The Heart of ESP: An Extraordinary Service Program
Alpha Kappa Alpha will respond to the contemporary needs of the Black community with comprehensive non-traditional programs. The ESP vision embraces a five-pronged program designed to excite, galvanize and ignite the passions of more than 180,000 members worldwide. The goal is to transfer this enthusiasm into a collective resolve to parlay members' talents, energy and creativity to realize Alpha Kappa Alpha's enormous potential for empowerment, security and progress.
Drawing from the Sorority's tremendous reservoir of strength and commitment to serve, this extraordinary service program will have an immediate impact on its members, constituents and the broader community andpowerful results well into the future.
PLATFORM #1
Non-Traditional Entrepreneur Women are seizing the reins of entrepreneurship because they realize that it is the key to economic survival. As they become more of the business landscape and their enterprises grow, women are coming face to face with the challenges of managing and expanding new ventures. To build a strong foundation for women in business, Alpha Kappa Alpha will create economic expertise, success in business and power networking opportunities for the non-traditional entrepreneur.
PLATFORM #2 Economic Keys to Success Economic development is expanding its reach to a new global frontier. The Sorority must be poised to compete in these world markets. Simultaneously, living standards within the Black community must be improved. To achieve these goals, Alpha Kappa Alpha will, through education, synergy and partnerships, develop and disseminate the economic keys to success.
PLATFORM #3 The Economic Growth of the Black Family The strength of the Black community hinges on the viability of the family. If the family foundation is weak, so too will be the broader societal structure that gives life and nourishes the family unit. Alpha Kappa Alpha is sensitive to the fact that within the core structure, the Black male, in particular, faces potentially daunting challenges. Recognizing this, a powerful remedy lies in devising strategies for assisting young males in overcoming the formidable challenges to their educational development and well-being. Through activities that enable, support and provide access, Alpha Kappa Alpha will work to achieve the economic growth of the Black family.
PLATFORM #4 Undergraduate Signature Program: Economic Educational Advancement Through Technology Technology must be mastered if there is any hope of economic educational advancement. To address this powerful reality, Alpha Kappa Alpha resolves to work with higher educational institutions and other organizations that reach students to develop an exemplary model technology access and training program that serves the community and becomes part of the central activities of the institution. The Sorority will initiate an undergraduate signature program: economic educational advancement through technology.
PLATFORM #5 Health Resource Management and Economics To reach that stratosphere of satisfaction where one is physically and mentally fit and poised to embrace all of life's rewards and challenges requires a balance of emotional intelligence, optimal psychology and spirituality. Studies prove that when all of these elements are in divine order, physical health, relationships and life satisfaction will be the result. Through health resource management and economics, Alpha Kappa Alpha will address the many health issues and crises that face the Black community globally. The mandate in this platform is to gain emotional empowerment, develop social support networks and raise public awareness.
