More than 1,500 members and guests of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated are converging on Salt Lake City for the sorority's 55th Farwest Regional Conference, marking the group's return to the city for the first time in 31 years. The five-day gathering runs September 2 through 6 and is co-hosted locally by the Greater Salt Lake Alumnae Chapter and the collegiate Sigma Omicron chapter.
The conference theme, “Scripted by Sisterhood: Stories That Shaped a Century of Service,” is meant to inspire members to keep writing what organizers call the next chapter of community impact, celebrating the stories, service, and leadership that have shaped the Farwest Region, according to ABC4 Utah. Kimberly M. Usher serves as Farwest Regional Director, overseeing the gathering. The last time the region held its regional conference in Salt Lake City was in 1995, making this year's return a notable homecoming for the organization.
A Region Built on Nine States and Two Countries
Attendees traveling to Salt Lake City represent nine states and two countries, reflecting the sheer geographic sprawl of the Farwest Region. Per the Phoenix Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter, the region encompasses 98 collegiate and alumnae chapters spread across nine Western U.S. states — including Alaska and Hawaii — plus Japan and the Republic of Korea, making it the second-oldest regional division within the sorority.
That international reach is fitting given the region's outsized place in Delta Sigma Theta's history. The sorority's regional conference system, now used across all seven of its regions, actually originated in the Farwest Region back in 1925, when leader Vivian Osborne Marsh introduced the concept during a regional gathering in Los Angeles.
Community Service Kicks Off the Gathering
Community service sits at the center of the conference, and this year's opening act is a campus revitalization project at Franklin Elementary School in Salt Lake City. The effort, done in partnership with the Utah Jazz, includes installing new playground equipment, painting a community mural, and hosting STEM and physical fitness activities for students.
The local host chapter bringing decades of experience to the project is the Greater Salt Lake Alumnae Chapter, which was chartered on May 1, 1988, giving it nearly four decades of continuous community service and social action in Utah. Conference attendees will also take part in organizational business, leadership development, educational workshops, cultural experiences, and sisterhood activities throughout the five days, per the same ABC4 Utah report.
Author Talk and Programming for Collegiate Members
Cultural programming during the conference includes an author meet-and-greet on September 3 featuring journalist and former top national media executive Amy DuBois Barnett, author of “If I Ruled the World” and a former editor-in-chief of major publications. Collegiate members attending will also receive programming focused on leadership development, financial confidence, wellness, belonging, representation, and preparation for life beyond college, according to ABC4 Utah.
A Sorority With Deep National Roots
Delta Sigma Theta was founded at Howard University in 1913 by 22 collegiate women and has grown into the largest Black Greek-letter sorority in the world, with over 350,000 initiated members and more than 1,000 collegiate and alumnae chapters globally, according to Wikipedia. The organization is a private, not-for-profit group that runs programs focused on educational development, economic development, international awareness and involvement, physical and mental health, and political awareness and involvement.
That activist bent traces back to the sorority's earliest days. Just weeks after their 1913 founding, the 22 collegiate founders performed their first public act by marching in the historic Women's Suffrage Parade in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913, cementing political awareness as one of the organization's foundational pillars. Delta Sigma Theta conducts its seven regional conferences biennially in even-numbered years, alternating with its national convention cycle held in odd-numbered years, with each region led by an elected regional director and collegiate regional representative.
Arriving Amid a Growing Local Black Community
The conference's return to Salt Lake City lands against a backdrop of demographic change in Utah. Demographic analysis from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute shows Utah's Black population surpassed 67,000 residents in recent census counts, growing faster than the overall state population, with its primary concentration in Salt Lake County — the county with the highest total Black population in the state.
Multi-day gatherings like this one have proven to be significant economic drivers for host cities. For comparison, Hoodline previously reported that the 50th Southern Regional Conference in Atlanta this August was projected to generate between $12.6 million and $27.2 million in local economic impact, underscoring the kind of hotel and venue spending multi-day sorority conferences tend to bring to host downtowns.
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