of ensuring the cultural and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 725 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 725

       Honoring the 75th anniversary of The Links, Incorporated.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 19, 2021

  Ms. Johnson of Texas submitted the following resolution; which was 
           referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
       Honoring the 75th anniversary of The Links, Incorporated.

Whereas The Links, Incorporated is a nonprofit organization with an 
        international presence dedicated to ensuring the cultural and economic 
        influence of African-American ancestry exists for future generations;
Whereas through the hard work and volunteerism of its members, The Links, 
        Incorporated remains an influential, leading voice for Black communities 
        across the world;
Whereas The Links, Incorporated was founded on November 9, 1946, and is one of 
        the Nation's oldest and most widespread volunteer service organizations;
Whereas The Links, Incorporated was established under the leadership of Ms. 
        Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Ms. Sarah Strickland Scott to respond to the 
        needs of Black women in ways other clubs did not;
Whereas 7 other noble women joined Hawkins and Scott in the conception of an 
        intercity organization that would promote civic engagement, educational 
        advancement, and cultural development, and the founders of this 
        visionary group included Frances Atkinson, Katie Green, Marion Minton, 
        Lillian Stanford, Myrtle Manigault Stratton, Lillian Wall, and Dorothy 
        Wright;
Whereas The Links, Incorporated has 292 chapters and over 16,000 distinguished 
        female members of African descent from 41 States, the District of 
        Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom;
Whereas members of The Links, Incorporated are community, political, and opinion 
        leaders, activists, change agents, role models, mentors, influencers, 
        dreamers, believers, thinkers, and doers;
Whereas members devote over 1,000,000 volunteer service hours annually, 
        enriching the communities they serve;
Whereas The Links, Incorporated has been honored by the United Nations 
        Association of New York and the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, and was 
        recognized by the late Congressman John Lewis for its outstanding 
        community service initiatives;
Whereas the core values at the forefront of The Links, Incorporated's endeavors 
        are friendship, responsibility, honesty, legacy, commitment, family 
        relationships, accountability, respect for self and others, service, 
        confidentiality, integrity, and courage;
Whereas The Links, Incorporated has been consistent since its inception in 
        fulfilling its mission of service in the African-American community, and 
        in recent years, Links chapters have implemented various projects and 
        initiatives, and provided services through multifaceted programs, 
        including their Services to Youth, Arts, National Trends and Services, 
        International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services facets;
Whereas, between 2018 to 2020, the Services to Youth facet awarded approximately 
        2,667 scholarships to Black youth across the Nation, encouraging them to 
        pursue their academic interests and assisting them in becoming 
        productive citizens, and in addition to providing these scholarships, 
        the Services to Youth program employs an interdisciplinary approach to 
        close the achievement gap from pre-K through college, provides college 
        mentoring programs, offers support for STEM programs, and of 
        historically Black colleges and universities;
Whereas through the organization's Arts facet, The Links, Incorporated supports 
        and prioritizes a wide range of projects and programs, which includes a 
        Signature Arts Program that promotes interest in the classical arts 
        amongst Black youth, a National Poster Art Competition, a partnership-
        based program with the Sphinx Organization, and a Young Master Writers 
        Competition Program;
Whereas through the National Trends and Services facet, The Links, Incorporated 
        focuses on tackling economic, health, social justice, and other 
        disparities in communities of color by increasing access to resources 
        through advocacy, education, and service, and this includes a 
        programmatic approach that focuses on substance abuse, health and 
        wellness, and financial literacy and support for elderly Black women 
        aimed at empowering low-income Blacks, serving, on average, people who 
        make less than $50,000 a year;
Whereas The Links, Incorporated global perspective through the International 
        Trends and Services facet has permitted the organization to adopt 
        schools in South Africa, Liberia, Ghana, and Jamaica, build maternal 
        waiting homes in Liberia, provide thousands of dental exams at primary 
        schools in Jamaica, donate over 1,000 books to libraries, and so much 
        more; and
Whereas The Links, Incorporated works to confront the overwhelming concern of 
        inadequate access to health care through their Health and Human Services 
        facet and focuses on achieving health equity, fighting heart disease 
        (which disproportionately kills African-American women), decreasing 
        disparities in donor registration and transplantation in the African-
        American community, educating communities on HIV/AIDS, promoting mental 
        health wellness, and advancing oral health: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the footprint made by The Links, Incorporated since 
its establishment 75 years ago is vast, and their continued commitment 
to advocacy, service, and education has and continues to uplift the 
African-American community and those of African descent in remarkable 
measures, both nationally and internationally.
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