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About Us
The Links, Incorporated
The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of more than 17,000 professional women of African descent in 299 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. On November 9, 1946, Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott, two young Philadelphia visionaries, co-founded The Links, Incorporated. They invited seven of their friends to join them in organizing a new type of inter-city club. This organizing meeting of The Links was not a spontaneous action. In 1945, Margaret Rosell Hawkins had conceived the idea of a group of clubs composed of friends along the eastern seaboard and had spent many hours with Sarah Strickland Scott in thinking, planning and discussing the possibilities of such an endeavor.
Chapter History
The Hoffman Estates (IL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated was chartered as the 189th chapter of The Links, Incorporated on May 12, 1984 and has provided services to the Elgin/Northwest Chicago Suburban communities for over 35 years. In the early 1980's, 15 women from the Northwest Chicago suburbs met to discuss promoting civic and social consciousness among African Americans. As Black women living in a predominately white area, they witnessed government programs directed to minority communities being systematically decreased or eliminated. They knew that they had to polarize their efforts to make a difference. "Chains That Bind" was born with Doris Bundy Noble as the organizer. To support their initiatives, they held their first "Day at the Races" fundraiser on July 24, 1982. The Links, Incorporated encouraged their efforts and on May 12, 1984 with 22 members, they became the Hoffman Estates (IL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. "Basket of the Month" was the first service project and was initiated to supplement the food purchasing power of a needy local family. The Chains That Bind presented their first scholarship in 1983 and under the Services to Youth facet, continued this traditions by annually awarding scholarships to high schools seniors in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.
