About URO | AKA-URO

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URO Chapter History

Capturing a vision fair: the uplifting, remarkable and outstanding Upsilon Rho Omega Chapter – beginning as The Sisterly Connection interest group -- was chartered on Saturday, June 7, 1997, in Overland Park, KS in the sorority’s Mid-Western Region. Charter members are Versie L. Black, Sena L. Brewer, Climetine Clayburn, Mary C. Francis, Lucinda Herman, Ruby P. Ivy, Delores C. Lewis,
Gloria L. Mayfield, Kimberly A. McCauley-Mitchem, Theresa A. McLoyd, Theresa M. Newell, Gayle Newson, Thelma J. Simmons, Katie L. Washington, and Diann G. West.

A fellowship sincere and rare: Upsilon Rho Omega is the most recently chartered AKA chapter in the Kansas City metropolitan area. We maintain strong ties with our military sorors stationed at Fort Leavenworth, KS. More than half of our chapter members have the AKA legacy running richly through their families; two of our newest members are the daughters of sorors. With main and with might: in its more than two decades of service to all mankind, Upsilon Rho Omega has awarded more than $95,000 in scholarships to more than 100 high school graduates in the Kansas City metropolitan area, who then attend and graduate from historically black colleges and universities, Ivy League institutions and other prestigious academic organizations. The chapter guided these students to success via their participation in the sorority’s signature programs for youth, including HBCU for Life, ASCEND SM, Emerging Young Leaders, and Ivy AKAdemy. The Little Black Dress Soiree and Emerald Ball, annual fundraising events, inspire the community to support URO’s endeavors.

Things that are worthwhile: Upsilon Rho Omega is a 2014 winner of a Points of Light Foundation grant for a Sunday Supper honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, hosting a program for more than 200 community leaders, residents, students, and activists at Kansas City Kansas Community College. URO’s longtime partnerships with community advocacy and health promotion agencies like the Alzheimer’s Association, Harvesters Food Network, and the Second Baptist Church Community Garden and Playground demonstrate the chapter’s dedication to service to all mankind. Hearts that are loyal and true: regionally, URO shines as an annual awards earner for standards and operations and for program excellence, conference attendance, and scrapbook. Chapter members helm regional leadership roles: current chapter president Lenora A. Ivy served as the Mid-Western Regional Representative to the International Program Committee from 2010-2014 and serves on the present regional Evaluation and Investigation Committee; Janis Grubbs Cobbs is the Chairman of the Regional Spiritual Oversight Committee and Kelly G. Loeb is Editor-in-Chief of The P.E.A.R.L. Report, the regional newsletter. The chapter hosted the Mid-Western Regional Conferences in Overland Park, KS (2006) and Wichita, KS (2016) and the Cluster B & C Conference in 2018.

Welcome to a legacy of sisterhood and service...

Former Chapter Presidents

1997-1998 Sena Brewer

1999-2000 Theresa M. Newell

2001-2002 Lenora A. Ivy

2003-2004 Betty Hunter

2004-2006 Rachel D. Inabinett

2007 Diann G. West

2007-2008 Susan Cotton Stephens

2009-2010 Climetine Clayburn

2011-2012 Clarinda Baker

2013-2014 Kelly G. Loeb