The International Trends and Services facet provides services and delivers transformational programs to people of African ancestry globally so that they may have a better quality of life. Programs are designed and developed to service educational, health and cultural needs and to help people emerge from poverty. A primary objective of our international work is to enrich the lives of women and their families.

Our “boots on the ground” approach provides for more personalized methods for assisting and improving the lives of women, children and men worldwide through long-term programs committed to empowerment and public policy leadership in advocating for social justice.

Since the International Trends and Services Facet was formed in 1970, The Links, Incorporated has demonstrated its commitment to enriching and sustaining the cultural and economic survival of people of African ancestry, through friendship and service. The Links have:

Education Across the Miles Signature Program

Since 1996, The Links, Incorporated has built, refurbished and furnished educational materials to more than 60 schools in South Africa, successfully making a direct and significant impact on the lives of thousands of African students and families.In 2013, we expanded our programmatic impact in Africa and adopted four schools in West Africa—the Todee School, AME University, the School for the Blind, and the Ann Sandell School. While engagement with these African schools continues today, we are also working with three primary schools in Jamaica—St. Mary’s Preparatory, Mt. Zion Primary, and Watford Hill Primary.

Through in-kind donations, monetary support, and the lending of professional expertise in curriculum and lesson plan development, we are aiding in the reestablishment of the South African, West African and Jamaican educational systems. An integral component of our outreach is the implementation of The Links, Incorporated Teacher Training program in partnership with governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. Through this program we empower teachers who complete the training to return to their schools and train other teachers.

LinksHelp for Humanity

The Links, Incorporated believes that all people have the right to live with dignity and have access to basic life necessities.To ensure sustainable livelihoods of people of African ancestry abroad The LinksHelp for Humanity programmatic outreach efforts focus on providing access to clean water, personal hygiene supplies, food, and medical attention and supplies.

Women’s Survival Kits – The Links, Incorporated supports women and girls in Haiti affected by the devastating 2010 earthquake through the distribution of Women’s Survival Kits. Our outreach provides a direct and deliverable service to Haitian communities. With the supplies needed for personal hygiene and daily living are still difficult to secure, this initiative aims to provide basic survival kits to women and girls in Haiti so they can preserve their dignity. Each kit assembled by members of The Links, Incorporated contains fundamental items, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soaps, and washcloths, that are too often taken for granted.

Toilets for Haiti – Sixty-six percent of Haitians living in urban settings don’t have access to improved sanitation and toilets, which has resulted in one of the most virulent cholera epidemics in the world and high rates of childhood diarrheal incidence.To address this crisis, we are working to deliver 1,000 dry toilets to Haitian residents so they may have access to toilets in their homes. In home toilets will provide families a sense of pride as well as increased safety and security, which will help to combat gender-based violence.Also, the waste will be collected and treated so that it can be used as fertilizer.