In 2009, 1430 doctoral degrees in mathematics were awarded by US universities. Of this number, 753 were awarded to US citizens and 51 were awarded to citizens from backgrounds underrepresented in the mathematical sciences. As disturbing as these numbers are, they tell only part of the story. In fact, only eighteen citizens from underrepresented groups received their Ph.D. from AMS group I and II departments out of a total of 819 Ph.D.s awarded by these departments. As abysmal as these numbers are, there has been some progress over the past ten years. The math department at the University of Iowa, for example, has awarded 16 Ph.D.s to citizens from underrepresented backgrounds since 2002. During this same period, the math department at North Carolina State University has awarded 13 Ph.D.s to citizens of African American heritage. Finally, 42 students from underrepresented backgrounds who were mentored by the MTBI program at Arizona State University have gone on to obtain the doctoral degree in mathematics nationally during the period 2005-2010. These programs have built their success on common principles: close contact between faculty at minority-serving institutions and their counterparts at Ph.D granting departments, understanding thediverse cultural backgrounds that all involved bring to the table and, above all, building community. Recently, these three programs, together with other successful programs in the math sciences have come together to form the National Alliance, a program which will institutionalize nationally the principles and practices common to these programs. In this talk, I will describe our program at the University of Iowa and then provide information about the National Alliance.