Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the world’s oldest intercollegiate fraternal organization founded by African-American men, has announced that the fraternity is donating $1 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opens next year after years of construction.

The fraternity approved a resolution for Alpha Phi Alpha to become a Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture founding donor at its biennial convention. This year the convention was held in Charlotte, N.C. and featured events such as a Back to School Back Pack Drive and a panel entitled School Choice in African-American Communities.

The Museum of African American and History and Culture will be the Smithsonian’s 19th museum. It will open next year with 11 inaugural exhibitions covering major periods of African American history, including the slave trade, segregation, the civil rights movement, and the Harlem Renaissance. It will also include exhibits on Black Greek Lettered Organizations such as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and its members.

President George W. Bush signed the legislation establishing the museum in 2003. Construction began in 2011. To learn more about the museum, please go to nmaahc.si.edu.

Fraternity Set to Receive $1 Million in Grant

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. is receiving $1 million to continue their work with young men in target cities through their Go-To-High-School, Go-To-College® national program. The program concerns the 2015 Youth Mentoring Grant Opportunity that the fraternity has applied for through the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The Go-To-High-School, Go-To-College® program is one that will be a United States Department of Justice “Category 2,” one-on-one and group-mentoring program for participants ages 6-17 years old in twenty-five (25) geographical locations across twenty-two (22) states and five regions of the country. The Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College® program, established in 1922, concentrates on the importance of completing secondary and collegiate education as a road to advancement.

Global Image Consulting assisted the fraternity with submitting the grant that “will focus on 6 goals: Reduce Juvenile Delinquency, Increase Graduation Rates, Develop Mobile Application, Promote Public Safety, Reduce Juvenile Victimization, and Provide Readiness Training,” explained Elvin Dowling, founding partner withGlobal Image Consulting and Alpha Phi Alpha Member. “The program will target 5 regions,” Dowling continued, “Some of the states included are: Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, and California.”

Recognized as the world’s oldest intercollegiate fraternity founded by African-American men, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University. Since its inception, the organization has truly established itself on leadership and service.

“We aim to engage at least 5,000 student participants with caring mentors who serve as advocates and role models for achieving greater successes in life. Just as importantly, this comprehensive truancy and juvenile delinquency prevention effort offers high school and college readiness training and common sense direction for program participants, providing them with the resources, skills and relationships they need to make positive decisions that help them to become productive members of society,” said Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity executive director and COO, William Douglass Lyle.

For more information on the many efforts Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity is currently leading and supporting, please visit http://www.apa1906.net or contact the International Headquarters at 2313 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218.