Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., was founded January 16, 1920 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., Zeta began as an idea conceived by five women known as our Five Pearls: Arizona Cleaver, Myrtle Tyler, Viola Tyler, Fannie Pettie and Pearl Neal. Our Founders dared to depart from the traditional coalitions for black women and sought to establish a new organization predicated on the precepts of Scholarship, Service, Sisterly Love, and Finer Womanhood. It was the ideal of the Founders that the Sorority would reach college women in all parts of the country who were sorority minded and desired to follow the founding principles of the organization.

Since its inception, the Sorority has chronicled a number of firsts. Zeta Phi Beta was the first Greek-letter organization to charter a chapter in Africa (1948); to form adult and youth auxiliary groups; to centralize its operations in a national headquarters; and to be constitutionally bound to a fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated.

Signature Programs

The women of Zeta strive to service their communities through programmatic endeavors supported by Zeta’s Signature Programs:

Z-HOPE (Zetas Helping Other People Excel) – From the Sorority’s inception, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. has long demonstrated an interest in serving the needs of the community. Z-HOPE programs serve to educate, inform and empower people from all walks of life about everything from handling finances and dealing with aging parents, to building waters wells and charter schools in Africa.

Stork’s Nest – Since 1972, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority has enjoyed a partnership with the March of Dimes in an effort to encourage women to seek prenatal care within the first trimester of pregnancy, thereby increasing the prevention of birth defects and infant mortality. The program is designed to promote prenatal care participation and healthy behaviors during the pregnancy through two components – incentives and education. The Stork’s Nest prenatal education sessions provide information, educational materials, and a variety of other resources and referrals that help clients take good care of themselves and their babies.

National Education Foundation – Zeta’s National Education Foundation (NEF) was established in l975. The principle activities and purpose of the trust are to award scholarship grants to worthy students for the pursuit of higher education; to conduct community educational programs which will aid in the educational and vocational improvement in individual and community living standards; to engage in activities which will aid in the educational development of all women; and to engage in any appropriate research related to the purposes of the Foundation scholarship.