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Collin County sorority chapter aims to empower black youth
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
The Collin County alumnae chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority is launching a community program intended to empower and enlighten young black males this month.
EMBODI (Empowering Males, Build Opportunities, Developing Independence) was launched by the national office of Delta Sigma Theta, the largest black sorority in the world, in 2009.
The program is intended to expose a historically under-served demographic to diverse career options, confidence-building exercises and opportunities for community involvement, said Tina Fernande, Collin County chapter publicist.
This year will be the first for the Collin County alumnae chapter of the sorority, which includes Allen, Frisco and McKinney.
To start, participants will attend a STEM workshop at Richland College to explore the potential career paths that could be made available through study of science, technology, engineering and math.
"The thing with STEM is a lot of youth don't understand the wide range of careers that are in science, technology, engineering and math, and usually the test scores that our kids have are lower in those areas and they don't really migrate toward those careers," said Melanie Kirk, EMBODI chair for the sorority's Collin County chapter. "So we felt it was a great opportunity to not only encourage them to go into those careers, but expose them to individuals that are in those careers so they would have someone to talk to, somewhat of a mentor, somebody to indentify with that is in those careers and can talk to them."
The program will not ignore the more popularly desired career options among young men, however. Participants will have a group meeting with a marketing executive from Def Jam Records, who will explain to them that not all music business careers involve being center stage.
"The key concept there is to understand that there's business aspects to everything that we see, that Lil Wayne is not the only person that's making a career out of the music industry," Kirk said. "He's just the person out front. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that have careers that are centered around college degrees that they use to market several of these individuals."
An orthopedic surgeon who works with athletes will also speak to the young men about sports-related careers that don't necessarily involve being out on the field, Kirk said.
"Our goal is to say, there are people who look like you in these careers," she said. "It's not a far reach for a young man from Oak Cliff to be an orthopedic surgeon and have patients that are from the Dallas Cowboys or Dallas Mavericks. It's possible. It's just to let them know that some of these goals that they feel are just too far for them, are really attainable."
Participants will also take part in a fitting session at Jos A. Bank and get professional grooming tips from a local barber. Then, they will meet with Russell Wilson, assistant district attorney for Dallas County, who will use the example of recent exonorees to demonstrate how being in the wrong place at the wrong time can sometimes lead to a 20-year struggle to prove one's innocence.
"The other thing we wanted to talk to them about is, just being teenagers and minorities, to prepare them for what you do when you get pulled over by a police officer," Kirk said. "You see on television all of these people getting pulled over and they want to talk tough to the police officers or be disrespectful. They feel as if they're untouchable, and we wanted them to understand that, no, if you're driving and you're pulled over, it's time to humble yourself."
The program will also take students to the sorority's annual Teen Summit, which will take place at University of Texas-Dallas. Last year's event focused on political and social awareness, sound financial decision-making and college preparedness. Kirk said those themes will likely be revisited this year.
"What we do is we take individuals who used to be in our debutante program and used to be in some of our other programs that are now freshmen and sophomores in college ... and those kids come down and they serve on the panel, and we actually let the kids ask the questions, the truth about college," Kirk said. "Most teenagers feel like, 'OK, I go to college, I'm out of mom's house, I can party every night, I can stay up all night, I don't have to go to school if I don't feel like it,' and these kids are telling them, 'No, this is not what you get to do.'"
Tonyia Williams, president of the Collin County alumnae chapter, said while there are several programs reaching out to black youth in Dallas County, EMBODI will be one of few reaching out to Collin County residents.
"This would be one of the unique programs in the Collin County area, where we're reaching out to areas that predominately hasn't been tapped by African Americans because they tend to live more south, so I would say in the Collin County area and in the northern area, this will be a unique program for those gentlemen," she said.
Kirk said boys participating in the program can contact guest speakers later for more information on certain career paths and also access the more than 240 members of the chapter, many of whom are experts in various academic fields, for tutoring.
While the program is targeted primarily towards young black men, Kirk said, teens of all races can apply.
"Your parents are definitely a resource, but if you need someone else, we're a community," she said. "We're here for you. We can no longer just sit back and watch our kids, in disproportionate numbers, fail in all these areas -- academically, socially, emotionally -- all these areas. We have to do something, so this is our something. They say it takes a village, so we're establishing what that village is and putting ourselves out there as a resource."
The posted deadline to apply for the EMBODI program was Aug. 18, but Kirk said applications will be accepted until the Sept. 22 kick-off meeting. To apply, visit www.dstccac.org.
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