APTA is committed to using our national conferences and events as opportunities to make a positive impact on the local community and live our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Here are some of the actions and attendee opportunities we have lined up for APTA CSM in Boston, Feb. 15-17.

Supporting Women's Lunch Place

APTA will donate $10,000 to Women's Lunch Place, a unique daytime shelter and organization that annually supports over 2,000 individual women facing homelessness and poverty in the Greater Boston area. Women's Lunch Place strives to establish a secure and inviting day shelter community for women grappling with poverty, unemployment, hunger, and homelessness. 

In their free time, APTA CSM attendees can volunteer Feb. 14-16 from 7-11 a.m. and 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Attendees are responsible for calling and expressing an interest in volunteering, as the time slots have been placed on hold for those days. Individuals are encouraged to go in groups of five, as this is the maximum number of volunteers for each time slot.

Donating Blood

On Thursday and Friday, APTA CSM attendees can donate blood to support the Masschusetts General Hospital Blood Donor Center. Want to donate? Sign up through PT in the Community, a Foundation of the Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy. Walk-ins also welcome.

Raising Funds for Minority Scholarships

Tickets for the PT Fund Celebration of Diversity at the remarkable Museum of Science, Thursday, Feb. 15, benefit the APTA Minority Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to PT and PTA students and faculty of ethnic and racial minorities. Tickets can be purchased when registering for APTA CSM.

Welcoming HOSA

On Thursday, Feb. 15, from 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., APTA will host local HOSA Future Health Professional members during APTA's "HOSA at CSM" event with the goal of exposing participants to the profession of physical therapy and providing meaningful connections with PT Moves Me ambassadors and more. HOSA actively promotes health profession career opportunities and provides its members unique experiential learning opportunities, real-world applicability, leadership development, networking, and more. APTA is a proud HOSA partner and is honored to be the recipient of HOSA’s Outstanding Professional Association Award.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

APTA is committed to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the association, profession, and society. In 2021, APTA's Board of Directors and House of Delegates committed our association to "pursue safe, inclusive experiences for attendees of national conferences/events" and "identify and promote opportunities for members and attendees to make a positive impact on the needs of vulnerable health populations" through those events.

The above opportunities to make a positive local impact are just a few of the ways our association will live our commitment to DEI at APTA CSM.

APTA CSM will continue to offer rooms for nursing mothers, all-gender restrooms, ASL interpretation upon request, and live captioning for our on-demand conference experience.

We also will make a land acknowledgment to recognize Indigenous peoples, who are the original stewards of the land where the conference is being held, and we will invite local Indigenous peoples to visit with our attendees.

If you would like to learn more or get involved, please visit us in the APTA Pavilion in the exhibit hall at APTA CSM, or email us.