Message from the Federation President

Hello, and welcome!

Thank you for joining (or re-joining) NARFE. Your membership is so important!

If you aren’t a chapter member, know that chapter membership can add even more value to your already valuable NARFE membership. The first year of chapter membership is free for new NARFE members. We have fourteen active chapters in Minnesota.

We are in Region V (a seven-state area which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North & South Dakota). Membership in Minnesota: 2386 members (1053 Chapter/1333 National-only).

Sharing your email address with NARFE is the key to being connected to everything NARFE has to offer. If you log in at narfe.org, you can read back issues of NARFE Magazine, participate in webinars and/or view them later on-demand for free, and access other benefits.

As the current legislative session in DC lurches forward we hope you will take advantage of NARFE’s advocacy links to share our legislative concerns with your legislators. (NARFE Legislative Action Center – NARFE). We encourage you to personalize the email messages you send, especially if you have a story to tell. We are hoping someone can work with us as the advocacy focal point in several congressional districts (1, 4, and 7) as a Congressional District Liaison. Please let us know if you are interested.

We hope to see many of you as conventions or conferences for groups like unions and associations in the state are set to include a NARFE presence as a partner.

Our Minnesota State Federation newsletter, intended for all members of the Minnesota Federation, which includes both active/non-active chapter members and members not affiliated with a chapter, is expected to be published prior to September to include information about our election of new federation officers once current terms expire at the end of June 2027. Some MN Federation officers will stand for another term. Nominations will be accepted over the next couple of months with election information, when available, on our website. Check out previous Federation newsletters, too.

Our National NARFE meeting, FEDcon26, will be held August 23-25 in Indianapolis. The Minnesota Federation or local chapters may have resources to allow some meeting expenses to be reimbursed for a limited number of members first-come, first-served.

See our 2027 In-Person Federation Conference page for additional information. The venue is set – the Willmar Conference Center. The conference will begin Tuesday May 18 from 10 AM thru noon Wednesday May 19, 2027. The last semi-annual conference in 2025, William Shackelford, NARFE President was our keynote speaker. John Hatton, Staff Vice President, Policy & Programs joined us via Zoom covering national legislation. We had various breakout sessions and a memorial service. We had enlightening speakers and a legislative panel. Participants were positively enthusiastic!

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about NARFE, membership benefits, or our Minnesota Federation.

Welcome! (or Welcome back!)

Jim Ryan
President
NARFE Minnesota Federation President