Food For Thought

We have made many adjustments during the last few months. Many changes have taken place in our facilities, with our families, and how we obtain education and network with our peers. We are learning to adapt to the “new normal.” Over the last few weeks, we have heard from several chapters leaders about how they plan to transition from face to face meetings to virtual meetings. In addition to the best practices of hosting a virtual meeting (July Volunteer Leader), there are some other key practices to keep in mind related to the prior approvals process. 

Applying for Multiple Sessions/Courses – Many chapters have decided to offer several sessions over a few weeks or months during the fall. As these will be considered separate sessions, each course will require a separate Prior Approvals application. This will ensure that a different Prior Approval number is assigned to each separate course, and those participating in the course will receive the correct number of CE hours. 

Assigning Competency Levels – With each separate session/course a competency level will also need to be assigned. As your courses may differ, competency levels may also differ. Using Appendix C & D within the Prior Approvals handbook, you will need to decide the overall competency level for your sessions and select the most relevant topic areas for the education that will be covered in the session. Please see the Prior Approvals handbook for more information. 

Application Deadlines – It’s important to keep deadlines in mind when completing the Prior Approval applications. As of June 1, a $50 late fee will be charged if applications are submitted with less than 30 days allowed for processing. We suggest ANFP Chapters submit applications and supporting material at least eight weeks prior to the start date of the program/event to allow time for processing, corrections, and advance publicity. Anticipate a four to six-week timeframe for approval from the date the application is received.

Make Use of the Toolkit – The Prior Approvals Toolkit has many useful tools, resources, and templates that help simplify the application process. It includes sample applications, speaker directory, how to’s, and speaker information form, all which are useful and relevant to a virtual session or course. 

For questions regarding the Prior Approval application and/or processes, please email at priorapprovals@CBDMonline.org. 

For questions regarding chapter meeting planning, please email chapters@ANFPonline.org or asolazzo@ANFPonline.org. 

To learn more about the CE Prior Approvals application process, please take some time to view webinar on ANFPtv.