Omega Phi Alpha


Omega Phi Alpha is an American national service sorority. It was founded in 1967 at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Omega Phi Alpha, also known as OPhiA or OPA, currently has thirty active chapters in the United States.

Purpose

The purpose of Omega Phi Alpha reads as follows:

History

In 1953, the Zeta Kappa chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, expressed interest in forming a group much like theirs to help them in their service endeavors. The brothers of Zeta Kappa formed interest groups for a new organization, and many of the attendees at these interest groups were women. The need for a female service sorority then became evident.
The two groups were to be alike in objectives—friendship, leadership, and service. A similar name—Omega Phi Alpha—was chosen for the new organization. Just as the Alpha Phi Omega chapter was limited to former Boy Scouts, the Omega Phi Alpha chapter was originally limited to former Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls. This limitation continued until 1958.
Two more Omega Phi Alpha groups were formed at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Bridgeport in 1958 and 1962, respectively. All three groups had the intention of becoming a national sorority together; however, it would be five more years before national status was reached.
In 1966, plans for a national convention, at which the three chapters could meet, were made. In the summer of 1967, the three groups met in Bowling Green for the first time and laid the foundations for what is currently Omega Phi Alpha. The Bowling Green group was given the title of Alpha chapter, University of Bridgeport became the Beta chapter, and Eastern Michigan was named the Gamma chapter.
The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma chapters continued for several years as a national sorority until women at Texas A&M University formed the Delta chapter in 1970. Currently, there are thirty-one active chapters of Omega Phi Alpha. Additionally, there are ten inactive chapters and eight alumnae chapters.

Service program

Omega Phi Alpha has a diverse, flexible service program which allows each member to contribute to the world around her. Many chapters have ongoing projects that they have worked with for years.
Six areas of service:
1. Permanent Project: The permanent project is mental health. Mental health service projects are defined as any project that improves the well being of others, and these projects are typically hands on projects such as playing with kids in an afterschool program, playing Bingo at a nursing home, or serving meals at a soup kitchen.
2. President's Project: Each year at Omega Phi Alpha National Convention, the National President of Omega Phi Alpha presents the cause she feels is worthy of being the focus of OPA service nationwide.
3. Service to the University Community: Volunteering to help at a school event, holding stress relief classes, random acts of kindness
4. Service to the Community at Large: Local park clean ups, food banks, tutoring at a local school, Humane Society volunteering
5. Service to the members of the sorority: Alumnae, internal strengthening
6. Service to the nations of the world: UNICEF, AIDS Awareness, diabetes awareness, breast cancer awareness
Through these six areas of service, active and alumnae chapters plan a variety of service projects year each to carry out and make a difference.

Chapters

Active chapters

These are the current active chapters of Omega Phi Alpha. Generally, chapters of Omega Phi Alpha are named in Greek alphabetical order. The only exception to this is the Penn State chapter, which was founded from a local sorority named Theta Alpha Pi. This chapter was named Alpha Theta as a tribute to their founding organization.
These are the current inactive chapters of Omega Phi Alpha
Omega Phi Alpha holds one national convention every other year. The national conventions provide a forum for making sorority-wide decisions like aligning on a budget, electing national officers, or changing the national policies reflected in the constitution and by-laws. Each active chapter in good standing has two votes to use in deciding sorority issues. Active chapters who are not in good standing have only one vote. There are also alumnae delegates who represent each of OPA's four districts. For every three active votes, alumnae get one vote.
OPA national convention locations include:

Districts

Omega Phi Alpha has eleven districts of active chapters. Each district meets at least once a year to hold a district summit, which includes service projects, workshops, and sisterhood activities. Alumnae ties were removed from districts and changed to regions at Convention 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Omega Phi Alpha has four regions of alumnae. Alumnae regions are drawn on state lines and are based on population distribution of OPA alumnae. Each alumnae region sends a specific number of delegates to OPA's National Convention every year; this number is based on the number of active votes possible at that year's Convention. Alumnae representation makes up 25% of the total representation at any given Convention.