By Emily Mukasa
It took Danielle Brito six years to enroll in university after completing high school, because she didn’t have enough money to both pay for tuition and care for her daughter, now 9 years old.
Brito, although a single mother, was searching for a way to attend college when she reconnected with high school friend Jose Guardiola, a student at the Metropolitan State College of Denver.
Guardiola, 27, who is the president of the Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity at Metro, persuaded Brito to enroll there and immediately join a sorority.
Brito, who later became the vice president of the Metro chapter of Lambda Theta Nu, received her degree as a social worker this May. The 27-year-old mother and college graduate thanks her sorority for giving her experience with reaching out to the community.
"As a member of the Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, I have had a strong support system while attending higher education. I have learned how to be professional, but more importantly how to be a leader within my community that will benefit my position as a social worker," said Brito.
Denver chapters of Black and Latino Greek organizations like Lambda Theta Nu, Sigma Gamma Rho, Delta Sigma Beta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, and Sigma Lambda Beta have a long history of giving minorities a sense of belonging. These sororities and fraternities were founded in the 1900s with the aim of promoting cultural, educational and health awareness among their people, and they have persisted to guard and keep their mission alive. The Black and Latino students and graduates, who join these organizations, feel they are an avenue for their voices to be heard and common problems to be solved among their people.
Although Charleszine Nelson, Loretta Richardson, and Jennifer Carter believe people should join organizations of their choice, they also believe people can benefit from joining an organization affiliated with their race. The three said that people build on their history by not forgetting how they started and what they went through.
Carter, the financial secretary of the Denver Beta Rho Sigma Alumni Chapter, said that issues are better solved within communities of people with the same backgrounds.
Nelson, the research manager at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, and Richardson, a retired educator, are members of the Black Alpha Kappa Alpha Graduate Sorority, which they said has given them significant experiences.
“Leadership helped me when I received job promotions because I had a lot of experience from my sorority job assignments that involved decision-making and project management,” Richardson said
Some of the experiences cited by Nelson and Richardson involved dealing with issues commonly faced by Black communities in Colorado. The two sorority sisters emphasize that supporting the Black community, especially the children, upholds their sorority motto, “Greater Service and Greater Progress,” which encourages the young generation to struggle for success.
Because Black children have been unfairly treated throughout time, sorority membership dues have been used to donate money, laptop computers, and scholarships to girls in historically Black institutions, they said.
“Since our children are treated unequally, to encourage them, we honor Black girls that graduate from different schools like Emily Griffith, by awarding them scholarships,” said Richardson.
When people of the same race come together and pursue a common goal, it can lead to uncommon success among people in that community.
Janelle Lindsey, president of the Delta Sigma Delta Black Sorority in Denver, said she has changed tremendously as a result of her sorority offering political, international, economic development, and health awareness to the Black community.
“It changed my leadership skills and gave me sisters in the world, because everywhere you go, you find Deltas ready to help you out with something,” Lindsey said.
Alpha Phi Alpha, a two-member Black fraternity chapter at Metro, blossomed with chapters at the University of Northern Colorado, Colorado University, and Colorado State University.
Alpha Phi Alpha president, Hashim Coates, is a 31-year-old sophomore majoring in criminal justice at Metro. He said his fraternity’s participation in the community has enabled him to gain a sense of togetherness. His fraternity raises money to fund education and health awareness events for Black men at schools and around the community.
“Education is the main focus in fraternities, because without it, you have nothing,” Coates said. “We continue to make young men aware of AIDS, and to take responsibility for their actions all the time, since there are so many children born out of wedlock, too.”
Similar to Black fraternities, their Latino equivalents have inspirational mottos which promote their organizational purpose. The Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity motto is, “Opportunity for Wisdom, and Wisdom for Culture.”
Guardiola, the fraternity’s president, has been involved with such organizations since he was 12, due to his uncles’ involvement. He believes a fraternity can lose its ideals if its leaders are not confident to make sure that members maintain those values.
“We want to uphold our ideals and morals. We do not want to disrespect them, because that is our life and passion,” Guardiola said.
In addition to his fraternity raising funds to bring in role models like Cesar Chavez to speak at children’s assemblies, it organizes Open Door Youth Programs to teach English to non-English-speaking students.
Through the Jacob Anthony Bustos Memorial Scholarship, his fraternity gives $500 to graduating high school students. Bustos was Guardiola’s friend who helped create the scholarship, but who passed away after what Guardiola described as a violent fight. Keeping Bustos’ name on the scholarship helps keep his name alive, he said.
Sororities and fraternities are also supportive of each other. Like some of the Black organizations, Guardiola said, most Latino organizations have a national list of jobs and scholarships e-mailed to them everyday.
“It is who you know. If you know someone working at Metro State, and he is your fraternity brother, of course, he will put in a word for you,” he said.
When it comes to joining Black and Latino organizations, they all have common criteria.
Members must be enrolled in a four-year institution, maintain a certain level of grades, and take at least 2.45 credits in a semester. Members of graduate chapters should be graduates with credible referrals.
Coates of Alpha Phi Alpha also reminds people hoping to join his fraternity not to just wake up and join without thinking of an asset they will bring to both the fraternity and community as well. People should be prepared to use the power and privilege of their organizations to better serve not only the community but their fraternities as well, he concluded.
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