PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY, INC.
Culture For Service and Service For Humanity
The Official Website of
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
State of Illininois
WHO WE ARE
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The Founders, Honorable A. Langston Taylor, Honorable Leonard F. Morse, and Honorable Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.
The Founders deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as “a part of” the general community rather than “apart from” the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged by his own merits, rather than his family background or affluence…without regard to race, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They desired for their fraternity to exist as part of an even greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the “inclusive we” rather than the “exclusive we”.
From its inception, the Founders also conceived Phi Beta Sigma as a mechanism to deliver services to the general community. Rather than gaining skills to be utilized exclusively for themselves and their immediate families, they held a deep conviction that they should return their newly acquired skills to the communities from which they had come. This deep conviction was mirrored in the Fraternity’s motto, “Culture For Service and Service For Humanity”.
Today, Phi Beta Sigma has blossomed into an international organization of leaders. No longer a single entity, members of the Fraternity have been instrumental in the establishment of the Phi Beta Sigma National Foundation, the Phi Beta Sigma Federal Credit Union and The Sigma Beta Club Foundation. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, founded in 1920 with the assistance of Phi Beta Sigma, is the sister organization of the Fraternity.
WHAT WE DO
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., is an international organization comprised of 150,000 college-educated men, and built primarily on the ideology of promoting Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service. Over its one hundred plus years of existence, the Fraternity has focused on improving the global community through dedicated service. This focus has compelled the development of the organization’s four main programs: Bigger and Better Business, Education, Social Action and Sigma Beta Clubs that embrace these objectives:
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To support Sigma’s vision of ensuring programs are focused and committed to serving our communities and serving young males through mentoring and scholarships;
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To ensure symmetry among all organizational and community initiatives;
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To develop a sense of pride and commitment in the community toward healthy living that will reduce the incidences of health conditions that adversely affect men of color.
Through the lens of these programs, members determine how best they can serve their respective communities. For example, our national mentoring program for males ages 8-18 provides for the development of young men as they prepare for college and the workforce. The organization’s partnerships with the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Boy Scouts of America and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund are examples of its efforts to address societal ills including health disparities and educational and developmental challenges for people of all backgrounds.
NATIONAL PROGRAMS
