New group hopes to connect women of color

WORCESTER – Deborah Plummer and Adrienne Hall-Phillips came from different parts of the country to Central Massachusetts to work in different jobs. But the two women said they encountered the same problem here.

"What I found challenging was to integrate myself into the community, to find a sense of belonging in my racial identity group," said Ms. Plummer, the vice chancellor of diversity and inclusion at UMass Medical School.

"I was struck by how hard it was to find other people like me," said Ms. Hall-Phillips, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. "Moving to New England was just very different."

Ms. Plummer, Ms. Hall-Phillips, and several dozen other women of color living and working in the area hope to change that perception through the founding of the first Central Massachusetts chapter of The Links, Incorporated, the historic international association of black women. In addition to connecting professional women of color in the region, the new chapter, which was officially chartered last week, is launching a campaign to create health awareness in communities of color in Worcester and surrounding towns.

As part of those efforts, the new group will maintain a close relationship with UMass Medical School, which provided initial resources and space for members as they planned the chapter over the last couple years. That partnership will be on display Saturday, for example, when UMass hosts and the Central Massachusetts Links sponsors the annual Multicultural Women’s Health Summit, a health symposium for local women of color the group has also been involved with putting on the last two years, before it became an official chapter of Links.

Founded in 1946, The Links today has nearly 15,000 members belonging to 289 chapters across the U.S., the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. The organization’s website describes it as one of the oldest and largest service associations focused on "enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African-Americans and other persons of African ancestry."

The name Links still carries weight in many African-American communities, where generations of women have been involved in the organization over the decades, according to Central Massachusetts chapter members.

"I knew mothers who were members, I had professors who were involved," said Bridgette Hylton, one of the 30 founding members of the region’s new chapter. "I had a general idea of what it was."

Ms. Plummer was intimately familiar with the organization, having already been a Links member when she moved to Worcester years ago. She was surprised to find her new home didn’t have a chapter of its own; the only affiliations in Massachusetts, she said, were in Western Massachusetts, Middlesex County, and Boston, the last of which Ms. Plummer ended up joining.

Seeing an opportunity, however, Ms. Plummer reached out to UMass Medical School Chancellor Dr. Michael Collins to get the university’s support for starting a local chapter. Ms. Plummer said the initiative fit well with the medical school’s goal of increasing diversity within its own ranks, as well as its service to the women of color living in Worcester and surrounding areas.

Around that same time, the beginnings of the new chapter took shape, as a group calling itself the Central Massachusetts Sisters of Excellence began meeting and planning for the chartering process, as well as doing work in the community, according to Ms. Hall-Phillips. Adding the Links label onto their outfit, she and other members said, not only adds valuable name recognition to their efforts, but also grants them access to the resources and programs offered through the main umbrella organization.

Their hope is those benefits will eventually translate to better lives and health outcomes for local women of color, who suffer from a "health disparity in Worcester – that to me is no secret," Ms. Hall-Phillips said.

While she also clarified Links is "not a health organization" that will be able to directly deliver medical services to women in need, the group does plan to be a visible and vocal source of information for that community. For example, one of the initial projects the chapter plans to work on is helping residents at Worcester’s Plumley Village, an apartment complex housing low-income, mostly minority residents that will soon be losing its onsite health center.

"I think Worcester in particular is growing ever more diverse," said Ms. Hylton, who works at the Counseling & Assessment Clinic of Worcester. "It seems like a good time for a group like this to meet people where they are, and be of service, we hope."

Ms. Plummer said there is promise just in having Links finally represented in the region.

"You had this hole in Central Massachusetts," she said. "I feel it’s complete now."