The UNC Charlotte Collegiate Section of
The National Council of Negro Women, Inc.
We have a powerful potential in out youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends. - Mary McLeod Bethune, Founder
UNC Charlotte Collegiate Section
Chartered March 23rd, 2017
In the Summer of 2016, Cianni Dudley and Tyra Heckstall partnered together to establish an on campus chapter of National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). Cianni Dudley began by reaching out to the local Charlotte chapter of NCNW. Greta Adams, President of Charlotte section of NCNW, mentored her through starting a chapter on UNC Charlotte's campus. After about a month, they together launched a social media account for UNC-Charlotte's NCNW chapter on Instagram, starting out with an impressive 25 followers and tons of interests. They attracted many young women through the aspects of sisterhood and advocating for African American women and their families. This was the platform they utilized to recruit future executive board members and general body members.
Before the start of the semester these two managed to gain the interest of 25 girls, including candidates for future executive board members. By the end of July, elections had been held and NCNW announced its first executive board of 8 girls;
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Cianni Dudley as President
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Tyra Heckstall as 1st Vice President
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Mercy Mensah as 2nd Vice President
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Maiya Mccain Brooks as Treasurer
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Toni Rogers as Historian
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Jasmine Miller as Secretary
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Dia Jones as Community Outreach Co-Chair, and finally,
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Amanda Sherrod as Programing Co-chair.
On August 16th, The National Membership Director, David Glenn, Jr., informed the group that NCNW had become an interest group of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. During the first week of school, Cianni, Tyra, and Maiya visited Durham, NC and attended their first state coalition meeting where they met many other collegiate and local sections. These three young women were also recognized at the meeting for helping establish NCNW at UNC Charlotte’s campus. As time passed, Cianni, Tyra, and Maiya presented their dreams of chartering this organization on UNC-Charlotte's campus to the Student Government Association (SGA). They explained the importance of NCNW on UNC-Charlottes campus by emphasizing the organization's values and by describing how NCNW stood out from the many other African-American organizations already present here. After gaining approval from Heather Miller and the Senate of SGA, NCNW became an established organization on campus.
September 15th, 2016, UNC-Charlotte’s NCNW held its first Interest meeting, totaling the membership to 45 new members. New officers were elected, including our new treasurer, Danielle Caster, Parliamentarian, Lindsay Barthe, & Chaplain, Lyric Galloway.
Shortly after, NCNW then held its first community service project alongside the NAACP chapter at UNC-Charlotte and the Urban Ministries; it was called ‘Operation Sandwich’,
The ladies of NCNW have remained active in their service and strategic programming which upholds the ‘Four for the Future' initiatives left behind by our founding Mothers. We have hosted numerous programs these last few semesters, includingThe ladies of NCNW have enjoyed programming with other campus organizations including NAACP, Black History Club, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., American Marketing Association, Enactus and Building Better Brothers. Our first NCNW Week in February with the 1st VP and Programming Committee as head planners was successfully implemented.