History
The official birth of the national organization occurred during the first Interstate Conference of Distributive Education Clubs held in Memphis, TN, on April 17–19, 1947. Among those in attendance was the Louisiana delegation. More than 100 students and sponsors, representing 22 states, participated in this conference. In 1948 the organization's name was changed to The Distributive Education Clubs of America and a constitution, emblem, creed, colors, and national dues structure were approved. Seventeen states were accepted as charter members.
The DECA Foundation was legally incorporated in 1959-60. In spring of 1953 the DECA staff moved into the building housing the AVA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The first DECA theme was chosen for use during the 1959-60 school year (DE-Gateway to Success). By 1969, every state in the U.S. was operating a state association of DECA.
Competitive events were refined and stabilized during the 1960s. After a study conducted during 1973-74, a Competitive Events Reorganization task force proposed a new competence-based approach to competitive events designed to integrate the DECA organization within the instructional program of distributive education.
During the early 1970s, the DECA Board of Directors and national staff prepared plans to build a National DECA Center in Reston, VA. The building was dedicated in September 1976. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, William Bennett, in 1988 endorsed DECA and the other vocational student organizations.
In 1989 DECA approved their mission statement of "The mission of DECA is to enhance the education of students with interests in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship.” A name change occurred in 1991 when the Board of Directors decided that the acronym, DECA, would be used in conjunction with the words, "An Association of Marketing Students." New logos were designed to reflect this change.
In 1991 when the DECA acrynom was changed the organization decided to no longer have DECA stand for Distributed Educational Clubs of America, as DECA was becoming international and popular in Canada. DECA Ontario is now very successful. http://www.deca.ca/
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