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About FCCLA
Arizona Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) was founded on June 12, 1946, as an affiliated state association of National FCCLA. Formerly the Future Homemakers of America (FHA), FCCLA has evolved to focus on preparing youth for today's careers in four career pathways: Education & Training, Hospitality & Tourism, Human Services, and Visual Arts & Design - all while enforcing Real-World Skills, otherwise known as employability skills, that are transferrable between careers, Since then, Arizona FCCLA has been serving students of all backgrounds as they explore the various postsecondary opportunities available to them.
Our Impact
Click on a statistic to learn more about our achievements.
65.3K
Community Reach
34
Program Applicants
3.8K
Followers
5,484
Members
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The 2023-2024 membership year proved to be one of great strides for Arizona Family, Career and Community Leaders of America as the organization reached its highest membership count in recent years: 5,484 members (a 27.27% increase compared to the previous year) in 273 chapters for an average of 20 members per chapter. The organization attributes this growth to different factors:
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Last year, the Arizona Department of Education announced that Educators Rising would no longer be a recognized Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) in the state of Arizona and therefore Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, to remain comppliant with program monitoring, would need to affiliate with Arizona FCCLA. In the 2022-2023 membership year, the organization has approximately 188 affiliated chapters, meaning an additional 85 chapters affiliated compared to the year prior. While some of them are not Education & Training-affiliated, a large majority of them are.
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Over the last few years, the organization has seen an influx of chapters, which also leads to an increase in the number of chapter advisers. Beginning involvement in any CTSO can be intimidating, but as these advisers become more comfortable it is expected an increase in membership for that chapter will follow. That is where Arizona FCCLA attributes the remaining membership increase that is not affiliated with the Educators Rising transition. As newer advisers continue to become more comfortable with the organization's opportunities, this trend is expected to continue.
As Arizona Family, Career and Community Leaders of America continues to evolve and expand, the membership itself continues to move in a direction that better reflects the demographics of the state of Arizona. The organization - centered around Family and Consumer Sciences - continues to face a challenge with the female-to-male ratio, at nearly 2.65:1. This is, however, a challenge that FCCLA continues to face on the National level as well. The Membership & Recognition Committee of the Arizona FCCLA Board of Directors will continue to evaluate the demographical makeup of the organization and propose initiatives and resources to help Recruit, Retain, and Recognize members.
The Career Pathway makeup of the organization also continues to evolve so that a majority of chapters (40%) are based in an Education & Training program in 2023-2024, whereas it was only 25% in 2022-2023 -- with Hospitality & Tourism dominating at 61.5% in 2022-2023 compared to 34% in 2023-2024.
Access the 2023-2024 Membership Report here.
Looking
Ahead
Looking ahead to the 2024-2025 school year, consistent with the governance decisions of National Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Arizona FCCLA will be offering two (2) additional membership packages beyond the traditional individual affiliation option:
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Option 1: Up to 25 Members Package
This package will allow a chapter to affiliate up to 25 members and will include: one (1) Adviser Academy registration, one (1) National Program of choice, and one (1) lifetime Alumni & Associates membership for anyone of choice. Arizona FCCLA does not anticipate many chapters using this affiliation option.
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Option 2: Unlimited Membership Package
This package will allow a chapter to affiliate an unlimited number of members and an unlimited number of advisers. This package will also include: one (1) Adviser Academy registration, one (1) National Program of choice, and one (1) lifetime Alumni & Associates membership for anyone of choice. Arizona FCCLA is anticipating only a handful of chapters to use this affiliation option - especially those exploring total program affiliation.
4,631
Conference Attendees
The 2023-2024 school year was record setting for Arizona FCCLA, with most conferences experiencing their largest attendance yet. Collectively - Adviser Boot Camp, Chapter Leadership Camp, Fall Leadership Conference, and State Leadership Conference - attendance totaled 4,631 individuals over the year. This is approximately a 41.10% increase in conference attendees compared to the year prior. The largest conference attendance increase occurred for the Fall Leadership Conference with 712 more attendees in 2023 compared to 2022. The increase in conference attendees has been a consistent trend over the past few years, with an increase happening each year since returning to in-person conferences post-COVID. As the membership in the organization continues on a growing trend, it is expected that conference attendance will follow such trend.
With the continued expansion of the Fall Leadership Conference and State Leadership Conference, Arizona FCCLA will be making some programming changes for these conferences to best meet the needs of the organization. For starters, the rental space for the Fall Leadership Conference at the Phoenix Convention Center continues to expand to accommodate the influx of attendees. Additionally to help engage attendees in the opportunities available through FCCLA, the newly-developed State Leadership Training Team (SLTT) consisting of FCCLA alumni will offer leadership- and professional-skills-based workshops to help members on their journey to exploring Career Pathways and postsecondary opportunities.
The State Leadership Conference, on the other hand, will be moving from the Westin la Paloma - where it has been held for the past 15+ years - to the Tucson Convention Center. The change in venues will allow the organization to accommodate even more attendees, more competitors, and offer additional spaces for leadership development programming to engage members. This would only be possible through the expanded growth in the number of attendees over the years - making this an exciting step in The Ultimate Journey for Arizona FCCLA.
Engagement Rate
Of the many conferences hosted by Arizona FCCLA, the State Leadership Conference is the only one that limits registration to nationally-affiliated individuals only. In the year's since returning to in-person conferences, post-COVID, the number of members attending the State Leadership Conference has increased, but even more so, the number of members attending the State Leadership Conference relative to the total affiliated members in the state has also increased year-over-year.
30.76%
Engagement Rate in 2024
Continuing on the trend of record setting in the 2023-2024 school year, the engagement rate for the State Leadership Conference reached an all-time high with 30.76% of all affiliated members attending the conference! This is 4.3 percentage points higher compared to the year prior.
In evaluating the total engagement among other conferences, it is difficult to quantify relative to affiliated members as affiliation is not a requisite for registration. Often times, advisers will use the other events hosted by Arizona FCCLA as an opportunity for member recruitment.
Coming in 2024
As plans continue to develop for the 2024-2025 school year, Arizona FCCLA is excited to add an all new conference in December 2024. In partnership with The Arizona Cardinals and Arizona HOSA, the all new Red Zone Leadership Conference will take place at State Farm Stadium and provide members an opportunity to hone in their professional skills as they continue on their journey of exploring postsecondary opportunities.
Information regarding this event will be updated on the Arizona FCCLA website. Visit azfccla.org/rzlc to learn more.
174
NLC Qualifiers
Each year, over a thousand middle school, high school, and postsecondary students compete at the State Leadership Conference in over 30 events for the chance to represent Arizona at the National Leadership Conference. In 2024, 174 students met these requirements, which include:
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participation in a Students Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) Event,
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designating a commitment to attend the National Leadership Conference during registration,
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placing in the top two (2) for the event and level,
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and scoring higher than an 80.
Earning the title of qualifier is a major accomplishment and something that should be celebrated!