WELCOME
Dr. Natalie V. Nagthall
Harbor Area (CA) Chapter
President, 2022-2024
Greetings………………
On behalf of the members of Harbor Area (CA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, it is my honor and privilege to welcome you to our website!
The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of over 16,000 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 influential leaders and strategic thinkers who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. Some of the organization’s most notable members include Betty Shabazz, Marian Wright Edelman, Angela Rye, Stacey Abrams, Ayanna Pressley, Condoleeza Rice, Kamala Harris and Rosa Parks among others.
The Harbor Area (CA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, was organized by Rose Terry Brown and Beryl O'Kelly Brooks on November 7, 1966. The Chapter was chartered by 10 visionary women who recognized that the Long Beach, Carson, Compton, and greater Los Angeles community was in need of strategic focused black women looking to enrich, sustain, and empower black culture and the economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African descent. Additionally, these women wanted to establish a network focused on generational talent development in an effort to build upon the organization’s foundational goals and principles. Since its inception, the chapter has created educational programs, civic and corporate partnerships, and inter-cultural activities to address the needs of our most underserved communities. It is with great enthusiasm and pride that we continue to build upon this history of excellence.
Continuing the legacy of friendship and service, our chapter continues to make an impact in our community by providing transformational and sustainable services through the five facets of The Links, Incorporated. Our Arts Facet prides itself on showcasing the talents of burgeoning artists of African descent and highlighting local African American owned galleries in Southern California. Through our National Trends and Services Facet, our chapter centers the needs of our local seniors and veterans by providing meals as well as emphasizing the importance for our community to be politically aware and engaged in social justice efforts with a clear emphasis on voter empowerment and mobilization to ensure that our political landscape is representative of our community and of our nation. Centering the needs of our young girls, our Services to Youth Facet has partnered with the Female Academy in Long Beach to provide essential programming to educate historically underserved young girls on self-image workshops, personal development and recognizing the signs of human trafficking. Further, as strong advocates for education and philanthropy, we have provided over $50,000 in scholarships and have helped to increase awareness of our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). A focus on our global sisters and brothers in the diaspora have been an essential goal for the International Trends and Services Facet with a continued emphasis on Les Cayes, Haiti with the Area and Nationally award winning “Helping Hands 2 Haiti” initiative that has been in existence for over ten years. The Harbor Area chapter has won numerous grants and awards, and most recently the Health and Human Services Facet received the “HEAL” grant which was funded by The Links, Incorporated Foundation in partnership with the Anthem Foundation and the American Cancer Society. Through this grant, the chapter was able to have an event to increase colorectal cancer awareness as well as other cancers and participate in health fairs that are focused on health equity.
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the country was grappling with so many unanswered questions, the lack of reliable and consistent health information regarding COVID-19 hampered the ability of many to protect themselves from COVID-19. To address this gap, the Harbor Area chapter took the opportunity to create the highly successful, virtual webinar series entitled, “Linked Together: Coping in Quarantine” Series that was designed to educate the community, especially the most vulnerable populations, in proactively working to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic ramification. The series comprised a variety of topics ranging from COVID-19 myth-busting, mental health, navigating unemployment, finances and more.
As our illustrious chapter embarks upon our 56th year, we continue to be guided by the spirit of our founders and are extremely proud of the impact our community service has had locally and globally as we hold true to our motto of being, “Linked in Friendship, Connected in Service”. We encourage you to browse through the website to learn more about the rich history of the Harbor Area (CA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated