As an eighth grader, I had no clue what BBYO really was. I joined so I could go to the legendary conventions I’d heard about and so I could see my friends from camp, but I didn’t really care what else was going on. In late February of 2019, a classmate invited me to some meeting, and it was actually the new chapter organization meeting with Lonestar’s regional director - and by the end of the meeting, I’d found five new brothers and a lengthy to-do list for this new chapter I’d accidentally joined. Over the course of the next fifteen months, we struggled, fought and worked harder than we’d ever worked before to establish our dream chapter, where we could have a close-knit, chill, and accepting Jewish space for teens in a city where the Jewish community was growing exponentially. Four years later, the chapter is up to forty members, seeing success in our chapter traditions and programming, and finding new, creative ways to involve ourselves in community service, Judaism, and the global movement of AZA.
So how does a person or a group start a chapter? Here are five steps towards success.
The first step on any journey is the hardest one, and I happen to think that this is no exception. When I helped to start my chapter, this was a piece I didn’t really get to experience firsthand. But finding a solid, motivated group within your community is, without question, the most important step. For our chapter, there were seven of us, recruited over a two-month period. But it all starts with one - and with every new person, the opportunity to grow increases! The best way to find your start-up community is to reach out to people in your community who are not involved in BBYO or any Jewish programming, or, if there’s already another chapter or chapters in your area, to find people who are struggling to find opportunities within their chapter. If you're struggling to find prospective founding members, you can always reach out to your region, or look for potential members at synagogue or school - the same way you’d recruit for an established chapter.
The biggest issues our chapter had at the start were in communication. Between board members, between leaders and general chapter members, and especially between leadership and staff. Here’s how to avoid that pitfall: respond quickly and respectfully when your region asks for information, and ask politely when you need some help from your staff. In our case, and in many cases, new chapters have to fulfill a checklist of items when they first start up, with recruitment and attendance goals, programming requirements, and chapter identity goals. Make every effort to communicate well with your region regarding this checklist, and although it may be frustrating, make an extra effort to stay respectful - everyone in BBYO has the intent to boost growth, and your region will always do what they think is best to help your chapter get on its feet!
When we started our chapter, one of our founding members and our council Godol at the time had a saying: Recruit every member like they’re number eleven.
This comes from the idea that a temporary charter requires twelve members in the chapter. If you’re recruiting member number ten, it’s seen as less of a priority, but recruiting member number eleven means being one step away from having the chapter temporarily chartered. It’s hard to keep that mindset, but it brought our chapter from seven to twenty-five over the course of one short year, even through the start of the COVID pandemic. Always go for the eleventh member, always act like you’re one step away from being chartered, and keep the mindset that growth is the biggest thing you can do for your chapter - who knows, the next person you recruit might be your new best friend, or your future chapter president!
At this point, if you’re anything like my chapter was, you might be struggling to come up with a name. A chapter name is difficult to figure out, at some points it feels like there’s no choices, but at other points, there’s too many options and there’s no way to narrow them down.
Typically, chapters are named after a phrase, a word, or a mantra, typically in Hebrew, or named for memory of someone the community has lost. This can be difficult to navigate, but it’s helpful to talk to your staff or advisors for some ideas - you could bring back an old name of a chapter that folded, or name the chapter for someone that everyone looks up to. The possibilities are endless, and the best way to finalize your choice is to take a vote during a business meeting. And, let me be clear - it’s important to realize that your name can change during this journey, it’s never set in stone, so feel free to bounce around and test-run some ideas!
Additionally, you will need a chapter mascot and some chapter traditions, but these come more naturally. The mascot can be something everyone likes, or something that represents the area you live in. Chapter traditions come pretty naturally, when there’s an event everyone likes or a running inside joke, there’s always potential to pass it forward!
Get involved in your region and in the movement! Send people to summer programming and IC, and have your members and your chapter participate in the ILN. Encourage your members to steer regional conventions, and send a large delegation to regional events. For our chapter, that was the Jewish Enrichment Target Chapter program, where we were enrolled for two years and got to run incredible programming. We sent our first delegation to IC 2022, where five of us went to Baltimore, and over the time our chapter has existed, we’ve sent two to Camp BBYO, one to CLTC, three to ILTC, and one to Kallah! It’s done wonders for us, for our reputation, and for cementing us as a strong chapter in AZA.
It’s hard work starting a chapter. Looking back on my experience, I’m incredibly satisfied seeing the work I did pay off, and seeing the new members I recruited screaming cheers, growing closer to Judaism, and running for board. Hopefully these tips help you grow our movement by doing one of the most important things an Aleph or BBG can do for the movement: Starting a new chapter, and expanding the reach of our movement to inspire teens to experience Judaism and find themselves in BBYO.
Joey Ross is an Aleph from Austin, Texas, and he helped start his BBYO chapter in 2019.
All views expressed on content written for The Shofar represent the opinions and thoughts of the individual authors. The author biography represents the author at the time in which they were in BBYO.
