INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each week on Community Link, Carolene Mays takes a look at an organization or business that is making a positive impact on the community.

This week, Mays was joined by Deborah Oatts, president of the Circle City Chapter of the Links Incorporated, and Real World Real Girls Conference chair Pat Roe.

The Circle City Chapter of the Links is part of a nationwide volunteer service organization made up of professional women of color.

“Our mission is built on friendship and service and that’s how we work in our community,” Oatts said. “We work in our community within the five facets: service to youth, arts, national trends, international trends, and health and human services.”

Science, technology, engineering, and math, otherwise known as STEM, is a focus of the Circle City Chapter and Links Inc. chapters nationwide, according to Oatts.

“(There) is a huge opportunity to help our children to learn about those various programs…and getting them interested in those kinds of areas with regard to opportunities in business, as well as looking at areas that would impact their ability to have greater opportunities and greater emphasis within the community, which enhances the economic development”.

With STEM in mind, the chapter is preparing for the Real World Real Girls Conference on Saturday, April 27, at Martin University in Indianapolis.

The free conference is for girls in grades seven through nine and their parents. The event is open to all, but online registration is encouraged.

The theme of the conference is mind, body, and soul. It dovetails the STEM discipline because the chapter is trying to get girls interested in those industries, Roe says.

“When we talk about the mind and how we stimulate the mind, when we talk about the body, how we put in exactly what we get out of it…what gives us joy gives us passion. And then that oftentimes leads us to the area that we’re really going to study. And we hope that STEM is an area for all of our ladies.”

For more information on the the conference, visit its website and watch the full interview above.