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The Links, Incorporated commitment to community service is made manifest through four main facets: National Trends and Services, Services to Youth, International Trends and Services and The Arts. Areas and chapters embrace programs that combine the effective coordination of all four facets into a "full umbrella program."

Sample recent community service initiatives of the San Francisco Chapter of The Links, Incorporated include:


National Trends and Services


The programmatic thrust of this facet has been to provide community programs that increase awareness of issues that affect the quality of life of African Americans. This facet has historically addressed health care and other issues of national significance.
  • Community Health Fairs (Kaiser Permanente, Bayview-Hunter's Point)
  • Organ donor awareness program (California Transplant Donor Network, Kaiser) sponsorship of "Donor Sunday"
  • UNCF College Fund Walk-A-Thon: Annual Participation
  • Life Skills Management for Seniors


International Trends and Services


The Links continue to strengthen linkages within the global community particularly on the African continent and throughout the world, while diligently working for world peace and understanding.
  • Maama Kits (childbirth safety in rural Africa)
  • African water wells project
  • School-in-a-box Rwanda education project
  • Edgewood Center: exploring Africa project
  • Saturday Breakfast Club in Bayview-Hunters Point: Africa education workshop


The Arts


Over the past forty-two years, The Links, Incorporated have established a strong and rich history in support of the performing and visual arts. They have provided scholarships for talented individuals, sponsored quality programs for showcasing emerging talent as well as established artists, through many on-going programs and projects for their respective communities.

The Links, Incorporated are at the forefront of organizational advocacy for the preservation of our African American cultural heritage. Outstanding local and national projects have made the name "Links" synonymous with excellence in arts activities, which have included conducting arts camps in the southern states, showcasing artistically talented individuals, and making financial contributions to major art museum exhibitions.


  • Collaborations with Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (Henry Ossawa Tanner; Jacob Lawrence: The Frederick Douglass and Harriett Tubman Series 1939; Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance and Eternal Egypt exhibitions
  • Co-sponsor, Opening Reception for David Driskell exhibition
  • Art acquisition funding support (sample artists: Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas)
  • Fine Arts Museums board membership and docent support
  • Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD): board leadership
  • MoAD major donor and docent support


Services to Youth


Through the Services to Youth facet, The Links, Incorporated is committed to maintaining a strong leadership role in addressing the critical issues of public education. The Services to Youth facet has evolved to incorporate a variety of efforts aimed toward African American youth and families. The mission of the Services to Youth facet is to provide a range of innovative, substantive and sustainable Pre-K-16 programming, which contributes proven results to key educational and/or social/community issues.

  • Project LEAD: High Expectations (George Washington Carver Elementary School)
  • "Responsibility Begins with Me" - Umbrella Program (Western Addition YMCA)
  • Edgewood Children's Center: hands-on support of program
  • Boys and Girls to Work program: sponsorship
  • Bayview Hunters Point Empowerment Task Force - Saturday Breakfast Club Literacy Program