Dear Members of Omega Phi Alpha,
As I wrap up my first year as Programs Director, it’s exciting to see just how much we accomplished this year! Stepping into this role, I felt a strong responsibility to maintain all of our current programs, practices, and processes, while also introducing new ideas and identifying areas of improvement. When we are all deep in the day-to-day operations of the sorority, it’s sometimes hard to take a step back and see what we have achieved. Taking the time to pause has given me the opportunity to share all of these incredible moments with you! As we look back with gratitude, it’s been wonderful to reflect while moving ahead with anticipation and preparing for another exciting academic year.
Our Service Impact
In Fall 2024, our chapters collectively completed 22,390 service hours, with 9 chapters completing over 1,000 hours of service. This equates to $335,850 of labor at a wage of $15 per hour. In Spring 2025, our chapters completed 26,240 service hours, with 2 chapters completing over 2,000 hours of service and 9 chapters completing over 1,000 hours of service. This equates to $393,600 of labor at a wage of $15 per hour.
The winner of the National Service Award, is the Alpha Rho Chapter at Virginia Tech with 4,488 hours of service completed across both semesters. The Individual Service Award goes to Shekaina Jimenez from the Alpha Omicron Chapter at the University of Florida, who completed 153.5 hours of service this academic year. In total, 13 members, including Shekaina, completed over 100 hours of service between the Fall and Spring semesters.
Sam Ibarra (Nu)- 153 hours
Alex Shelton (Alpha Lambda)-147.5 hours
Jenna Grot (Nu)-142.5 hours
Naomi Bouedo (Alpha Lambda)-118 hours
Mara Sigismund (Alpha Zeta)- 116 hours
Mason Henderson (Epsilon)- 114.5 hours
Kevin Faist (Alpha Omicron)- 111.5 hours
Brianna Houston (Epsilon)- 108 hours
Bridget Petursson (Alpha Rho)- 107.65 hours
Angela Juric (Nu)- 104 hours
Marissa Hamilton (Chi)- 104 hours
Rachael Estep (Epsilon)- 100.5 hours
Congratulations on this amazing accomplishment!
A focus for this year was to increase compliance with national service requirements for members and chapters. We implemented new processes and procedures to support this initiative to ensure all members and chapters are 100% compliant. From Spring 2024 to Spring 2025, we have seen a steady increase in the number of members and chapters who are meeting their requirements. This also includes chapter improvements on how they are tracking both service hours and projects.
Another focus for this past year was developing our national service partnerships and national service events. This past year, we continued our partnership with Gift of Life. Many chapters held donor drives in the Fall 2024 semester, but for Spring 2025 we made it a requirement for all chapters to host a Gift of Life drive. Almost every single one of our chapters participated in our national Spring Gift of Life Drive partnership! Due to their efforts, our chapters have successfully recruited 2,875 new donors to join the registry. This has resulted in 47 matches and 3 life-saving transplants. We are so proud of the impact our members continue to make! Additionally, National Service Week took place the first week of November. We held various virtual events for both active and alumni members to participate in. It was a great way for all of us to connect and serve together, even if we were not physically together. Many chapters took advantage of the National events by having their own event for their chapter that coincided. We are looking forward to more National Service Partnerships and National Service Week events this upcoming year!
We wanted to take a moment to spotlight the Omega Phi Alpha Foundation and their support towards our service impact. The Omega Phi Alpha Foundation continues to support the mission of the sorority by providing service and leadership grants to our chapters. This past academic year, the Omega Phi Alpha Foundation provided 10 service and leadership grants to our chapters. This allowed our chapters to make an even bigger impact in their communities and further develop as leaders.
Service Grant Recipients
Fall 2024
Omicron- Free Face Painting Booth for Kids at an Auburn Football Game
Alpha Sigma- Angel Tree during the Holiday Season
Alpha Gamma- Leadership Seminars
Alpha Chi- Stocking First-Year Teachers’ Classrooms
Gamma- Park Clean-up
Spring 2025
Chi- The Period Project
Alpha Chi- Teamwork Development Activity
Delta- Waters on Northgate
Epsilon-Food Bags for the Homeless
Alpha Gamma- Packs for Kids
Congratulations to all of the recipients!
Membership Growth and Retention
We experienced exciting membership growth and retention throughout the past year. In the Spring 2025 semester, we saw our highest active membership numbers since Fall 2018. Across the 2024–2025 academic year, active membership grew by 12% compared to the previous year. This growth speaks not only to strong recruitment, but also to the meaningful experiences and sense of community that keep members engaged. The chapter with the highest proportionate increase, winning the National Membership Award, is the Alpha Phi Chapter at Binghamton University with an 85% growth in membership. Other chapters with notable growth this past year include Alpha Chi with 83% and Alpha Delta with 71%.
We had 763 new members become active members this past year, including our 20 founding members and the Alpha Class of the Alpha Psi Chapter at the University of Pittsburgh. We had an average activation rate of 88.44% this past year, with the following chapters having a 90% or higher activation rate for both semesters:
- Omega
- Chi
- Alpha Theta
- Alpha Mu
- Alpha Nu
- Alpha Omicron
- Alpha Pi
- Alpha Sigma
- Alpha Phi
- Alpha Tau
We look forward to seeing how all of our chapters can continue to bloom and grow.
District Summit
We were beyond thrilled to bring back District Summit this year in full force since the pandemic! Many of our current active members have never attended a District Summit prior to this year, so it was wonderful to see them connect with members outside of their chapter. Between February and March, there were 12 District Summits, and just about 500 active and alumni members attended one!
