The National Action Network and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., announced a partnership over the weekend aimed at mobilizing young Black leaders on college campuses through a national tour and civic engagement campaign that will begin this week at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
Leaders from Alpha Phi Alpha join with civil rights leader, the Reverend Al Sharpton, to launch the Ascend HBCU Tour. National Action Network
"This partnership represents a shared commitment to leadership, service, and collective action," said civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, in announcing the agreement with the nation's first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.
The Ascend HBCU Tour will bring civil rights advocacy directly to historically Black college campuses across the country through leadership training workshops, voter mobilization sessions, and organizing education designed to prepare students for immediate activism roles. Lincoln University will serve as the inaugural stop for the tour, marking the first campus visit in what organizers describe as a movement to "train, empower, and activate" the next generation of justice fighters.
The purpose of the tour is to connect students with civil rights movement veterans while addressing contemporary social justice issues including criminal justice reform and economic equality. The sessions are designed to provide interactive experiences that bring the urgency of historical civil rights struggles into conversation with modern campus leadership challenges.
Alpha Phi Alpha General President Lucien J. Metellus Jr., who took last year as the fraternity's 37th leader, pointed to voting rights as central to the initiative, reinforcing the organization's motto that "a voteless people is a hopeless people." He said that the voter mobilization component represents a critical element of the partnership, with both organizations committed to expanding civic participation among college-age Black Americans.
The partnership follows Alpha Phi Alpha's ongoing social justice work and NAN's decades of civil rights advocacy under Sharpton's leadership. Founded in 1906 at Cornell University, Alpha Phi Alpha has maintained a longstanding commitment to social action and community service, making the fraternity a natural partner for NAN's campus organizing strategy.
The organizations said the campus tour will provide students access to mentors, professional preparation opportunities, and training in organizing tactics for addressing systemic inequality. Workshop programming will focus on equipping students with practical skills for community organizing, advocacy, and leadership in social justice movements. Student leaders will also play a key role at NAN's national convention scheduled to take place in New York City in April.
The initiative comes as debates over diversity programs, voting access, and civil rights protections continue at the federal and state levels, creating what organizers describe as an urgent need for trained young activists prepared to defend and advance equality.
Beyond the campus tour, the partnership encompasses broader efforts to connect Alpha Phi Alpha's network of more than 290,000 members with NAN's grassroots organizing infrastructure, potentially amplifying both organizations' reach in communities nationwide.
