DELTA ACADEMY & DELTA G.E.M.S
Delta Academy and Delta GEMS are youth initiatives sponsored by the Little Rock Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated as educational development & service projects. The overarching goal is to guide girls into womanhood with educational support and professional guidance that will teach them how to create opportunities for academic success, to enhance their decision-making, communication skills, develop their abilities and talents, to compete in a global society, and become change agents in the transformations of their communities.
The Delta Academy Delta GEMS (DADG) Committee is committed to addressing the many sides of young girls’ needs. Mentoring encourages our girls to disbelieve stereotypes and become leaders. Our primary aim is to serve as a motivational tool targeting African American female teenagers resulting in an increased knowledge and awareness of issues and concerns affecting women today.
The objectives and goals of the DADG Committee will be accomplished through workshops on:
-
Scholarship (Academic Excellence)
-
Sisterhood (Self Esteem, Health Awareness & Leadership)
-
Showing Me the Money (Financial Awareness)
-
Service (Social Responsibility Obtained Through Community Service)
Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy
Embracing Girl Power on Purpose
Delta Academy is designed to offer opportunities to young women of great promise who might otherwise be excluded because they lack support, resources, and encouragement. The Delta Academy recognizes the disadvantages many young women in various communities face because of gender, income, age, and parental resources despite the personal potential of the girls themselves.
Delta Academy provides an opportunity to enrich and enhance the education that our young teens receive in public schools. 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.
The Delta Academy is designed for young women who meet the following criteria:
▲ Is 11 to 14 years of age.
▲ Demonstrates great academic and personal promise; lacks support and encouragement.
▲ Shows interest in developing leadership skills.
▲ Shows interest in community action and social change.
▲ Shows interest in non-traditional STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers.
Dr. Jeanne L. Noble Delta G.E.M.S Institute
Growing & Empowering Myself Successfully
A natural outgrowth and expansion for the continuation of the highly successful Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy: 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 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.”
The goals for Delta GEMS are:
▲ To instill the need to excel academically
▲ To provide tools that enable girls to sharpen and enhance their skills to achieve high levels of academic success
▲ To assist girls in proper goal setting and planning for their futures in high school and beyond
▲ To create compassionate, caring and community-minded young women by actively involving them in service learning and community service opportunities.