The Chapter of the Year Award, which debuted in 2018, is presented to the Chapter which, by its achievements, goes above and beyond to further the ideals and mission of NAPO. This Chapter provides its members with opportunities to develop leadership skills, prioritize camaraderie and support between and for members, and participate in community outreach projects by utilizing its professional and corporate members’ talents.

This year’s NAPO Chapter of the Year award is the 5th to be presented. Previous Chapters of the Year are Dallas, Chicago, Michigan, and Houston. This year’s award recipient is the Los Angeles Chapter!

At the time of their nomination, the L.A. Chapter had 83 members, over half of whom have been members of the Chapter for more than 5 years.

During a time when much of the nation had just begun returning to public activities, the L.A. Chapter served 3 major audiences for GO Month Community Service: The Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles, LA City Housing, and U.S. Vets Donation Storage Facility.

While these achievements are fabulous, the underlying theme found in the L.A. Chapter’s nomination information is how focused the Chapter is on encouraging their members’ growth. There are a few strong examples of this. First, they develop their leaders from within. Many of the board members have committee members supporting them in their roles. These committee-level volunteers often step up to leadership roles having gained valuable experience in the relevant department.

A second example of the Chapter’s devotion to encouraging member growth is evidenced by the fact that there is conference reimbursement of up to $150 for up to 5 Chapter members who are working toward their CPO certification.

Yet another example is POLA, which stands for The Professional Organizers Learning Academy.

• POLA offers workshops and seminars on topics of interest to members.
• POLA classes are often held twice a year, with registration fees separate from regular chapter dues and meetings. Participation typically is CEU eligible.
• POLA Book Club: NAPO-LA’s book club meets for one hour 4-6 times per year to discuss books of interest to professional organizers and productivity consultants. Participation typically is CEU eligible.

And then there is the Prospective Organizers Program and the Mentor of the Month Program. For the Prospective Organizers Program, Board members host on-line meetings for anyone interested in considering organizing as a career. Then through the Mentor of the Month Program, one NAPO-LA veteran mentor volunteer and one new member will be matched each month that there is a chapter meeting, with new members getting a turn in the order they joined.

Now that you’ve read about the achievements of the Los Angeles Chapter, let’s review the purpose of the Chapter of the Year Award one more time, with a twist:

The Chapter of the Year Award is presented to the Los Angeles Chapter which, by its achievements, goes above and beyond to further the ideals and mission of NAPO. The Los Angeles Chapter provides its members with opportunities to develop leadership skills, prioritize camaraderie and support between and for members, and participate in community outreach projects by utilizing its professional and corporate members’ talents.

I’m sure you will agree that with programs such as those described here, the Los Angeles Chapter has definitely met the criteria of this award!

About the author: Pamela Bowers is the owner of ChaosPros™ in Frisco, Texas. Bowers is the past chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee.