Getting a Chapter Started

Getting a Chapter Started

Starting an NAHF Chapter at your firehouse or city can make a major difference in your career and the careers of those you work with. Public Safety Officers, including those in the fire department, will generally start a professional or nonprofessional organization in order to work towards equal rights and opportunities in a professional field. The NAHF is no different in this regard. What the NAHF does try to do differently than some organizations is emphasize the importance of professional camaraderie and mutual respect between NAHF Chapters and professionals in public safety in general.

Getting Started

When you start a chapter with the NAHF, we help you set up the infrastructure and recruit members and we walk you through the whole process. We're there every step of the way, so it's not something you have to put off until you have time to "figure it out". You can apply today and we'll get you started.

It's advised that, before applying for recognition from the NAHF, you gather at least ten core, dedicated members to get the ball rolling. Some chapters may be started from a core group of a few less or far more than ten, but ten tends to be the safe number. If one or two members lose interest or wind up being too busy, you still have eight or nine dedicated members once you've gotten through the process.

We'll walk you through the nuts and bolts of starting a chapter. For now, just try to see if there's enough interest in your local public safety community to support a chapter, that's step one.

How do you start?

1. Assemble Fire Department personnel and others interested in forming a group. We recommend that you find a minimum of 10 others ( Not Required)who are also willing to work to get a group started. However well things go in the future, the initial impetus will come from a small group willing and able to donate time, energy, and, probably, some initial financial assistance.

If you need to find other interested persons, the NAHF Office can provide you with a list of National members in your area to contact. There are probably a number of Hispanic Firefighters in your area who are not members of NAHF and may not even know that NAHF exists. To contact them, advertise by posting notices, using public service announcement facilities, by word-of-mouth, etc.

The person who originally contacts the NAHF Office for this list will be considered the main correspondent unless otherwise specified. The person will usually be referred to as the Chapter Coordinator.

2. Arrange a time and place for a planning session. It is best to have a small organizing meeting first. Find a room to use (for free), meet at someone's home, or meet in a restaurant for a lunch or dinner meeting. You may also choose to have a socializing period before or after conducting the business meeting. Use your judgment about what will work best for the group that is likely to gather.

The coordinator, or other organizer, should draw up an agenda for the meeting, so that everyone knows what needs to be accomplished at this meeting. A larger event can be planned for the second meeting or if you were not able to locate enough people for the first organizing meeting. Plan a program that will attract Hispanic Firefighters, whether students, professionals, or both. [Note -- this group should be expanded to include lots of others. Be careful how you advertise your event as most people will be expecting a group already formed; some will be happy to help get one started, others will want to wait until the group is actually organized before participating.

3. Ask some questions and make some decisions. This first meeting is usually the time to determine how feasible it would be to form a chapter. You will have to ask some of the following questions. If you cannot get good answers, they should be thought about and another meeting arranged so that answers can be presented and discussed at a later date. We suggest going through the whole formation package before discussing the following as some of the answers are contained in this and other documents.

Is there enough of an interest in the idea of Hispanic Firefighters getting together on a regular basis? Why should Hispanic Firefighters meet or work together regularly? Is the momentum likely to be sustained, or will the group fall apart if some of the original organizers leave? Are there shared concerns among the Hispanic Firefighters in your area?

What do you hope to accomplish by bringing Hispanic Firefighters together? What are the purpose and goals of this group?

What community would this group serve and what would be its name? (Names are usually based on the geographical area.)

As much as we would like to see a chapter organized in your area, past experience has shown that if there is no sense of purpose and most of the work falls on a few people, problems arise in a short time. Leaders burn out, leaving them tired and with little or no sense of accomplishment. Others have no idea of why the group exists and will not participate, and may even become disillusioned with NAHF as a whole.

Therefore, if there are no positive answers to the above questions, we suggest that you reexamine the need for a chapter. It might be better to wait. Or it might take some extra effort to develop a genuine and lasting interest in forming a chapter. Usually there is a great deal of interest in forming a chapter, but asking these questions at the beginning provides a solid foundation for the development of an active and productive chapter

Chapter Home | Getting Started | Requirements and Guidelines | Chapter Suggestions | Chapter Support | Request More Information | Request Chapter Application | Chapter Application (pdf)| Chapter Application (word)| NAHF By-Laws |