Over 6,000 members of America’s oldest service organization founded by college-trained African-American women will converge in New Orleans April 18 – 21, 2019, for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s 87th South Central Regional Conference.
Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha will engage in four days of leadership training and seminars highlighting the sorority’s International program theme, “Exemplifying Excellence Though Sustainable Service”.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha and a contender in for the Democratic nomination in 2020 presidential race, will deliver the keynote address at the Public Luncheon on Friday, April 19, according to a press release.
Friday will mark Harris’s second visit to the city in as many months. She was in New Orleans on Feb. 22, where she addressed hundreds of Black women attending at the annual Power Rising Conference.
The purpose of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s 2019 Public Luncheon is to increase awareness of child trafficking. During the event, the sorority will honor the agencies that are working to combat this global crisis, according to a press release.
The organization will also collaborate with Lions Club International and Soles4Souls to donate gently worn eye glasses and shoes to be distributed to recipients around the world.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards will also attend to welcome sorority members to the New Orleans area.
The South Central Region is the second largest region in the sorority with more than 7,000 members from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico.
The conference is expected to attract a record number of members in addition to their families and guests, where attendees will assemble at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
