Originally posted by rocketgirl
Just a comment from a non-NPHCer - I think it's good to have stringent membership requirements...it will prevent you from having organizations in your council that cannot stand on their own two feet for a few years.
Stringent is one thing; stringent to the point of unattainable is another.
I had already mentioned in the post above yours that all orgs need a period of establishment before affiliating with any council--so to that extent I agree with you.
I think that's one of the problems with the two national multicultural councils that are established. There are little to no requirements and that means any organization can jump on and fall off. Having requirements that basically make it so that the organization can exist without the council means that the org is not using the council to just "get their name out there".
I have no issue with that; matter of fact I remember a Greek Council called the New Greek Alliance (later became National Greek Alliance) back in 1997/98/99 that consisted of GLOs that was 2-5 years in existence--one of them was a sorority called Kappa Phi Iota--anybody remember that org and founder Jamilah Adkins?
Anyhow the whole alliance dropped off 'cause I can't even get a Yahoo or Google search on that name.
It also means that they can actually be a support for the other orgs in the NPHC that are already very established. A younger organization would not be much help in the NPHC.
Why not?
Like TheEpitome1920 said, practically all the orgs that are Black focused that were formed that are not in the NPHC were formed because the founders weren't looking for anything they found in the NPHC. That probably means that they weren't trying to be down with the NPHC from jump.
That's an oversimplified generalization--perhaps true for orgs founded < 10 years ago, but may not necessarily be so for orgs founded 20+ years ago. The only way to find out is to ask the individual orgs in question.
Personally, I don't think it's alienation/discouragement...if you really want to be in the NPHC...join one of the organizations already in it.
That begs the question, why is that necessary? What substantive elements, other than elitism, precludes a new org from joining?