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Starting a New Chapter/Club

To become a CCB Chapter/Club, you must have six legally blind,deafblind, or visually impaired persons to apply for Affiliation to the national organization through a Division. Once you have six members and have decided you want to form your own Chapter/Club, hold a meeting with a Division representative in attendance, if possible.

At this meeting a Chairperson should be designated and a Chapter/Club Constitution and By-Laws developed (remember, the By-Laws of a Chapter/Club are the recognized rules governing the Chapter/Club's administration and activities and are, therefore, very important and need to be carefully developed).

Using a previously prepared agenda and perhaps a "sample" Constitutions and By-Laws, adopt the articles for your Constitution and By-Laws by motion and resolution until you have completed documents. The finished Constitution and By-Laws are then read back and voted on. With these documents in place, you are now ready to elect officers and apply for Affiliation.

Note: In situations of national significance local Chapters/Club Constitutions and By-Laws are subordinate and must never be contrary to the CCB National documents.

Forward the application to the Division, along with any Division membership fee and documentation that may be required. The Division will then conduct a postal poll of its Executive Members and inform you of their decision. If accepted, the Division office will then forward your Application for Affiliation to the National Office. The National Office will conduct a postal poll of its National Board Members and inform you of their decision.

Note: Chapters/Clubs are encouraged to prefix the name with the letters CCB, (i.e., CCB London Chapter).

Your Chapter/Club might choose to accommodate small groups that find it difficult to reach meetings by forming Sub-Chapter/Clubs. If you have less than six members, but still want to belong to a CCB Chapter/Club, contact your nearest Chapter/Club and express your interest in forming a Sub-Chapter/Club.

Sub-Chapters/Clubs are a branch of the CCB Chapter/Club which sponsors it, and Sub-Chapter/Club members are members of the Parent Chapter/Club. Sub-Chapter/Clubs are usually formed by Chapter/Clubs to serve areas that are of more remote nature, such as rural areas, or the suburbs of a city; it may be difficult for some members of the Chapter/Club to attend meetings and they can instead meet as a Sub-Chapter/Club.

There are no set procedures for running a Sub-Chapter/Club, but the following advice may be useful if a Chapter/Club chooses to form a Sub-Chapter/Club.

Where it is possible to send a Sub-Chapter/Club member to important Parent Chapter/Club meetings, the Sub-Chapter/Club can designate a representative and invest him with their proxy votes.

Where it is not possible to send a Sub-Chapter/Club member to Parent Chapter/Club meeting, they may ask someone at the Parent Chapter/Club to act in their interest and have that person represent them, including holding their proxy votes. It is in the Sub-Chapter/Club's best interest, in light of the difficulties of maintaining contact with a Parent Chapter/Club, to form a Chapter/Club once they have enrolled six members.