Downtown Birmingham will be filled with the colors of pink and green this week as more than 6,000 women gather for days of camaraderie, celebration and community service.
Members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority began their southeastern regional conference on Wednesday. The gathering brings together 122 college and graduate chapters from Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi from April 29 to May 2.
“They worked hard to get us here and we are here in record numbers from the southeast,” said Tracey Morant Adams, AKA South Eastern Regional Director, noting collaboration with several partners, including the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“Events like this offer guests a great introduction to our city, and they generate significant impact for our local hotels, restaurants and other businesses,” Tad Snider, BJCC executive director told AL.com. “Our goal at the BJCC is to support our guests, provide them an excellent experience, and do our part to ensure they have a great time in Birmingham.”
The visitors’ bureau estimates that the event could generate $10 million in economic impact.
Adams also outlined activities that included community service and a public meeting featuring Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate turned national Democratic political activist. The Abrams event was free and open to the public.
Adams said service activities for the group included partnering with Birmingham City Schools, Kings Home and Children’s Village to donate and distribute non-perishable food items to area children in need for the Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack. Members also planted trees at Ensley Park.
“We are here to serve. We are here to give back. We are here to uplift our communities to make things better and brighter for others,” she said.
Adams, who has served as the group’s regional director since 2022, called the conference especially special to her, because it is hosted in her hometown. Birmingham last hosted the event six years ago.
“I am completing my second term, so it means so very much to come home for my final conference as the southeastern regional director and to bring the largest crowd in the history of the southern region to a regional conference, 6,250 to be exact,” she said to cheers and applause.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is the first Greek-lettered organization organized by college-educated African American women. It was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
