History
Local History
The San Bernardino Valley Chapter (SBVC) of The Links, Incorporated was chartered on May 4, 1979. The co-organizers of the chapter are Mrs. Betty Dean Anderson and Mrs. Princie Smith. They first formed an interest group in 1978 consisting of nineteen service-minded women looking for ways to improve San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, as well as communities. They were charged with establishing a unique community event after their chartering. Thus, the first Breakfast Ball was held on Saturday, May 5, 1979. For more than 40 years, on the day before Mother’s Day, this flagship scholarship event has taken place.
Co-Founder Mrs. Betty Dean Anderson
Co-Founder Mrs. Princie Smith
2017 Breakfast Ball
1979 Breakfast Ball
SBVC has served San Bernardino, Riverside, the surrounding communities, and even internationally by offering resources, programming, and services. Our chapter has provided tutoring and mentoring programs for youth, encouraged civic involvement, promoted cultural enrichment, and provided free health and wellness workshops to the public. Further, SBVC has awarded over $500,000 in scholarships over the past 43 years.
The members of the San Bernardino Valley Chapter of The Links, Incorporated remain stalwart in our vision to enrich and improve the quality of life for people of African descent in our communities through friendship and service.
National History
Co-founded by Margaret Rosell Hawkins and Sarah Strickland Scott, The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation established on November 9, 1946. The membership consists of over 16,000 professional women of African descent in 292 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 women committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.
Co-Founder Margaret Rosell Hawkins
Co-Founder Sarah-Strickland-Scott