Lambda Pi Chi

Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. was established on April 16, 1988, at Cornell University by Patricia Rivera, Maria Caban, Eva Marie Sosa, Migdalia Franklin and Dr. Irma Almirall-Padamsee. The organization was founded upon three principles: La Cultura Latina (the Latino Culture), La Comunidad (the Community), and La Hermandad (the Sisterhood).[3] The founders of Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. envisioned an organization that would embrace Latina community leaders who wanted to make a positive impact at Cornell and the Latino community at large despite institutional struggles.[4] The sorority was helped heavily in its establishment by the fraternities Lambda Upsilon Lambda and Alpha Phi Alpha (who were also founded at Cornell University) and La Asociacion Latina present on campus.[5]

"The community of Latino students and staff at that time (1988) at Cornell was very small. Although there was a student association, which two of the other founders and I started (Las Associacion de Latinas Universitarias) [The Association of Latina University Women], it became clear that what many women really wanted and needed was a means by which to foster lifelong, deep friendships. Having a formal means by which women, who were especially interested in the richness of the Latino heritage, perceived themselves as leaders for their communities and were committed to making positive change for the latino community at the university and after graduation seemed to make sense. The curriculum was overwhelmingly Euro-centric and although of top caliber theoretically, left much to be desired by students who wanted to learn about the history, experience, and contributions of non-European communities. Our university had experienced various building takeovers, sit-ins, and eventually a hunger strike, which were directly triggered by Latino and black student dissatisfaction with the university's inability and seeming unwillingness to meaningfully address the financial, educational, and social needs of the students of color on campus."

— Dr. Irma Almirall-Padamsee, Nuestra Historia y Futuro (Our History and Future): Latino/a Fraternities and Sororities

Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. was the first Latina sorority incorporated in New York state.[6] During the organization's 2015 National Convention, members voted to become trans-inclusive, the first National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO) sorority to do so.[7]

On March 25, 2017, Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc., established their first chapter at a historically black college and university (HBCU), North Carolina Central University.[8] The Organization is the first Latina-based, and not exclusive, Sorority on the campus, and the second NALFO sorority to establish a chapter at a HBCU.[9][4]

Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi Sorority Inc. focuses on serving the Latino community with an emphasis on the Latina, communities of color, and members of other underserved communities.[10] To do this, the sorority partakes in two public service projects: L.E.A.A.P: Latinas Educating on AIDS Awareness and Prevention and Proyecto H.A.C.E.R. Hacer in Spanish means to make, to build, to do.[11][12]

On July 14, 2016, Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. announced two scholarship opportunities in honor of deceased Hermanas Fanny D. Carela and Gabby Oberti. The two scholarship opportunities are intended to embody the spirit and passion of the Hermanas and also invest in the advancement and education of La Hermanadad (the Sisterhood) and La Comunidad (the Community).[13]

Lambda Pi Chi currently has thirty-one undergraduate chapters and fourteen professional/graduate chapters:[4]

• Official website