Thomas-Young Scholarship Fund

The Thomas-Young Scholarship Fund, established in 1982 and as previously noted, was named for chapter organizers Bernice Thomas and Ruth Young, and memorializes all our deceased members. The Fund provides scholarships and other resources to graduates of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) who demonstrate a significant need. Other factors considered in the award are academic performance and extracurricular activities. These funds help the students as they pursue their undergraduate degrees.

Students are funded for a four-year period, provided they are continuously enrolled in college and have a satisfactory GPA. Every four years, our Scholarship Committee selects between 4-6 students to receive a fouryear scholarship. For the 2022-2026 funding period, there are five recipients, and each receives $2,500 per year. Our program costs $12,500 per year or $50,000 for the four-year period. Since its inception, the chapter has awarded over $400,000 in scholarships to more than 500 students. In addition to monetary awards, the Thomas-Young Scholarship offers mentorship opportunities and annual programing for the students.

Thomas-Young Scholars represent a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, including psychology, economics, finance accounting, engineering, music, science and technology, communications, biology and myriad other areas. Thomas-Young Scholars also have completed or are in the process of pursuing advanced degrees.

The eligibility requirements to receive a scholarship are:

DCPS high school senior

Resident of the District of Columbia

US Citizen or Permanent Resident

3.0 Grade Point Average or Above

Substantial Financial Need based on the FAFSA

We look forward to continuing to follow our scholarships recipients, especially our current Scholars, and serving as resources to them as they move forward in their careers!

Services to Youth Facet

Goal: In 1958, The Links, Incorporated created its first program facet, Services to Youth (STY), to equip Black youth to use their intellect and spirit of achievement to become successful and productive citizens. Today, The Links, Incorporated continues to implement aligned, integrated, and transformational programs that are responsive to the academic, health, cultural, social awareness, career development, and mentoring needs of youth.

Past Washington, DC Chapter Programs: Partnership with Cleveland Park Elementary School; Operation Joys for Toys Drive; Library of Congress Book Drive

Current Programming:

HUMS2 Girls Afterschool Program-Youth Empowerment (YEP) 2017-Present, an integrated program with The Arts and the Health and Human Services facets

The chapter developed an enrichment program focused on low-income minority students. The Howard University Middle School for Mathematics and Science (HUMS2) is 100% minority and is a Title 1 school. To increase the program's impact on a specific population, the program started in 2017 with the focus on the 6th grade class and followed the students as they matriculated through 7th and 8th grades. The second group of students graduated in May 2022, and in the fall of 2022, the program started again with the new group of students. YEP will work with these students over the next 3 years.

A needs assessment was conducted in the fall 2021 with HUMS2 to determine the effectiveness and direction of the programming. Based on student needs, YEP’s focus is now on girls. School administrators communicated the need to keep a STEAM curriculum, as well as addressing school engagement, team building, mental and physical wellness, and making overall healthy choices. YEP is an after-school program with an assigned HUMS2 teacher, and girls and families are actively recruited to participate via teachers and administrators. Families must be committed to providing transportation after school.

Unique aspects of the program: STEAM Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition; Teen Wellness Circles with Pink Rocki Foundation; Black Opera Performance (developing their own opera)

The Arts Facet

Goal: The goal of The Arts facet is to increase and expand art activity throughout our communities. The support of the arts by The Links, Incorporated can be traced to our co-founder, Margaret Roselle Hawkins, whose innate artistic talent earned her a four-year scholarship to the Women’s School of Design (later known as the Moore Institute of Art). Her passion for creative expression and the arts helped to give root to the establishment of The Arts facet by The Links, Incorporated in 1964.

Through this facet, we create and support art-related educational opportunities for minority youth and sponsor performances by young people and accomplished professional artists in an array of disciplines. In partnership with museums, symphonies, art councils, educational institutions, and corporations, we are sowing the seeds of deeper creativity.

Past Washington, DC Chapter Programs: The Arts facet has participated in multiple National programs including Signature: Classics Through the Ages; as well as with the N Street Village Arts Studio Exhibit; the Visiting Artists Program; and art activities with Cleveland Park Elementary School.

Current Programming:

Integrated Programming led by the Services to Youth facet

Many African Americans, especially young people, have limited awareness of opera and other classical art forms. The Arts facet is seeking to spark the creativity of middle school girls from low-to-moderate households at the Howard University Middle School for Math and Science (HUMS2) by exposing them to a classical art form—opera as a part of the YEP program begun by the chapter at HUMS2. The program will help expand their understanding and awareness of classical art forms and provide the students with a basic understanding of all aspects of an opera, including writing, music, set design and character development. The goals of the programming are:

Exposure to a classical art form

Collaboration skills

Self- expression

Intellectual growth and curiosity

Confidence

The Arts facet, in conjunction with the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA), and the Services to Youth facet, is teaching the HUMS2 girls how to write and perform an opera. Students will write and direct an opera, including developing the story, characters, costumes, music, and designing the set. In addition, they will learn about African American opera singers and operas. Opera is considered by many to be the most complete art form, combining all the elements of art—words, music, drama and dance.

