Virginia ABA – 2025 Chapter Update
By Sarah DiGioia
The Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis (VirginiaABA® or VABA) is the affiliate chapter of ABAI in Virginia. We represent the profession of behavior analysis in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the end of the 2024 membership cycle, we had 975 members. This was the largest membership since VABA’s launch in 2003. We hope to reach 1,000 members in 2025! As of the date of this report, the Commonwealth of Virginia has over 3,340 licensed behavior analysts (LBA) and over 240 licensed assistant behavior analysts (LABA). In 2024, Virginia welcomed 61 newly certified BCBA-Ds, 1,941 BCBAs, 244 BCaBAs, and 3,605 RBTs for a combined 5,851 new certificants. VABA is a 501c6 organization lead by a Board of Directors which includes President, President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, three Members at Large, and two student representatives. VABA contracts with a lobbyist and has one paid contracted position, an Administrative Director.
We have four goals that we use to achieve our mission of promoting and supporting the practice, research, and dissemination of behavior analysis throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Goal 1 – Improve Viability and Sustainability of the Organization; Goal 2 – Provide Quality Service to Our Members; Goal 3 – Strengthen the Diversity and Cultural Competence Within VABA and the Behavior Analysis Profession Across the Commonwealth; Goal 4 – Advocate for the Science of Behavior Analysis in the Commonwealth. We are frequently monitoring our strategic plan to find better ways of serving our members.
This year, our 21st annual conference was in Newport News, VA. Our 2024 conference in Alexandria, VA, brought in over 500 attendees, our largest conference to date. We offer location-based special interest groups in Central VA, Southwest, Tidewater, and Northern VA, which provide additional professional development events to serve our members. We have active Marketing & Membership, Student Engagement and Mentorship, DEI and Public Policy Committees which help to strengthen our organization and help to carry out our goals.
In 2024, we welcomed our first annual awards presented at our conference – The E. Scott Geller Award for Distinguished Service to Applied Behavioral Science, The Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis Early Career Award, and The Virginia Association for Behavior Analysis Award for Excellence in Direct Service Provision.
VABA distributes quarterly newsletters, public policy action updates and this year welcomed a DEI focused newsletter. VABA has four social media accounts, including Facebook with over 2430 followers, Instagram with over 600 followers, LinkedIn with over 300 followers, and X with over 1160 followers. Our website is designed to be a resource for anyone interested in the field of behavior analysis in the Commonwealth and contains a public resources page, provider directory, DEI resources page, and a members-only resource page. We are currently in the process of updating our supervisor directory and hope to launch a mentorship program and search feature in 2025.
VABA Membership offers many benefits, including an annual conference, networking opportunities, quarterly newsletter, CEU offerings (including the conference and beyond), members-only resources, lobbying and policy efforts, location-based special interest groups, and discounts on a variety of outside products. The VABA Board of Directors works diligently to make sure we are relevant to behavior analysts in Virginia. We meet every other month and stay in continual contact to provide benefits that our members request and need. We are proud to represent behavior analysis in Virginia.
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