During the grind of the political campaigning season, a candidate can often find themselves so entrenched in their own aspirations that finding the time to collaborate with other organizations, much less other candidates, can be a challenge. Makya Little, candidate for the new 19th House of Delegates, seeks to change that with an upcoming event next Monday.

Her event is geared towards bringing together local Northern Virginia leaders with National Pan-Hellenic members. The National Pan-Hellenic organizations are informally and collectively referred to as the “Divine Nine.” These fraternities and sororities are as follows:

• Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
• Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
• Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
• Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.
• Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
• Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
• Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.

Little, a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, spoke with the PW Perspective about the necessity of creating Monday’s gathering.

“The event is designed to be a starting point for building stronger coalitions,” says Little. “It is by coming together that we can place ourselves in position to increase both voter engagement and ultimately, voter turnout.”

She states that this comes at a time when most politicians inadvertently find themselves squarely focused on the progress of their individual campaigns. “Often we work together,” she says, “but only come out for our own.”

By establishing this collaborative process, she looks to remove any partisanship in helping Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Stafford Counties become more informed as they get closer to the primaries and, ultimately, the general elections in November. 

“Although I’m running as a Democrat, I’m inviting fellow Republicans to come in as well,” she says. “I’ve invited union leaders as well as members of the Virginia African Diaspora and Muslim Association of Virginia to come out so we can have more candidates start to work together, regardless of political affiliation.”

As for the National Pan-Hellenic community, she believes that an event of this nature will help build coalitions and remove appearances of partisanship preferences.

“The Sigmas and Omegas have been hosting events for years,” she says, “but it’s been done in silos, and what this coming together will do is take away the optics that one organization is favoring a party or candidate.”

She continues. “We’re all powerful in our own spaces, but we need to come together and partner in the spaces that are available to us. Our communities are counting on us.”

Recently, Little met someone at an event who asked why she was there since she wasn’t running in that particular district. She replied precisely, “Because we all drink the same water.”  

The plan for Monday’s event is to show that, regardless of political or Greek affiliations, everyone can come together to drink, plan, and strategize for a better community.