National Trends and Services Facet

Goal: The vision of the National Trends and Services (NTS) facet, established in 1964, is to eliminate disparities by reducing barriers to services through advocacy, education, and service. Our mission is to empower chapters to effectively empower the communities in which we work. In the NTS facet, we truly address the issues of the day.

Past Washington, DC Chapter Programs: Annual Caregivers Forum; AARP Pilot – Are You Ready? (adopted as a National initiative); Links Day at the DC City Council; N Street Village – Employment Training and Miriam’s House Dinners and Nutrition Training

Current Programming

Fighting Voter Suppression Campaign - 2020-Present

Our mission/vision in implementing this program was to engage in a non-partisan campaign to encourage voter registration and voting. We have used this program as an opportunity to get out the vote (GOTV), to increase early voting and to guide voters to register or re-register.

We also used this program to improve citizen engagement by involving friends, family and community partners to participate. This effort supports our mission to enrich communities and to improve the quality of life for people of color. We view this program as an opportunity for transformational programming.

We partnered with the Center for Common Ground/Reclaim Our Vote, who work with local organizations across the country, running multiple campaigns to defend voting rights on the local, state and national level. Through our Reclaim Our Vote postcard campaign, we reached out to African American and Latino voters in states that had historically had or were actively experiencing voter suppression. As a partner, we volunteered to help educate and mobilize Black and Brown voters in these states to take action and protect their right to vote.

During the last two years, we reached 7,100 potential voters.

The Green and White Pages 2020-Present

The Green and White Pages is an evolving register of African American businesses in the DMV and currently is being used to encourage the use of Black-owned businesses by our members and others in the local community.

International Trends and Services Facet

Goals: The International Trends and Services (ITS) facet, established in 1978, provides services and delivers transformational programs to people of African ancestry globally so that they may have a better quality of life. Programs are designed and developed to service educational, health and cultural needs and to help people emerge from poverty. A primary objective of our international work is to enrich the lives of women and their families.

Past Programming: Embassy Luncheons, Pen Pals with Haiti, Technology Drive, LIFE Program (please see below)

Current Programming:

LIFE Program at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School—2013-Present

For the last ten years, the ITS facet of the Washington, D.C. chapter has worked with talented students at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School (BBAHS) throughout the school year. The chapter’s LIFE Program (which is a National Signature Program) was developed after a curriculum gap with respect to international affairs was identified by the administrators and faculty at BBAHS.

The LIFE Program is designed to educate students, starting in the freshman year of high school, on the many options they have in the world. ITS designed the LIFE Program to expose high school students to the vast career choices available beyond the United States. Historically and internationally, the program is a three-way partnership between The Links, Incorporated; local high schools; and colleges or universities to expose students to information they will need to make informed decisions for college and become citizens of the world.

Program participants meet in person at BBAHS during the lunch hour, every third Thursday of the month from October to April.

Health and Human Services Facet

Goal: To promote and facilitate programs that support the maintenance of good health in communities of color through education, health advocacy and utilization of health resources. In 2010, The Links, Incorporated established the Health and Human Services facet in response to the chronic health disparities that persist in black communities and result in the decreased life expectancy of African Americans and other people of African ancestry.

Past Washington DC Chapter Programming: The Health and Human Services (HHS) facet has participated in a wide variety of health-related programs including National and Area initiatives such as the Red Dress Event, DMV Walk for Healthy Living, oral health & dental screenings; and Linkages to Life: An Organ, Tissue and Bone Marrow Donation Awareness Program to increase minority donors. Over the years, the chapter has spearheaded many health fairs – first under our National Trends and Services facet until HHS became a standalone facet -- for DC residents in conjunction with Providence Hospital. The chapter also initiated the Links to Healthy Smiles program with Howard University’s School of Dentistry and School of Communications, which provided preventative care to children ages 4-12 at a local school and a community center (adopted as a National initiative).

Current Chapter Programs:

The chapter continues to participate in many of the programs above. In addition, we are also working on the following:

Health Fairs in Partnership with Operation Pathways. Operation Pathways has invested in affordable housing units throughout the USA and operates nine residential units in the District of Columbia. Over the past year, the HHS facet has partnered with Operation Pathways to present health fairs for the residents in three of the Operation Pathways buildings. The health fairs include mental health screening, dental screening, blood pressure screening, breast care education and mammograms. In addition, integrated programming was offered for specific populations. For the senior residents, the National Trends and Service and The Arts facets presented end-of-life planning, which included a presentation of legal issues and art therapy. For the family and youth fair, the Arts and Services to Youth facets offered storytelling, arts and crafts, healthy eating tips, and college preparation for middle and high school students. The HHS facet plans to continue this partnership with Operations Pathways in the years to come.

Umbrella Project with Bright Beginnings. The HHS facet has been the lead for this program. Bright Beginnings provides a variety of services and educational opportunities for families with young children who have faced homelessness. All facets have provided programming and the chapter’s work included the creation of a support group for mothers who have been impacted by different types of traumas. This support group recently has been incorporated into Bright Beginnings’ regular programming. The HHS facet also provided a presentation at Bright Beginnings regarding the impact of oral health on other health issues.

Health Updates. Members have presented to the chapter, and the broader community (sometimes in