Ninety four years ago, seven black students attending Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., came together to form a tool of leadership among blacks.

        It started as a study club where the black students would study together to help each other. The club later became the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. It is the oldest intercollegiate black fraternity in the country.

        Today, members of the Delta Gamma Lambda Chapter of the fraternity will gather at 7:30 p.m. at the Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Road, Sharonville, to celebrate Founder's Day.

        “It is a time to reflect and re-dedicate ourselves to the vision the seven founders had when they started the fraternity,” said Myron Brown, president of Delta Gamma Lambda, which has about 300 members. “Many chapters around the country have celebrated earlier since the actual date the fraternity was founded was Dec. 4, 1906.”

        Throughout Alpha Phi Alpha chapters around the country the founders are referred to as the Seven Jewels because of the heart and strength they had to form such an organization at that time.

        Mr. Brown said the Alpha's motto is: “First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All.”

        “This is our motto because we were the first,” Mr. Brown said. “The motto is the basis of the goals and ideals being exhibited by Alphas today.”

        He said the local chapter participates in three programs the Alphas sponsors nationally:

        • Project Alpha, a counseling program to prevent teen pregnancy.

        • Go To School, Go To College, a mentoring program the local chapter sponsors through Withrow High School.

        • A voter registration program, called A Voteless People is a Hopeless People.

        “We try to educate people about the voting process and urge them to register to vote,” Mr. Brown said.

        Dr. Bradley Jackson, a pediatrician with the Bethesda Group Practice Inc, at Good Samaritan Hospital, is the keynote speaker.

        The WCET Channel 48 Capital Campaign received a $500,000 donation from Fifth Third Bank this week.

        The donation was made possible through the Fifth Third Foundation, Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust. The donation puts Campaign for WCET one step closer toward its goal of $7.5 million.

        The money will help finance the equipment WCET needs to convert to digital technology.

        Trustees of the Queen City Foundation added two members to the board this week. Elected were Barbara Gould, partner with Jcurve Recording Co., and Charles Whitehead, president of Ashland Inc., Foundation.

        Ms. Gould and Mr. Whitehead are also members of the board of directors of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Ms. Gould was an Enquirer Woman of the Year in 1997. She is on the board of Cincinnati Opera and Talbert House.

        Mr. Chairs the Kentucky's Council on Post Secondary Education and also serves on the board of the Cincinnati May Festival and is treasurer of the NAACP Special Contribution Fund.

        The Queen City Foundation is a local non-profit organization that recruits minority students to apply for admission to independent college preparatory schools.

       Allen Howard's column runs on Saturdays. Call: 768-8362. Mail: The Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.

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