The Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy

Catching the Dreams of Tomorrow, Preparing Young Women for the 21st Century: The Delta Academy was created in 1996 out of an urgent sense that bold action was needed to elevate our young females (ages 11-14, grades 6-8) from the perils of academic failure, low self-esteem, and disenfranchised futures. Delta Academy provides an opportunity for AWVAC to enrich and enhance young teens' education in public schools across the nation. Specifically, we focus on achieving scholastic math, science, and technology. In addition, we provide opportunities in the form of leadership through service learning, defined as the cultivation and maintenance of relationships. A primary goal is to prepare young girls for full participation as leaders in the 21st Century.

The Delta Academy program through AWVAC is held on Saturdays, once a month from January through June.  The program includes topics and discussions relevant to the challenges we face today.  The activities implemented most often include self-esteem,  etiquette workshops, and activities that give access to college exposure, 

Events include special outings to cultural events, fancy dinners, museums, plays, and concerts when a safe external environment permits.  

A natural outgrowth and expansion for the continuation of the highly successful Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy, Delta GEMS was created to catch the dreams of African-American adolescent girls aged 14-18 (grades 9-12). Delta GEMS provides the framework to actualize those dreams through the performance of specific tasks that develop a CAN DO attitude. The goals for Delta GEMS are:

1. To instill the need to excel academically;
2. To provide tools that enable girls to sharpen and enhance their skills to achieve high levels of academic success;
3. To assist girls in proper goal setting and planning for their futures in high school and beyond; and
4. To create compassionate, caring, and community-minded young women by actively involving them in service-learning and community service opportunities.

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 the Arizona West Valley Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Delta GEMS participants have the opportunity to define and “Discover their individual Brilliance.”

The program curriculum is governed by our national Five-Point Programmatic Initiative (Economic Development, Educational Development, International Awareness, and Involvement, Political Awareness, and Involvement, and Physical and Mental Health). All Sorority volunteers have received national background checks and have completed the sorority’s required Risk Management Training. The curriculum  includes workshops on the following topics:

-  Career Exploration

-   Money Management

-   Emergency Preparedness/Response

-   Leadership

-   Reading Clubs

-   Social Media ; Information Literacy

-   STEM

-   International Awareness and Involvement

-  Character Development

-  Physical and Mental Health

-  Self Esteem and What We Can Do About It

-  Peer Pressures

-  Civic Responsibility

-  Human Trafficking

-  Juvenile Justice

-  Social Action