(Sorors x Influential Women of Color) + Exposure + Experience + Empowerment = EKCellence
In the fall of 2013, we embarked upon an initiative to transform our Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy program. The result was an experience that transformed us and students the young women we worked with, and led to an unforgettable year of service.
EKC recruited African American and Hispanic girls ages 11-14 from Brownsville and East New York – two of NYC’s most impoverished neighborhoods – to participate in a year-long educational enrichment program that rivaled some Fortune 500 companies’ career and leadership development programs.
Armed with a team of Sorors and other influential women of color in science, technology, engineering, architecture, medicine, real estate and finance, we entered a failing school, on the verge of closing to provide opportunities rarely afforded to young girls of color in Brownsville and East New York. Throughout the year, Sorors leveraged their network to offer the young women more than 30 empowering sessions, including:
- Performing surgery on a chicken
- Drafting floor plans of the Eiffel Tower
- Reviewing the marketing campaign for Papa Johns
- Managing their individual stock portfolio
- Working on the fictional IPO of Facebook
- Buying and selling long-term debt on capital markets
- Originating real estate loans for investment
- Q&A sessions with Fortune 500 CEOs, Managing Directors and Vice Presidents
But the Delta Academy lessons weren’t just about academic excellence and career. In every session, the young women also learned about the values of sisterhood, self-esteem, leadership, and public service. Exercises with African American expressionist artists, creating vision boards and writing in their journals, helped them discover their voice and learn
to love themselves and their unique qualities.