Our Herstory

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There were seventeen...

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...dedicated and diverse women at the University at Albany, State University of New York that united with a vision to address the apathy in Latina women and create an organization that would be an outlet to ignite change.  Omega Phi Beta's foundation was built to fight against the injustices historically suffered by our gender.  Our founders created a vehicle to fight for women of color as a historically marginalized group in society and promote women's empowerment.  As the first Latina-oriented organization in the history of the University at Albany, they struggled to establish our organization, our purpose and most importantly, a precedent.

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     With an emphasis on community service, leadership, diversity and sisterhood, Omega Phi Beta immediately became a positive influence within the community at the University at Albany, as well as in the city of Albany. Realizing the importance of expanding our service we established a second chapter, the Beta Chapter at SUNY New Paltz in the Spring of 1991.

 

     What brought together our prominent seventeen founders and what attracted those initial intake classes, still attracts so many women today. Although our orientation is Latina, we are open to women of all cultural backgrounds; the diversity of our membership and our seventeen founders attests to this fact.  The importance of our sisterhood's diversity is due to the desire of identifying with and establishing our cultures as well as symbolizing our values of unity, pride, honesty, and strength. Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated thrives on the diversity of its members and we attribute a lot of our success to our organization's ability to embrace each member's differences. 

 

     As Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. moves towards the future we can look back with pride. Since 1989, we have managed to serve and educate a multitude of communities, donated monies to various charities, served thousands of hours and continued to excel in academic pursuits inclusive of recognition at various campuses as the sorority with the highest grade point average. Along our accomplishments within our communities we have managed to excel as a sisterhood by providing each other with unconditional support in professional and personal endeavors. Omega Phi Beta has been able to capture the true essence of sisterhood and we are eagerly open to extend our family to others.