Andrea Williams has been a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. since 2003. She serves as the president of the Beta Alpha Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on November 13, 2025 at 11:21 am
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In Jacksonville, the idea of a prosecutor, housing executive and drug prevention specialist walking into a room is not the beginning of a joke; it’s an illustration of the deep roots that Black Greek letter organizations have.
This weekend may illustrate the economic benefit and community engagement the five Black fraternities and four Black sororities that are commonly known as the Divine Nine have in Northeast Florida.
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Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. kicked off its Southeast Regional Conference in Ponte Vedra Beach on Thursday. More than 60 women and men from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and even Trinidad and Tobago will discuss the power of leadership and the strength of sisterhood.
This Saturday, the Theta Phi chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. will hold a ceremony where it honors local veterans and awards scholarships to Northeast Florida students.
Sunday, the First Coast National Pan-Hellenic Council, a collection of all nine Black Greek letter organizations, will hold a tailgate prior to the Jaguars football game.
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Who are the Divine Nine?
There are nine organizations that are part of the Divine Nine. The fraternities are Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma and Iota Phi Theta. The local chapters for the Alphas, Kappas and Omegas all celebrate their centennial this year.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority each have chapters here and devote thousands of hours of volunteerism each year.
Making an imprint in the River City
The Kappas and Deltas also have held regional gatherings with at least 500 attendees in Jacksonville within the last three years.
Over the last two years, Jacksonville’s AKAs have raised more than $400,000 to fund education and health initiatives in Northeast Florida.
This year alone, Delta’s Jacksonville Alumnae Chapter awarded $125,000 in scholarships to Northeast Florida high school and college students.
Andrea Williams says Zeta Phi Beta’s commitment to service led her to join while an undergraduate at Valdosta State. Williams, who works in corporate social responsibility for a large company, is in her second term as president of the Beta Alpha Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta, which has more than 100 members.
The Zeta’s purchased a home on Moncrief Road in 1979 in order to be closer to the community they serve. The presence allows them to hold informational sessions for expectant mothers in an attempt to reduce infant mortality in a ZIP code where the infant mortality rate is higher than the city, state and national average.
“You would be hard pressed to find an industry in Jacksonville … anything from the military, physicians, educators, people that are in business,” Williams says. “We have all kinds of industries that are reflected in our membership. When you expand that into the greater goal of connectivity between organizations, you would be hard pressed to find someone not affiliated with a Black Greek letter organization.”
Williams’ point may be reflected in the leadership of the local Divine Nine organizations.
Omega president Octavius Holliday is a special prosecutor within the 4th Judicial Circuit; former Jacksonville Housing Authority CEO Rosalyn Mixon Phillips also serves as president of the Gamma Rho Omega chapter of AKA. And, current Kappa Polemarch Frank C. Emanuel helps people avoid addiction.
Their membership, which is more than 1,200 people in Jacksonville, includes elected officials and educators; pastors and news publishers; executives and entrepreneurs; and more.
Giving back outside the spotlight
Jacksonville City Council member Ju’Coby Pittman says local Divine Nine organizations have quietly partnered with the Clara White Mission, the Jacksonville Housing Authority, Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida and other organizations to provide gifts for families for years.
“They adopt families during the holidays. They get food and they get their wish list for Christmas,” says Pittman, who has been a member of Delta Sigma Theta for more than a decade. “This is something that’s very positive that they’ve been doing as (the) Divine Nine together to make an impact.”
The 2025 December to Remember event will be Dec. 13 at the Legends Center.
Pittman and Williams note that Northeast Florida’s Black Greek letter organizations are frequently more invested in their impact than in receiving credit for their service and social action.
There has been local critique that the members of organizations can do more to engage Black people in the electoral process — an acknowledgement that was made during a town hall organized by the Omegas last year at The Bethel Church in Downtown.
Nevertheless, members of Divine Nine organizations have told Jacksonville Today in recent years there has been a renewed commitment to informing the community at large the impact of their service.
“If we are an organization that’s looking for partnerships and looking for opportunities to work with other organizations to spread our footprint, we need people to know who we are,” Williams says. “It’s a balance thing you have to think about as a leader. How do you continue to inspire people to do the work, but how do you connect with community to make sure they know?”
The Beta Alpha Zeta chapter awarded scholarships to the Class of 2025. Its recipients are currently enrolled at Tuskegee, Jackson State, Clark Atlanta, Florida International University, Florida State College at Jacksonville and Florida A&M.
Service and scholarship
Jimmie Starkes is a Jacksonville native who pledged Omega Psi Phi while an undergraduate at Florida A&M. Starkes serves as the executive director for the Jacksonville Omega Lamplighters, a youth mentorship organization that is affiliated with Omega Psi Phi.
Omega Lamplighters mentors more than 40 students at 17 Jacksonville schools.
“Some of them have a good foundation; others don’t,” Starkes says. “We become those father figures. We become those big brothers. We become those uncles that go above and beyond to show support.”
Starkes attended eight elementary schools because he was a “behaviorally challenged student” as a child. The mentorship Starkes did not receive as a child is what he has committed to pour into young men.
Last summer, the local Omega Lamplighters took students to New York City to visit the Statue of Liberty and watch The Wiz on Broadway. For some of them, it was their first time on a plane. In 2024, the Lamplighters visited Black history sites in Montgomery, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Memphis, Tennessee.
Omegas believe that friendship is essential to the soul. Starkes says the Lamplighters provide examples of friendship and brotherhood that will extend beyond a boy’s teenage years.
“A friend can come in many shapes and forms,” Starkes says. “They are there when you need them most. A friend is someone who might not call you every day, but when you call them and you say you need them there, they are there. … If they understand that and value that, they will be able to go far in life. In their professional lives, in their personal lives, friendship is at the heart of it.”
The Lamplighters are far from the only Jacksonville youth mentorship program. Kappa Alpha Psi’s Guide Right Leadership & Development program has sought to encourage achievement in every endeavor for scores of teenagers. It has provided career mentorship, access to robotics, financial literacy courses and more.
Transformational Jaxsons have served in Divine Nine organizations: James Weldon Johnson was a Sigma as was A. Philip Randolph; former Mayor Alvin Brown is a Kappa; revered educator Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole is a Delta; pioneering attorney D.W. Perkins was an Omega. Richard Lewis Brown, a local architect whose name is affixed to an elementary school on the Eastside, was a founding member of Omega’s Theta Phi chapter in May 1925.
Beta Alpha Zeta co-founder Mamie Butler was the first supervisor of public music in Duval County in 1931. And, Winona Cargile Alexander — one of the 22 founders of Delta Sigma Theta — lived in Jacksonville for decades before she died in 1984.
And, the late Estelle McKissick was a trailblazing educator and lifelong member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.
McKissick’s belief that education can be transformative may best be embodied by Gregory Bostic. The Jean Ribault High School principal, and current Alpha Phi Alpha Upsilon Lambda chapter president, transformed the once maligned Northwest Jacksonville high school into an A-rated school in 2025.
These organizations are more than their local luminaries. They have a combined 727 years of service, scholarship and fellowship on the First Coast.
