On October 16, 1932, at a time when African American nurses were either barred from membership in state and national nursing professional associations or had only limited opportunities to participate in these organizations, a visionary nursing leader named Aliene Carrington Ewell, BA, RN, with the assistance of 11 other founding members, established Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc., a national sorority for black professional nurses. The charter chapter, Alpha, was organized at Freedman's Hospital in Washington D.C. for two specific purposes: elevating the plane of nursing and increasing interest in the field of nursing.
Today Chi Eta Phi is a professional association for registered professional nurses and student nurses–both male and female–representing many cultures and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has over 8,000 registered nurses and nursing students in graduate chapters (for nurses who are already RNs) and undergraduate (Beta) chapters grouped into five regions according to geographic areas.The chapters are located throughout the United States, District of Columbia, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Island and Liberia West Africa.
Chi Eta Phi Sorority as it exists today has five stated purposes:
To encourage continuing education among members of the nursing profession. To have a continuous recruitment program for nursing and the health professions. To stimulate a close and friendly relationship among the members. To develop working relationships with other professional groups for the improvement and delivery of health care services. To constantly identify a corps of nursing leaders within the membership who will function as agents of social change on the national, regional and local level.
Guided by the motto "Service for Humanity", this motto is reflected in a wide range of programs focusing on health promotion and disease prevention, leadership development, mentoring, international development, recruitment and retention of minorities into nursing, and scholarships for nursing students. The organization also publishes the Journal of Chi Eta Phi Sorority (JOCEPS), a scholarly nursing journal published annually.
