Economic Development
The Economic Development Committee aims to educate the community and chapter members on personal fiscal management, financial security, home ownership, entrepreneurship, and other financial education aspects.
Financial Fortitude Initiative
This initiative helps members of the sorority spread financial education through their communities; build wealth and financial security; and understand the basic principles of earning, spending, saving, and investing.
This process helps program participants define, set, execute, and achieve goals; serves as a blueprint to address all aspects of personal finances; and provides a mix of information from major economic corporations and financial institutions.
Educational Development
The Delta Academy was created in 1996 out of an urgent sense that bold action was needed to save our young females (ages 11-14) from the perils of academic failure, low self-esteem, and crippled futures.
Delta Academy provides an opportunity for local chapters to enrich and enhance the education that our young teens receive in public schools across the nation. Specifically, we augment their scholarship in math, science, and technology, their opportunities to provide service in the form of leadership through service learning defined as the cultivation and maintenance of relationships. A primary goal of the program is to prepare young girls for full participation as leaders in the 21st Century.
Catching the Dreams of Tomorrow, Delta GEMS was created to catch the dreams of African-American at-risk, adolescent girls aged 14-18. Delta GEMS provides the framework to actualize those dreams through the performance of specific tasks that develop a CAN DO attitude.
The goals for Delta GEMS are:
1. To instill the need to excel academically;
2. To provide tools that enable girls to sharpen and enhance their skills to achieve high levels of academic success;
3. To assist girls in proper goal setting and planning for their futures in high school and beyond; and
4. To create compassionate, caring, and community-minded young women by actively involving them in service learning and community service opportunities.
The Delta GEMS program offers a road map for college and career planning through activities that provide opportunities for self-reflection and individual growth. Delta GEMS, like Delta Academy, is implemented by chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Delta GEMS participants have the opportunity to define and “Discover their individual Brilliance.”
International Awareness & Involvement
Delta has an exuberent history of international involvement. Delta strives to use its its vast potential to impact the plight of people living across the diaspora. The sorority's awareness and involvement in Africa and Haiti will only strengthen as it continues to move into the 21st century.
Over the years, the sorority has used its NGO status to impact the lives of women and girls across the globe. The five primary focus areas include:
1. An IAI Sustainability Plan;
2. IAI Webinars;
3. World AIDS Day;
4. IAI Newsletters; and
5. IAI Mission Trips.
Physical & Mental Health
Concerns about America's physical and mental health have not been ignored by Delta Sigma Theta. The sorority's work in prevention and wellness coms in the form of health education programs, health fairs, and the provision of health care services.
Delta also supports medical research that examines illnesses that victimize traditionally marginalized populations. As an organization of predominately Black women, Delta's impact is felt not only by its membership, but by the families and communities that it serves.
Two initiatives that Delta Sigma Theta pushes are DeltaCare--an internal wellness program that promotes self-care through physical and emotional wellness, and awareness/advocacy--and the Red S.H.O.E. Challenge, which encourages members to engage in healthy behaviors and stands for Self-care, Healthy Options, and Exercise.
Political Awareness & Involvement
Political Awareness & Involvement is responsible for developing and coordinating community programs designed to enhance political awareness and eradicate social inequities.
Through non-partisan activities, the sorority understands the importance and need for an informed electorate. Delta is concerned for the public's education and the enfranchisement of all Americans. Voter registration and education programs, workshops, and seminars that highlight public official assessment and accountability are constant throughout the organization, giving communities the necessary tools to make informed decisions regarding their representation.
Delta emphasizes the need for representation with initiatives like Delta Days at the Nation's Capital, Delta Days at the United Nations, and various state and local civic initiatives.
