This past year has seen many actions against our young black men. Racism seems as rampant as ever before, and our communities are still looking for leadership in support of a better life for their families.

We walk in the footsteps of those who have blazed a trail while giving us the insight to create a new path for our future. Use your voice like our brothers of Zeta Alpha at the University of Missouri and our brothers in the Windy City of Chicago who boldly protested against prejudice and violence.

Tomorrow, let’s show the impact of Alpha men at home and in our communities. Read below to see how you can honor our contributions to those who counted on us.

Let’s show Alpha Cares…..’06!

This Founders Day, let’s show the world who we are.

Brothers, we need your help. Our late Alpha brother Stuart Scott’s daughters, Taelor and Sydni Scott (@taeandsyd), pictured above, have a special request for the men of Alpha on our Founders Day. Tomorrow, Friday, December 4th, in honor of #FatherhoodFriday use the hashtag#RaisedByAnAlphaMan. The goal is to show the impact that Alpha men have at home raising families as fathers or mentoring others in their communities.

How will this work?

Tweet/Post/Instagram a photo with your children or those you have influenced as a father figure or mentor, and post it on your Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram page on Friday, December 4th.

Instruct your children or mentee(s) to tag you in their posts with the hashtag #RaisedByAnAlphaMan in honor of you being a positive influence in their lives.

Who should participate?

Everyone. Young or adult children of Alpha men, people who have been raised and/or mentored by an Alpha man, Alpha chapters with photos including group photos, community services activities, etc. Anyone and everyone who feels their lives have been enriched by an Alpha man should join us on Facebook, Twitter,and Instagram.

Sample Social Media Posting: 

@apa1906NETwork We’re proud of our Alpha Phi Alpha dad/mentor! (@ALPHA MAN NAME HERE) #RaisedByAnAlphaMan #FatherhoodFriday #APA109

Happy Founders Day @apa1906NETwork #APA109 #RaisedByAnAlphaMan

Alpha Phi Alpha has made an impact on my life! #APA109 #RaisedByAnAlphaMan #FatherhoodFriday

DEVELOPING LEADERS BY SERVING OUR YOUTH.

Alpha Phi Alpha, the world’s oldest intercollegiate fraternity founded by African-American men, announced today that it was providing sub-award grants to forty of its chapters (representing twenty-eight geographic regions), as a part of the expansion of its 93-year-old mentoring program, Go-To-High-School, Go-To-College. Strengthened by a $1 million grant from the United States Department of Justice that it received in October of this year, the fraternity will directly serve more than 1,000 young black and Latino youths, while indirectly serving an additional 45,000 young people, ages 6–17 years old, in urban areas across the country. As a key component of this national program, currently implemented in each of the organization’s 700 chapters throughout the country and around the globe, members of the fraternity will connect these at-risk and high-risk students with a caring adult mentor, while providing them with resources and one-to-one and group mentoring opportunities aimed at reducing truancy and increasing graduation rates among the program participants.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity develops leaders and promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for underserved communities. Since 1922, the fraternity has committed itself to mentoring young boys and men of color in ways that lead to meaningful change in their lives and the communities from which they hail through the implementation of its historic mentoring initiative. The precursor to all of the successful mentoring programs designed specifically with young Black males in mind, Go-To-High-School, Go-To-College has helped countless young people enter the social and economic mainstream.

“Although, collectively, high school students overall are graduating at a rate higher than ever before, and some say that there are signs that the achievement gap is incrementally closing, minority students still lag behind the national average in getting a high school diploma. Alpha men will continue to raise the collective consciousness of our nation, whether it is in the streets protesting detrimental policies that adversely affect the disenfranchised or mentoring young men one-on-one, the need to strengthen and, indeed, expand Go-To-High-School, Go-To-College has never been more prescient,” said General President Mark S. Tillman, the fraternity’s international president.

In recent statements echoing those remarks, United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch declared, “Real change is spearheaded by those who are grappling with real problems every day. Our goal is to also tap into the innovative programs and exciting ideas that are emerging from communities across the country.”

Additional information about the fraternity and the Go-To-High-School, Go-To-College program may be found at our website by visiting www.apa1906.net.

For more information, please email GHSGC-Grant@apa1906.net. Thank you.

REMEMBERING THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE US.

Brothers, this year, as we celebrate the 109th anniversary of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, I would like for us to collectively take the time to focus on how we have impacted the world around us. Use December 4th as a commitment to service and mentoring in honor of the architects of this fraternity and the rich legacy we have built. Our children are 100% of our future and the work that we do as Alpha men must be carried on long after we are gone.

Brothers, on this Founders Day share the hashtags #RaisedByAnAlpha #APhiA109 and #FatherhoodFriday. Let people know that Alpha men are pillars of our communities and family men who care about the issues concerning our neighborhoods. Reinvest in our fraternity by getting active, staying active and becoming big brothers and mentors to young men who need us.

Enjoy yourselves, brothers, and continue to do the real work of Alpha.

In September, Teach For America and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the world’s oldest intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity founded by African American men, announced a formal partnership created to recruit more African American male leaders to the classroom. The partnership will highlight Teach For America as one opportunity for more Alpha Phi Alpha members to work in the nation’s highest-need communities and form a lasting commitment to pursuing educational equity. The partnership was recently featured in the November issue of Essence Magazine at a top 10 trending topic!

Give to the Alpha Phi Alpha Education Foundation today and your donation will be used to support the non-profit charitable arm of the fraternity, which focuses on scholarship, programs and training, and development of the membership. The APAEF encompasses the implementation of Go-to-High School, Go-to-College; Project Alpha; A Voteless People is a Hopeless People; The Belford V. Lawson Oratorical Contest; The John Hope Franklin Collegiate Scholars Bowl; The Hobart Jarrett Debate Competition; Leadership Development Institutes and the professional and personal development thrusts of the fraternity—Alpha University. Click here and donate today to help the Education Foundation reach its goals.

REVIEW AND UPDATE
11.18.15

If your information is not updated you run the risk of not receiving correspondence from your General Office, including your general presidential voting ballot and The Sphinx magazine. Help us keep you informed by clicking on this link and going to AlphaNET to update your information. Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Do you know a brother who needs to update his information on AlphaNET? Please forward him this email. If you need assistance, please email Membersupport@apa1906.net or call toll free, (800) 373-3089.

FOR THOSE WHO SERVED, THANK YOU.
11.11.15

Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans who served their country honorably. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is wishing all of the men and women who have served, especially our brothers, a Happy Veterans Day.

Systematic racism plagues many of our American institutions, and our system of higher learning is no different. As such, we as a fraternity have to remain proactive in the fight for racial, economic, and social justice. That’s why the events we have currently watched unfold on the University of Missouri campus, as unfortunate as they are, come as no surprise to those who continue to feel the all too real symptoms of racism in our culture. I have been in constant contact with our brothers of Zeta Alpha chapter seated at the University of Missouri. Zeta Alpha chapter president, Brother Phelan Simpkins, Missouri Students Association president, Brother Payton Head, and Brother Anthony Sherrils, a Mizzou football player, have been exhibiting outstanding leadership throughout the events of this week.

They weren’t alone as students and faculty took a stand to make the University of Missouri a better establishment, particularly the Mizzou football players, who unified not only to take an action for social justice but one with economic implications. These student-athletes supported their fellow UM student, Jonathan Butler, member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, who staged a hunger strike until UM president Tim Wolfe resigned. Everyone who came together did so not because it would be instantly beneficial individually but to create the long-term change needed as a community.

I’m inviting you to hear from the leadership of Zeta Alpha for an Alpha Town Hall Meeting on Friday, November 13, 2015, 6:00–6:30 PM EDT (3:00–3:30 PM PDT). Zeta Alpha Chapter President Simpkins will speak on the events at the university from a first-person perspective. If you are unable to join us, the meeting will be recorded and posted on our website. Space is limited, so if you plan to attend, please register as soon as possible.

It will take collective action on all of our parts to ensure an environment on our campuses that is free of hate, discrimination, and harassment. We believe the next step for Mizzou and for our nation as a whole is to be proactive in understanding the history of race in America and identifying the microaggressions that result from ignorance.

Again, I commend the brothers of Zeta Alpha and the students of the University of Missouri for creating safe spaces and having productive dialogues on race.

See you on Friday!

Fraternally,

Brother Tillman

• Remarks from the General President
• Update from University of Missouri
• Alpha’s Next Steps
• Closing Statements

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.