Omega Phi Alpha (ΩΦΑ) is an American national service sorority. It was founded in 1967 at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Omega Phi Alpha, also known as OPhiA, currently has 29 active chapters in the United States, as well as one prospective new chapter and one interest group.

History

In 1953, several female students at Bowling Green State University expressed an interest in having an organization like the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega which was active on their campus. The brothers of the Zeta Kappa chapter of Alpha Phi Omega changed their plans to form a second fraternity and instead helped establish a new service sorority at Bowling Green State University. The two groups were to be alike in objectives—friendship, leadership, and service. A similar name—Omega Phi Alpha—was chosen for the sorority. Just as the Alpha Phi Omega chapter was limited to former Boy Scouts, the Omega Phi Alpha sorority was originally limited to former Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls. The national sorority removed this limitation in 1958. The sisters helped establish two more Omega Phi Alpha chapters at Eastern Michigan University in 1958 and the University of Bridgeport in 1962. However, these chapters operated independently and were not incorporated as a national sorority. In early 1966, the Bowling Green sorority received a letter indicating that the other two had merged to create a national sorority and invited them to join. However, the new national group had not registered legally. Upon learning this, Omega Phi Alpha at Bowling Green registered and invited the two groups to affiliate with it. The three groups met at a national convention in Bowling Green, Ohio in 1967. On June 15, 1967, the groups agreed to consolidate as a national sorority and laid the foundations for what is currently Omega Phi Alpha. They also decided that Bowling Green was the Alpha chapter. The University of Bridgeport became the Beta chapter, and Eastern Michigan was named the Gamma chapter. The Alpha, Beta, and Gamma chapters were the only chapters until the Delta chapter was formed in 1970. Other chapters were added through the Alpha Upsilon chapter at University of Tennessee Knoxville in 2022. Omega Phi Alpha has nine districts of active chapters. Each district is encouraged to meet once a year and is required to hold a district summit in the convention off-year, which includes service projects, workshops, and sisterhood activities.

Symbols

The chevron and the bee are Omega Phi Alpha's symbols. Its flower is the yellow rose, chose to represent friendship. The sorority's colors are dark blue, gold, and light blue. Omega Phi Alpha has two badges: one for active members and the other for alumna. The active badge is a diamond with concave sides. The alumna badge is round and features a rose. On top of the circle is a chevron with the sorority's name.

Purpose

The purpose of Omega Phi Alpha reads as follows:

Activities

Omega Phi Alpha has a diverse, flexible service program that allows each member to contribute to the world around her. Many chapters have ongoing projects that they have worked with for years.

Six areas of service

1. Permanent Project

The permanent project is mental health. Mental health service projects are defined as any project that improves the well-being of others, and these projects are typically hands-on projects such as playing with kids in an afterschool program, playing Bingo at a nursing home, or serving meals at a soup kitchen.

2. President's Project

Each year at the Omega Phi Alpha National Convention, the national president of Omega Phi Alpha presents the cause she feels is worthy of being the focus of OPA service nationwide. Past president's projects prior to 2002 include the environment, terminal illness, AIDS awareness and education, domestic violence, "Just Say No To Drugs", handicapped children, nursing, ecology, heart disease, children, the elderly, head injury prevention, literacy, and internal organization key points. The president's projects by year include:

3. Service to the University Community

Sisters provide service within their university's community by volunteering at school events, holding stress relief classes, and random acts of kindness,

4. Service to the Community at Large

Sisters help the community at large by participating in local park clean-ups, food banks, tutoring at a local school, and volunteering at the Humane Society.

5. Service to the members of the sorority

Sisters provide service to the members of the sorority by supporting alumnae and internal strengthening.

6. Service to the nations of the world

To serve the nations of the world, sisters have raised funds for UNICEF, AIDS Awareness, diabetes awareness (American Diabetes Association), breast cancer awareness (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, among others).

Chapters

The active chapters of Omega Phi Alpha are in bold and the inactive chapters are in italic.

Convention

Omega Phi Alpha holds a national convention every other year. The national conventions provide a forum for making sorority-wide decisions like aligning on a budget, electing national officers, or changing the national policies reflected in the constitution and by-laws. Each active chapter in good standing has two votes to use in deciding sorority issues. Active chapters that are not in good standing have only one vote. Some alumnae delegates represent each of OPA's four districts. For every three active votes, alumnae get one vote. OPA national convention locations include:

Alumni groups

Omega Phi Alpha has seven regions of alumni that are drawn on state lines and are based on the population distribution of OPhiA alumni. The regions are Mid-Atlantic, Mid-South, Midwest, Northeast, South, Southeast, and West. Each alumni region sends a specific number of delegates to OPhiA's National Convention every year; this number is based on the number of active votes possible at that year's Convention. Alumni representation makes up 25% of the total representation at any given convention.