National Society of Black Engineers

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit association that is owned and managed by its members. The organization is dedicated to the academic and professional success of African-American engineering students and professionals. NSBE offers its members leadership training, professional development, mentoring opportunities, career placement services and more. NSBE is comprised of 242 collegiate, 70 professional and 82 pre-college active chapters nationwide and overseas.  These chapters are geographically divided into six regions. NSBE is governed by an executive board of college students and engineering professionals and is operated by a professional staff in our World Headquarters located in Alexandria, VA. NSBE has accomplished more for Black engineering students than any other organization in the world. The same light that flows from the NSBE torch to students and professionals in the United States is also relevant for NSBE students in Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean. It is the goal of the Society to replicate its mission and vision in countries around the world, creating a global network of Black engineers, scientists and technologists.

www.nsbe.org/

Black Women’s Agenda

Black Women’s Agenda was founded in 1977 in Washington, DC. It evolved from the work of ten courageous women who responded to an urgent call to recognize and articulate the needs of Black women within the then emerging women’s movement, by developing a Black Women’s Action Plan for the International Women’s Year (IWY) Conference held in Houston, Texas in November, 1977. The Action Plan, enthusiastically embraced by the Black delegates to the Conference, subsequently became the basis for the resolution on the rights of minority women, which was adopted overwhelmingly by the 2,000 conference delegates.

Building on the momentum of the IWY Conference, the ten women formed BWA as an active organization in the Nation’s capital to implement the recommendations in the Black Women’s Action Plan. In September, 1979, the leaders of forty-three Black women’s organizations met with the ten founders and pledged their support for the mission and program of the Black Women’s Action Plan, dedication to education, advancing, and supporting progressive measures for Black women. In June 1979, BWA conducted its first issues workshop on Capitol Hill. Since that date, it has conducted an array of activities, including town meetings for citizen dialogue with US Presidential candidates, and a popular issues workshop and luncheon held annually in Washington, DC in conjunction with the Congress. 


http://www.bwa-inc.org

National Women of Achievement

A grand and noble woman, Madame Maudest Walls Stewart, of Houston, Texas in 1975 had a long time dream of a legacy for tremendous opportunities for our women to make outstanding contributions to the welfare of one another, our youth, and our country. Based on this premise, Madame Stewart shared her dream and invited a group of women to her home who had achieved in various fields for the formation of this organization. The women who assembled at the request of her invitation were Mesdames Josie B. Taylor, Ozell Taylor Johnson, Eddie M. Johnson, Stella Collins, Lorene B. Lancelin, Judge Alice A. Bonner, and Dr. Hortense W. Dixon. The history of National Women of Achievement, Inc. documents these seven women as charter members of this organization. Achievers Maudest Walls Stewart, Josie B. Taylor, Dr. Hortense W. Dixon, Lorene B. Lancelin, Stella Collins and Eddie M. Johnson are now deceased.

   

On February 7, 1975, according to the minutes of the first meeting, these women and the Founder began a movement for thinking, planning, and growing. The first subject for consideration was to establish the purpose for which these women had banded themselves – to encourage youth and women to strive for excellence, to maintain high moral and ethical standards, and to make outstanding contributions in the fields of medicine, law, religion, business, politics, music, education, dentistry and other career fields of their choice. From that day, February 7, 1975, the birthday of National Women of Achievement, Achievers thought together, planned together, and reached decisions together that they might render the highest service to one another, our youth, and our country.

National Women of Achievement encourages youth through our scholarship program and recognize outstanding community leaders through our annual “Profiles of Prominence.”

http://www.nationalwomenofachievement.org/

The National Coalition of 100 Black Women

In the winter of 1970 in New York City, 24 Black women, led by visionary Edna Beach, began meeting in their homes to assess the problems and opportunities left behind in the wake of the turbulent 1960s.  As a result of their meetings, they formed the Coalition of 100 Black Women.  For the rest of the 1970s, they slowly but persistently worked to master root causes of issues that affected their families, their communities and themselves.  They boldly began to reach out to other Black women in common cause, and eventually, mobilized their emerging stature as a visible force of influence promoting gender and racial equity.

In 1981, the New York Coalition had over 500 members throughout New York City’s metropolitan area, far in excess of the symbolic “100” in its title. Its effective role-model projects and its association with grass-roots community activity won notice in both local and national news media.  As the Coalition gained recognition, Black women from other parts of the country aspired to duplicate its mission and programs in their own geographic areas.

In 1981, it decided to create a national organization, to expand beyond the boundaries of New York City, and, accordingly, to include the term “National” in the original title.  The National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) was launched on October 24, 1981, with representatives from 14 states and the District of Columbia, with Jewell Jackson McCabe as its first national president.  The rapidity by which the organization grew is attested to by the statistics of 1986:  47 chapters in 19 states, with a membership of 3,000.  Discussions at meetings and other gatherings grew more and more serious and wide ranging. 

http://www.ncbw.org