Detroit (MI) Chapter
Programs
The Detroit (MI) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated strives to make a difference in the lives of others. We engage the community through the work of our five facet groups: The Arts, Health and Human Services, International Trends, National Trends, and Services to Youth. The facets’ primary focus and major impact are enhanced through the programs we offer at the Detroit International Academy (DIA). The DIA is the city’s only all-girls pre-kindergarten through 12th grade public school. Over the last ten years the Detroit (MI) Chapter has become one of the school’s closest community partners. Our programs at the DIA accomplish many goals: Raising awareness about breast cancer through our annual Community Hat Strut; providing funds to make uniforms available to needy students; exposing dance and drama students to live performances and a young, vibrant opera star; helping bridge cultural divides among Asian- and African-American students; enhancing teenage girls’ understanding of the changes happening to their bodies; maximizing exposure to a variety of role models and career paths; building self-esteem among the adolescent student body. In September 2014, the Chapter adopted the DIA’s ninth grade class and plans to follow these students in each successive school year through the girls’ graduation in 2018. The Chapter’s objective is to build strong, trust-based relationships with the students, enhance our understanding of their needs, and provide programs and services that help guide them to productive and positive lives as adults. The Chapter is also involved in other community service projects along with sister Link chapters across the metro Detroit area. In program year 2014-15, the Chapter was part of a multi-chapter collaboration with DAPCEP (Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program). Through this partnership, more than 350 students, along with their parents, were offered a wide variety of programs designed to expose children of color and low income youth to STEM careers and to help them succeed in science and technology classes.
OUR FACETS
PARTNERSHIPS
UMBRELLA PROGRAM
Starting in the fall of 2014 and after the Detroit Chapter’s strong, decade-long involvement with the Detroit International Academy (DIA), we launched a new Umbrella Project that will focus on the school’s Class of 2018 from the ninth grade through graduation.
In support of this new focus, the five facets: Arts, Health and Human Services, International Trends, National Trends and Services to Youth, will be and have been engaged in developing and presenting programs that connect to an annual programmatic theme. This theme, as well as each facet’s activities, will be crafted to address the students’ needs and desires, as expressed through multiple interactions with the students, their teachers, and the DIA’s administrative leaders.
Our goals are to offer useful information and insights that help the students move along pathways to fruitful lives, while helping them identify and explore the many positive possibilities that are available to them as they enter adulthood. Facet activities will be integrated with each other to create a layered network of experiences. They will also be designed to establish bonds of trust and engagement with the members of the Detroit Chapter of the Links, as the students move through their high school years toward graduation, college, careers, and, we hope, happy and rewarding personal lives.
PARTNERSHIPS
COLLABORATIVE
Developing Minds: Discovering New Worlds
Local chapters of The Links, Incorporated give students and parents a chance to explore careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM), and win a high tech tablet.
Through the Developing Minds: Discovering New Worlds event, students meet scientists, technologists, engineers, mathematicians and medical professionals, and learn about their careers and education. Students and their parents find out what it takes to land a job in a technical field, and also have the opportunity to meet college representatives and alumni!
