About
Who we are
The Rho Omicron Foundation is a small nonprofit, run entirely by volunteers.
Rho Omicron Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation which serves the various communities comprising Iberia, St. Martin and St. Mary parishes.
The Foundation's focus is predicated upon four cardinal principles: Manhood, Scholarship, Perseverance and Uplift. These four tenets, individually and collectively, offer a heightened approach to addressing the most pressing concerns of the communities at large, but particularly with more attention given to early adolescent and young adult males.
Affiliated with the Rho Omicron Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Purpose
Why the Foundation exists
“Rho Omicron Foundation is organized for the relief of the distressed, lessening neighborhood tension and securing services, conditions, social or otherwise, conductive to the progress and general welfare of the community”
The Foundation was formed on March 12, 2014, and was granted 501(c)(3) status on July 29, 2016.
That status is current: the Foundation is listed in IRS Publication 78 as an organization eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions.
EIN 81-2881220
What we hold to
Cardinal principles
- Manhood
- Scholarship
- Perseverance
- Uplift
“Friendship is essential to the Soul”
Our work
What we do
Four kinds of work across three parishes, and the same handful of people do all of it. None of it is anyone's full-time job.
Scholarships
A $1,000 scholarship awarded every year, with the Rho Omicron Chapter, to one graduating high school senior from Iberia, St. Martin, or St. Mary parish.
STEM mentoring
The Rho Omicron STEM Mentoring Program — monthly guidance and support for males aged 11 to 17, at the Friendship Center and on trips away from it.
Community services
Resources and programmatic assistance for elderly, less fortunate, homeless, and underserved neighbors across the three parishes.
Adopt-a-road
Routine litter abatement on two adopted stretches: Hopkins Street in New Iberia and Main Street in St. Martinville.
The board
Who runs it
The Foundation is governed by a volunteer board of directors, drawn from the Rho Omicron Chapter.
- James L. Russell, IIIPresident
- J. B. InaVice President
- Errol Solomon, Jr.Secretary
- Brian SimpsonTreasurer
- Lynden BurtonDirector
- Dr. Dwayne KincadeDirector
- Ronnie LouisDirector
- Robert PinckneyDirector
- Dr. Gerard WilliamsDirector
The hall
John B. Henderson Friendship Center
The Foundation built the Friendship Center and rents it out for repasts, receptions, meetings, and family celebrations.
It is an enterprise of the Foundation, located across from two public schools, and it gives the programs a secure, functional, and centralized home for youth mentoring, educational activities, and community services.
Renting it is not a sideline. The income from the hall helps pay for the scholarship, the STEM mentoring, and the community services work — so booking it for your event supports all of it.
The name
Who John B. Henderson was
When the Rho Omicron Chapter was founded in 1948, John B. Henderson was its first president.
He was the principal of Jonas Henderson High School — the school New Iberia's Black students attended under segregation, and the only principal it ever had. The building later became Anderson Middle School.
The school carried his father's name. Jonas Henderson was the principal of the Howe Institute, the first public school for Black students in New Iberia.
The Foundation put his name on the hall it built.
Still confirming
The board photograph on this page is older than the list of names next to it — there are more of us now than there are faces in it.