About our Fraternity

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. develops leaders, promotes brotherhood and academic excellence, while providing service and advocacy for our communities.

Since it's founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has supplied voice and vision to the struggle of African-Americans and people of color around the world.

Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of Brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The visionary founders, known as the "Jewels" of the Fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

The Fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. The Jewel founders and early leaders of the Fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity.

Alpha Phi Alpha chapters were established at other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. The first Alumni Chapter was established in 1911. While continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African-Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community's fight for civil rights through leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, Paul Robeson, and many others. True to its form as the "first of firsts," Alpha Phi Alpha has been interracial since 1945.

"Go-To-High School, Go-To-College"

Established in 1922, the Go-To-High School, Go-To-College program is intended to afford Alpha men with the opportunity to provide young participants with role models. The program concentrates on the importance of completing secondary and collegiate education as a path to advancement and to provide information and strategies to facilitate success.

"A Voteless People is a Hopeless People"

"A Voteless People is a Hopeless People" was initiated as a National Program of Alpha during the 1930s when many African-Americans had the right to vote but were prevented from voting because of poll taxes, threats of reprisal, and lack of education about the voting process. Voter education and registration has since remained a dominant focus in the fraternity's planning. In the 1990s, the focus has shifted to promotion of political awareness and empowerment, delivered most often through use of town meetings and candidate forums. Members are required to be registered voters, and to participate in the national voter registration program.

"Project Alpha"

Alpha Phi Alpha, Iota Delta Lambda Chapter (Chicago) and the March of Dimes began a collaborative program called Project Alpha in 1980. The project consists of a series of workshops and informational sessions conducted by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers to provide young men with current and accurate information about teen pregnancy prevention. Alpha Phi Alpha also participates in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica and raised over $181,000 in 2006.

"Brother's Keeper Program"

Brother's Keeper is a service program developed with the mission of advocating for and improving the quality of life for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. brothers, their spouses, and widows who are retired, are elders, have disabilities and are ailing. Upon identification of need, the Brother's Keeper Program also provides assistance to mature and ailing members of its communities. Limitations caused by advanced age place demands on family members, caregivers, and the larger community to ensure that elders remain independently functional. The goal of the Brother's Keeper Program is to promote dignity and independence among Alpha family and community members who need help in keeping their lives and homes functional. There are seven objectives to the program:

Objective 1: Assist in maintaining living environments that are compatible with participants' levels of functioning;

Objective 2: Assist in maintaining the upkeep of participants' properties;

Objective 3: Assist with health care decision making;

Objective 4: Provide companionship;

Objective 5: Provide legal services;

Objective 6: Provide transportation; and

Objective 7: Ensure adequate supplies of food, water, and clothing, with special emphasis on disaster management and recovery.

March of Dimes

Big Brothers & Big Sisters

Boy Scouts of America

American Cancer Society

For more information about Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., visit the national website by clicking this link.

For more information about the Eastern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., visit the website by clicking this link.

For more information about the NY Association of Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (NYACOA), visit the website by clicking this link.