Connecticut Federation Presentation  6-12-08

President Cathy Nasin, National President Margaret Baptiste, Federation Officers, Chapter Officers, members and guests. Thank you for inviting me and my wife Ky to participate in the CT Convention. The Federation has a long and proud history and we congratulate you as you celebrate your 42 Biennial Federation Convention.

This has been an interesting year for NARFE. Although we have not had a major legislative victory, there have been some successes. OPM announced that retired federal employees engaged in firefighting and law enforcement would be eligible to deduct up to $3000 of health care expenses on their Federal income tax returns thereby providing a premium conversion type benefit for those retirees, a first step toward premium conversion for all retirees. NARFE has also been effective in insuring that none of the current benefits have been reduced, a significant achievement in these times of record federal deficits. Progress continues to be made in obtaining cosponsors for Premium Conversion and GPO/WEP repeal. We must continue to keep the pressure on our local legislators to support us in our quest to get these bills out of committee for a vote and approval.

During the year, NARFE has completed a Long Range Strategic Development Plan and President Baptiste formed a Restructuring Committee to evaluate how the NARFE organizational structure or way of doing business could be changed to better achieve the organizational objectives and to provide better support to the members. The reports are available on the NARFE Web site and we ask members to follow up on the recommendations by preparing resolutions to make additional recommendations or modify how we do business to improve the Association. The is an ongoing process in which we all need to get involved to insure that the Association grows and adapts to the changing political environment and the needs of the Association and the members.  

Two of the biggest problems we face are declining membership and the inability to get members to accept leadership positions in the chapters and federations. A Leadership development Committee has been established to develop material and guidelines for development of future officers. Although no funding has been provided as of yet, the work is in progress. In the coming year it is expected that guidelines and instructional materials will be developed that will enable Regions, Federations and/or Chapters to provide the training. This is a vital program that should help to train and encourage new leaders for our chapters and federations. The NEB has approved award programs to increase and retain members. First, second and 3^rd prizes of $500, $300 and $200 respectively will be provided to the chapters that obtain the most new members or retain the most members. Prizes will be awarded for the largest totals and for the largest percentage increases, thereby making small chapters as well as large chapters able to compete for a total of 12 prizes.  The chapters that have the best chance of winning are those who can get the most members to participate in recruiting and retaining members.                    

As President Baptiste has noted, the NEB has approved a program to recognize excellence among the chapter and federation Service Officers. Hopefully, in the future, this will encourage more members to become Service officers. NARFE is the only organization that provides support and assistance when events such as member or spouse death, divorce, or problems with member benefits occur. An updated booklet on the best of the benefits Question and Answers from the NARFE magazine is in the process of being prepared. Recently, a NARFE Blog for Service officers has been started at narfe.org/sobb. Other Blogs including a Legislative Blog are planned. We encourage members to consult the NARFE web site at narfe.org to keep abreast of recent breaking news or new initiatives. Also, information that is published in the various newsletters and reports from National should be carefully screened. Information of interest to the general membership should be reported in the chapter and federation newsletters. By keeping our members well informed they are more likely to retain their membership.     Any Questions?