This year’s theme was “Staying True to Our Values”, focusing on Omega Phi Alpha’s values of friendship, leadership, and service. This felt like a great way to get back to our roots as this would be the first time many of our chapters would be hosting District Summit since the pandemic. At each District Summit, members participated in friendship/sisterhood activities, leadership workshops, and, of course, a service project. Each district’s service project was related to this year’s President’s Project, Embracing All Identities. Many districts wrote letters for Point of Pride, an organization that provides financial aid and direct support to trans people in need of health and wellness care. These affirming letters are included in packages that the organization sends out. Other districts held inclusivity workshops, for example, the Heartland District Summit had a guest speaker from the Trevor Project! We also felt it was important to further equip our chapters with the tools needed to solve conflict. Pre-pandemic, all of our chapters received a Mediator in a Box, an interactive toolkit designed to make resolving everyday conflicts easier and more effective, but with the pandemic and so many new chapters, we discovered that the majority of our chapters did not have this anymore. We saw a need for chapters to have this again, and the Omega Phi Alpha Foundation was able to purchase a box for each chapter, which was presented at District Summit.
Several chapters told us that their members expressed that District Summit was a highlight of their year. Active members shared that they loved connecting with both alumni and active members through all activities. A highlight for our alumni members was the District Summit Bingo, which was created as a way for alumni and active members to break the ice. Active members also loved learning new things that they could incorporate in their chapter!
Chapter Health Initiative
As Programs Director, the bulk of my work centers on Chapter Health, working closely with both our Chapter Health Specialists (CHS) and our active members. Overall, our goal is for all chapters to be healthy and sustainable. This means smooth operations, meeting national requirements and expectations, navigating officer transitions, strong chapter morale, and more! We’ve found that these elements are essential for long-term chapter success.
Through the Chapter Health program, we have worked closely with all chapters, whether through a Chapter Assistance Plan (CAP) or by providing deeper support during times of need. While “Chapter Health” and “CAP” used to ignite some uneasiness with our members, we’ve seen a shift in perception. Chapters have taken advantage of the different ways they can connect and communicate with the national organization. Chapters now better understand that the Chapter Health team is here to help and support them. We’ve reached the point where many chapters are even sad to “graduate” from their CAP due to the strong relationships they’ve formed with their Chapter Health Specialist. They are able to recognize the strong impact it has had on their chapter. We remind our chapters that while their main point of contact may have changed with their status change, they can always reach out to anyone on the team!
A major highlight for this year was that Spring 2025 marked the first semester since Chapter Health began in 2021 that no chapters were on suspension or conditional status. This showcases how effective the initiative has been.
We have continued to host our Officer Leadership Academy (OLA) events throughout the year. This is a series of workshops designed to strengthen chapter officers and members’ knowledge around leadership, professional development, sorority operations, and more. We held 20 workshops this past year. Attendance was the highest it’s ever been since launching OLA in 2022. We offer incentives for the member who attends the most, and this past year we had 2 members who attended 4 sessions each. This was Allie McCutcheon from Alpha Xi and Caroline Bolina from Alpha Phi. This upcoming year, we are focusing on having more active members attend as opposed to just chapter officers. Stay tuned for our Fall 2025 schedule!
This spring, we launched new Officer Transition Courses on OPAPortal. This asynchronous course supports other resources the team has developed to help ensure chapter officers have smooth transitions. Officers can revisit this information as needed. Officer transitions are critical to chapter health, and we’re excited to see how this course aids in this process.
We introduced Chapter Checkouts in Spring 2023 and have continued the process each spring. During these checkouts, we verify officer transitions, access to accounts, chapter morale, due dates, and more. Chapters receive their status and a “grade” for the upcoming academic year based on meeting expectations in areas such as:
- Email Correspondence and Utilization
- Completion of Items by Due Date
- Recruitment Goals Being Met
- Disassociation Rates
- Slack Utilization
- Financial Stability and Practices
- Service Requirements
A total of 16 chapters received a letter grade of an A for the 2024-2025 school year:
- Alpha
- Nu*
- Phi*
- Chi
- Omega
- Alpha Delta*
- Alpha Zeta
- Alpha Kappa*
- Alpha Lambda
- Alpha Omicron*
- Alpha Pi*
- Alpha Rho*
- Alpha Sigma*
- Alpha Upsilon
- Alpha Phi
- Alpha Chi*
*These chapters were assigned a Chapter Health Specialist or worked closely with the Programs Director.
New this year, we introduced mid-year check-ins using Chapter Checkout criteria and mid-year reports. These check-ins provided chapters with insight into their standing and clear areas to improve on during the spring semester. We plan to continue both Chapter Checkouts and mid-year check-ins in 2025–2026 and will continue to make adjustments as needed.
Chapter Health is rooted in accountability, connection, and care. We’re here to support chapters, advocate for their needs, and celebrate every win. Your success is our success, and we can’t wait to see what’s ahead!
Alumni
This year, we continued several “fan-favorite” alumni events that bring us together in fun ways, including March Madness brackets, Fantasy Football, and our annual Secret Snowman gift exchange. These traditions remain highlights each year and will continue this next year as well! A standout this fall was our virtual Murder Mystery event. This was a huge hit and brought alumni together from across the country for a night of fun and connection. We are looking forward to providing more opportunities for alumni to connect with each other and engage with the sorority. Keep an eye out for future events and get connected with your home chapter or the chapter that’s in your current backyard! We will have Book Buzz events starting up again soon and new initiatives designed to connect alumni and active members together.
We are already planning and looking forward to Convention 2026 next summer in Richmond, Virginia! Convention is a great time to reconnect with members and remember why you joined this amazing organization. For all of this and more, keep an eye on social media and your email to get updates from the sorority. Also, be sure to log into OPAportal and update your information!
Yellow Roses,
Jenna Zielinski
Programs Director