CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - July 13, 2015) - More than 5,200 members of America's oldest service organization for college-trained African American women will converge in Chicago July 15-19, 2015 for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated's biennial Leadership Seminar.

The conference is expected to attract a record number of members to the sorority's headquarters city, where members will assemble at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and surrounding hotels. Under the leadership of International President, Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson, attendees will engage in four days of intensive leadership training and development.

Chicagoans are familiar with Alpha Kappa Alpha. The sorority has been in the area for more than 100 years. Chicago is home to some of the largest and oldest chapters, including Beta (citywide undergraduate) and Theta Omega (alumnae). It is also the home of Loraine Richardson Green, the organization's second International President and the first black woman to receive a master's degree from the University of Chicago.

In addition to leadership training, the sorority plans to leave its mark during the four-day conference. Members will serve the Greater Chicago area by renovating six local playgrounds, dedicating a park bench, donating more than 25,000 backpacks and assembling food resources for 50,000 individuals. The sorority will also host a public event focused on increasing awareness of mental illness in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

The 2015 Leadership Seminar marks the first large international gathering of its members in Chicago since 1998. Members of the twenty-one Chicago area chapters, in collaboration with member of the Central Region and the corporate office staff, will plan and host this event.

"Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority members from around the country and the globe can't wait to return to Chicago after seventeen years. Conference attendees are thrilled to visit the sorority's headquarters, as we prepare to undergo a major renovation project," states Buckhanan Wilson. "Our service delivery expansion and membership growth has ignited unprecedented excitement in the organization nationwide as members mobilize around the International Program 'Launching New Dimensions of Service.'"

All of the service projects, trainings, workshops and forums are designed to help members enhance their impact in the 986 communities where the sorority operates. "Effective local service delivery continues to be our hallmark, and this Leadership Seminar is designed to give members the tools and resources to meet local needs," states Buckhanan Wilson.