Membership Shake Up

Wow! I can tell the Be Part of It! kits are hitting schools. The office has received several calls this week all asking one question. “Where are the membership cards?” Don’t worry, we have an answer.

As with every organization or business, every so often a change in process is required in order keep moving the organization forward. Advisers will recall our move to the Be Part of It! kit a few years back. This year we have made membership cards available instantly online. Advisers will be able to print cards for their students as soon as they affiliate if affiliation is done through the FCCLA Web site. Or, if paper affiliation is the preferred method, cards can be printed from the Membership section of the site. However, the access through this section requires a username and password.

There are several reasons the national headquarters chose to go with this method, but the most important reason is to better serve advisers and students. We want to give teachers materials they need immediately. We don’t want advisers to have to wait for our processing time to have access to membership cards, lesson plans, videos, or information that can help build a successful chapter.

Unfortunately a minority of teachers has taken advantage of membership card distribution and do not affiliate their students. This only disadvantages students who want to be connected to the state and national organization. For this reason, we have password protected the membership cards.This new process will likely shake up the way advisers handle membership. As all new processes, this will take some time for everyone to get used to. At the national headquarters we are prepared for unknowns and want to help answer questions. The only way to know what advisers need is by communicating with them. So, please give us your feedback! Whether in the comment section here or in an email to me directly at adoane@fcclainc.org, we want to know what you think.