Senator Edward W. Brooke (AP file photo by Michael Dwyer)
(Baltimore, MD) –Darryl R. Matthews, 32nd General President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. just accepted a donation presented by Alpha Brother Senator Edward W. Brooke and his wife Anne Brooke in the amount of $100,000.
This donation is to go to the Alpha Phi Alpha Charitable Foundation and used to provide resources including scholarships for young African American males who seek to pursue a career in education, specifically teaching; an area that Senator Brooke holds dear. Senator Brooke’s remarks included, “African American male teachers in public schools are needed in order to curtail the imbalance between the number of African American malescurrently in jail and rather than in college.”
The donation took place during a private luncheon held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, Florida on Saturday, November 22, 2008.
Senator Brooke is the first African American to be elected by popular vote to the Senate since Reconstruction. And, is one of only five African American Senators which includes now President –Elect Barack Obama.
Founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. has continued to supply voice and vision to the struggle of African Americans and people of color around the world. The Fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African-American community's fight for civil rights, through Alpha men such as Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, Retired Senator Edward Brooke and Cornel West. Others include members of the 110th Congress including: Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO), Charles B. Rangel (NY), Danny K. Davis (IL), Chaka Fattah (PA), Al Green (TX), Gregory Meeks (NY), David Scott (GA), Robert C. Scott (VA). The fraternity through its college and alumni chapters serves the community through nearly a thousand chapters in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean.