In August 2024, National NSSLHA hosted its second annual Chapter Leadership Summit, a virtual gathering for student leaders nationwide. This event provided a platform for students to forge connections, exchange ideas, and learn more about the programs offered by National NSSLHA. Participants explored strategies for membership recruitment and retention, emphasizing tailored activities and engaging initiatives like graduate school expos and career talks. The summit also spotlighted best practices in achieving Chapter Honors, underscoring the importance of early preparation and collaborative documentation.
NSSLHA’s Executive Council also hosted discussions centered on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, promoting actionable steps such as hosting cultural celebrations and fostering community dialogues. The summit also included insights into effective fundraising strategies and advocacy efforts, encouraging members to leverage resources and mobilize support through creative events and advocacy campaigns.
2024 Key Takeaways
Membership Recruitment and Retention
- Find interests of the members to keep them coming and be personal.
- Have fewer events but make those events great!
- Check schedules: send out interest and timing forms.
- Partner with other organizations on campus: combine service projects, ASL clubs, future OTs & PTs.
- Do things outside of “normal meetings” like Friendsgiving dinners, Valentine’s Day socials, sending/spending time with those in nursing homes.
- Check out these helpful links:
Chapter Honors
- The community page can serve as a place to get ideas for events from other chapters
- Use Chapter Honors requirements as guidelines for planning events and make sure each event falls under one of the requirement areas– Double dipping is okay, but having more events that are not used multiple times on the application typically looks better
- Check out these helpful links:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
- Most students have been utilizing bringing in guest speakers to their chapters to increase exposure to different areas of the field. For example, host a disability advocate to come in and speak to your chapter
- Consider opening up hosted chapter DEI events to other chapters from other states
- Check out these helpful links:
Fundraising
- A lot of great fundraising ideas! Some of the biggest ones were bake sales, partial proceeds, and giveaways.
- Fundraising with smaller chapters can be difficult, but advertising and spreading the word can be really helpful in the long run to increase involvement.
- Partnering up with different organizations on-campus can be helpful to raise funds.
- For partnering with companies that do fundraisers, important to reach out to different locations and do your research to determine which will give the best return!
- Check out this helpful link:
Advocacy
- Ideas for chapters: Social media campaigns, student advocacy day, Take-Action letters, transgender voice event, writing letters to representatives, involvement with university & local issues, hearing aid eligibility, collaborating with nearby chapters, panel speaker events
- Check out this helpful link:
Resources and Opportunities
- Students reported having success with looking within their departments and universities for funding – whether it be for research, travel to conferences, etc.
- People also reported having success with strengthening connections with faculty members
- Look into state associations for funding and volunteer positions to attend these conferences and expand your network
- Look into student research opportunities on campus (they can pay for registration/hotel/travel for students presenting)
- Check out these helpful links: