trade association, group of business people in the same trade or industry organized for the advancement of common interests. The trade association differs from the chamber of commerce in that membership is by industry rather than by locality. The common interests binding the members of the trade association may include credit, public relations, relations with employees, sales development, output, or prices. Some associations publish official journals, and some maintain bureaus at the national and state capitals.

savings and loan association, type of financial institution that was originally created to accept savings from private investors and to provide home mortgage services for the public.

The first U.S. savings and loan association was founded in 1831. In 1932, the Federal Home Loan Bank System was created to oversee the savings and loan associations, with deposits to be insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). Since 1933 the federal government has chartered savings and loan associations, although they have not generally been required to be federally chartered. After World War II, the associations began a period of rapid expansion. Historically, savings and loan associations could be organized in two ways: either as a mutual or a capital stock institution. A mutual organization would be similar in operation to a mutual savings bank.

The savings and loan institution went through many changes in recent years, primarily due to deregulatory measures instituted in the 1980s by the U.S. federal government, allowing them to offer a much wider range of services than ever before. The deregulatory measures allowed savings and loan associations to enter the business of commercial lending, trust services, and nonmortgage consumer lending. The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 began these sweeping changes, one of which was to raise deposit insurance from $40,000 to $100,000. Many contend that this extension of insurance coverage encouraged savings and loan associations to engage in riskier loans than they might otherwise have sought.

Two years later, the Depository Institutions Act gave savings and loan institutions the right to make secured and unsecured loans to a wide range of markets, permitted developers to own savings and loan associations, and allowed owners of these institutions to lend to themselves. Under the new laws, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) was given a number of new powers to secure the capital positions of the savings and loan associations. Under these new laws, the FHLBB allowed savings and loan associations to print their own capital, and escape charges of insolvency through such measures as "goodwill," in which customer loyalty and market share were counted as part of a capital base. As a result, a thrift that was technically insolvent could resist government seizure.

Savings and loan associations began to engage in large-scale speculation, particularly in real estate. Financial failure of the institutions became rampant, with well over 500 forced to close during the 1980s. In 1989, after the FSLIC itself became insolvent, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took over the FSLIC's insurance obligations, and the Resolution Trust Corporation was created to buy and sell defaulted savings and loan associations. The Office of Thrift Supervision was also created, in an attempt to identify struggling savings and loan organizations before it was too late. The U.S. government expects it will cost more than $500 billion over 30 years to bail out the savings and loan associations.

free association: see association; psychoanalysis.

building and loan association: see savings and loan association.

association, in psychology, a connection between different sensations, feelings, or ideas by virtue of their previous occurrence together in experience. The concept of association entered contemporary psychology through the empiricist philosophers John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, and David Hartley, and the British associationist school of James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and others (see associationism). Translated into the stimulus-response terms of behaviorism, association has been thought of as the basis of learning and conditioning. Paired experience and the principle of reinforcement are often invoked to explain associative learning. However, Gestalt psychologists, who believe that association between items is dependent on their relations to each other, interpret association as an aftereffect of perceptual organization. Psychoanalysis uses a technique known as free association, in which the client expresses thoughts exactly as they occur, even though they may seem irrelevant. This procedure is designed to reveal areas of conflict and to bring into consciousness traumatic events that have been repressed, the theory being that earlier thoughts and associations can be derived from current thoughts with similar patterns of association.

Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), organization whose stated mission is "to empower women and girls and to eliminate racism." The movement is nondenominational. It grew out of the homes for young women and female prayer unions established throughout Great Britain during the mid-19th cent., most notable of which was the London boardinghouse created (1855) by Lady Kinnaird, generally taken to be the first YWCA. In 1877 a number of these organizations merged officially to form the Young Women's Christian Association. The movement spread to the British colonies and to the Continent. Meanwhile, in New York City, a prayer group known as the Ladies' Christian Union, generally considered the first YWCA in the United States, had been organized in 1858 by Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts. In Boston, another group formed (1866) the first U.S. association officially to call itself the Young Women's Christian Association. The movement spread rapidly, and a national body, the Young Women's Christian Associations of the United States, was established in 1906. National headquarters have been in New York City since 1912. In 1894, a World Young Women's Christian Association was formed; its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland; 101 national YWCAs belong to the organization. In the United States there are YWCA buildings in all cities of appreciable size. YWCAs may provide child-care, shelter, physical-fitness and health-education programs and social-justice discourse. The YWCA has some 2 million members.

Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), organization having as its objective the development of values and behaviors that are consistent with Christian principles. Despite the retention of the name, membership is not limited to Christians, and since World War II women and girls have been accepted as members. The first association was launched (1844) in London by Sir George Williams and a group of young men in business as a place to help other young working men find God through prayer and Bible study. In 1851 the movement took root in North America. Following the lead of Montreal and Boston, a number of other cities soon formed their own YMCAs, and in 1854 the first convention of North American associations took place in Buffalo, N.Y. A world conference in Paris (1855), attended by delegates from eight nations, led to the formation of the World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations in the same year. The organization now has branches on every continent. Originally focused on Bible study and religious activities, the YMCA has greatly broadened its mission statement over the years. YMCAs often provide inexpensive housing, meeting space for community groups, gymnasiums and pools, and child-care programs. YMCAs serve 30 million people in 120 countries.

Watauga Association, government (1772-75) formed by settlers along the Watauga River in present E Tennessee. Virginians made the first settlements in 1769, and after the collapse of the Regulator movement in North Carolina, citizens from that colony under James Robertson established homes farther west on the river. For their mutual protection these settlements united in 1772 and drew up a written agreement, called the Watauga Association. A five-man court constituted the government. Other settlements along the Holston and Nolichucky rivers also adhered to the Watauga Association. In 1772 the Wataugans secured a 10-year lease from the Cherokee for the land along the river; in 1775 they organized as Washington district, but in 1776, at their own request, they came under the protection of North Carolina, which created (1777) Washington co. for the area. After the American Revolution the Wataugans belonged to another new, short-lived government (see Franklin, State of) before Tennessee became a state in 1796.

Unitarian Universalist Association, Protestant church in the United States formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association (see Unitarianism) and the Universalist Church of America. Having largely shared common concerns and positions throughout the 19th and 20th cent., the two churches formed a Council of Liberal Churches in 1953 as a preliminary step to merger. The convention in May, 1961, at which the merger was approved by delegates from both churches, adopted a constitution for the merged church and elected Dana McLean Greeley, formerly Unitarian president, the first president of the new association. The principal purpose of the merger was to link the churches' headquarters organizations and to enable them to speak as one on social and political questions. The church has about 151,000 members (1997).

National Rifle Association of America (NRA), group founded (1871) to promote shooting, hunting, firearm safety, and wildlife conservation. The NRA has nearly 3 million members. The association sponsors shooting competitions and maintains a collection of antique and modern firearms. It also lobbies vigorously against gun control legislation and gun registration, basing its position on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; this position is disputed by most legal scholars.

National Education Association (NEA), organization of professional educators in the United States, with almost 2.5 million members. The NEA was founded (1850) as the National Teachers Association, changed its name in 1857, and was chartered by Congress in 1906. Its 13 standing committees and 7 divisions share an operating budget of approximately $150 million; each represents a separate area of specialized interest. Its general aim is to promote the welfare of all professional educators, including teachers, administrators, counselors, and others concerned about education. In 1998 the leadership of NEA and the American Federation of Teachers supported a merger of the two groups, but delegates to the NEA's annual meeting rejected the proposal.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), organization composed mainly of American blacks, but with many white members, whose goal is the end of racial discrimination and segregation.

The association was formed as the direct result of the lynching (1908) of two blacks in Springfield, Ill. The incident produced a wide response by white Northerners to a call by Mary W. Ovington, a white woman, for a conference to discuss ways of achieving political and social equality for blacks. This conference led to the formation (1910) of the NAACP, headed by eight prominent Americans, seven white and one, William E. B. Du Bois, black. The selection of Du Bois was significant, for he was a black who had rejected the policy of gradualism advocated by Booker T. Washington and demanded immediate equality for blacks. From 1910 to 1934 Du Bois was the editor of the association's periodical The Crisis, which reported on race relations around the world. The new organization grew so rapidly that by 1915 it was able to organize a partially successful boycott of the motion picture The Birth of a Nation, which portrayed blacks of the Reconstruction era in a distorted light.

Most of the NAACP's early efforts were directed against lynching. In this area it could claim considerable success. In 1911 there were 71 lynchings in the United States, with a black person the victim 63 times; by the 1950s lynching had virtually disappeared. Since its beginning, and with increasing emphasis since World War II, the NAACP has advocated nonviolent protests against discrimination and has disapproved of extremist black groups such as SNCC and the Black Panthers in the 1960s and 70s and CORE and the Nation of Islam in the 1980s and 90s, many of which criticized the organization as passive. While complacent in the 1980s, it became more active in legislative redistricting, voter registration, and lobbying in the 1990s.

Well-known leaders of the NAACP include Moorfield Storey (1910-29), Walter White (1931-55), Roy Wilkins (1955-77), and Benjamin Hooks (1977-93). In the mid-1990s the group faced financial difficulties and a loss of confidence in its leadership, as the organization's executive director, Benjamin Chavis (see Muhammad, B. F.), and board chairman, William Gibson, were dismissed in 1994 and 1995, respectively. Merlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil-rights leader Medgar Evers, replaced Gibson in 1995, and Representative Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, head of the Congressional Black Caucus, was chosen to replace Chavis in 1996, with the new title of president and chief executive officer. Mfume retired as president in 2004 and was succeeded by Bruce S. Gordon, a former telecommunications executive, who served from 2005 to 2007. Julian Bond has been board chairman since 1998.

With a 2005 membership of about 500,000 in 2,200 adult branches and 1,700 youth and college chapters, the association remains the largest and most influential civil-rights organization in the United States. The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, an independent legal aid group, argues in court on behalf of the NAACP and other civil-rights groups. Along with the NAACP, it was instrumental in helping to bring about the Supreme Court's ruling (1954) against segregated public education in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans. case.

National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing: see NASCAR.

Latin American Integration Association (LAIA), organization formed in 1980 by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, taking over the duties of the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA), which had been created in 1960 to establish a common market for its member nations through progressive tariff reductions until the elimination of tariff barriers by 1973. In 1969 the deadline was extended until 1980, at which time the plan was scrapped and the new organization, LAIA, created by the Treaty of Montevideo. It has the more limited goal of encouraging free trade, with no deadline for the institution of a common market. Economic hardship in Argentina, Brazil, and many other member nations has made LAIA's task difficult. The association's headquarters are in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Latin American Free Trade Association: see Latin American Integration Association.

International Grenfell Association, organization established in 1912 to aid the efforts of Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (1865-1940), an English physician and missionary to the people of Labrador, Canada. The association has helped to make possible the building of hospitals, orphanage boarding schools, agricultural stations, and other community enterprises in Canada.

International Development Association: see International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Government National Mortgage Association: see Federal National Mortgage Association.

Federal National Mortgage Association (FMNA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, a privately owned and operated corporation that is the largest purchaser and guarantor of home mortgages in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Fannie Mae buys mortgages from such lenders as banks and savings and loans, packages them, and resells them on the open market, thus creating fluidity and lessening lenders' risk. Fannie Mae's creation of this secondary mortgage market enables low- and middle-income individuals and families to obtain mortgages and purchase homes. The corporation was founded (1938) by the federal government to buy and sell mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by the Veterans Administration (now the Veterans Affairs Dept.). Rechartered in 1954, it was privatized in 1968. That year also marked the establishment of a federally owned sister corporation, the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), or Ginnie Mae, which is administered by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development and helps to finance public housing. Fannie Mae's corporate credibility was damaged by revelations (2004) that it manipulated its earnings from 1998 to 2004, in part to maximize bonus payments to its corporate executives.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA), customs union and trading bloc; its current members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. EFTA was established in 1960 by Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland. Iceland joined in 1970, Finland in 1986, and Liechtenstein in 1991. This group was known through the 1960s as the "outer seven" as opposed to the "inner six" members of the European Economic Community (EEC, or Common Market; after 1967 part of the European Community [EC], which is now the European Union [EU]). It was organized largely on the initiative of Great Britain in an attempt to solve economic problems posed by the development of the EEC and Britain's exclusion from it.

EFTA began with two goals: to establish free trade among members and to seek a broader economic union with the rest of Western Europe. The first was accomplished in 1966, when most of the intra-EFTA tariffs were abolished. Negotiations toward the second goal began in 1961, when Great Britain sought entry into the EEC. Its bid was rejected (1963) by France; however, later discussions succeeded, and in 1973 Denmark and Great Britain left EFTA to join the EC. The same negotiations produced a trade accord between the newly expanded EC and the remaining members of EFTA. In 1986, Portugal also left EFTA for the EC. The development of a single market between the EU and most EFTA nations was completed in 1994, when the European Economic Area (EEA) came into being. EFTA members Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU in 1995, but in Norway the voters rejected a similar move.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), organization established by the Bangkok Declaration (1967), linking the nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Subsequently, Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos (1997), Myanmar (1999), and Cambodia (1999) were admitted; a formal charter for ASEAN was finalized in 2007. The organization's secretariat is in Jakarta. ASEAN seeks to promote socioeconomic progress and regional stability through cooperation in banking, trade, technology, agriculture, industry, and tourism. Members agreed in 1992 to create the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), a regional common market, which became effective in 1993. Tariffs among the six oldest ASEAN nations are to be phased out by 2007; the rest of ASEAN will complete the process in 2012. ASEAN also has reached free-trade agreements with China (2004) and Japan (2008). Members are also pledged to work together to promote foreign investment in the region. In 2005, ASEAN established the East Asia Summit as a broader regional forum for its members and China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand.

American Medical Association (AMA), professional physicians' organization (founded 1847). Its goals are to protect the interests of American physicians, advance public health, and support the growth of medical science. The AMA investigates alleged cases of medical quackery, engages in medical research on drugs, foods, cosmetics, and other substances, and sponsors health education programs. The organization also approves in-hospital doctor training programs; it was largely responsible for the upgrading of American medical education in the early 20th cent. Other functions include monitoring professional ethics and supervising continuing medical education for physicians. In recent years, problems associated with the high cost of medical care and health insurance, as well as the ramifications of the AIDS crisis, have been extensively examined by the influential Journal of the American Medical Association. Another pressing issue has been complaints by many physicians about problems they have encountered in working for managed care organizations. AMA members have consistently voted to oppose a comprehensive system of national health insurance. Subdivisions of the AMA deal with such medical topics as maternal and child care, medical education, medicolegal problems, and mental health. There is also a section for each of the medical specialties. In 1999, the AMA had approximately 300,000 members.

American Library Association, founded 1876, organization whose purpose is to increase the usefulness of books through the improvement and extension of library services. As the major professional association for librarians and libraries, it seeks to maintain high standards for all branches of library service through functions ranging from the accreditation of library training schools to the recognition of outstanding books. The association was involved in early attempts to expand library services to all people. It supported public access to library shelves, tax-supported libraries, books made available for home loan, and research libraries sponsored by the government and major educational institutions. It fosters joint programs with the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. It has a long-standing policy of opposition to censorship, the banning of books, and violations of the user's right to confidentiality in the selection of reading materials. The organization, based in Chicago, had 58,777 members in 1999.

American Bar Association (ABA), voluntary organization of lawyers admitted to the bar of any state. Founded (1878) largely through the efforts of the Connecticut Bar Association, it is devoted to improving the administration of justice, seeking uniformity of law throughout the nation, and maintaining high standards for the legal profession. It is composed of over 30 committees that deal with such diverse legal topics as maritime law, professional ethics, legal education, the judicial system, and legal aid for the indigent. Through its main office in Chicago, the ABA coordinates the activities of state and local bar associations. In 1999 its membership exceeded 404,000. Affiliated organizations include the American Law Student Association and the American Bar Foundation, a group devoted to legal research and education.

American Automobile Association (AAA), federation of American automobile clubs, est. 1902. AAA provides a number of benefits to its members, including emergency road service; national and international travel assistance, e.g., state maps, guidebooks, and trip routing; financial and credit services; and automobile, life, and other insurance. Headquartered in Heathrow, Fla., the organization also lobbies for improved highways and for sensible, uniform laws and taxation relating to motor vehicles. In the early 2000s AAA had a membership of more than four million.

American Association of University Professors (AAUP), organization of college and university teachers. It was founded (1915) for the purpose of defending faculty rights, most notably academic freedom and tenure (see tenure, in education). It also addresses the issues of college and university government and accreditation, professional ethics, the economic status of the profession, and the status of minorities and women in the academic profession.

American Association of Retired Persons: see AARP.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), private organization devoted to furthering the work of scientists and improving the effectiveness of science in the promotion of human welfare. The association was founded in 1848; it presently includes some 143,000 individual members, as well as 296 scientific societies, professional organizations, and state and city academies. AAAS actively promotes science education, and many junior academies of science are affiliated with it. Separate sections of the association represent the various physical and biological sciences, as well as many of the social sciences. It publishes the journal Science.

Financial institution that accepts savings from depositors and uses those funds primarily to make loans to home buyers. Savings and loan associations (S&Ls) originated with 18th-century British building societies, in which workmen banded together to finance the building of their homes. The first U.S. savings and loan was established in Philadelphia in 1831. S&Ls were initially cooperative institutions in which savers were shareholders in the association and received dividends in proportion to profits, but today are mutual organizations that offer a variety of savings plans. They are not obliged to rely on individual deposits for funds but are permitted to borrow from other financial institutions and to market mortgage-backed securities, money-market certificates, and stock. Because high inflation and rising interest rates in the 1970s made fixed-rate mortgages unprofitable, regulations were altered to permit S&Ls to renegotiate mortgages. In the late 1980s, a growing number of S&Ls failed because inadequate regulation had allowed risky investments and fraud to flourish. The government was obliged to cover vast losses in excess of $200 billion, and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. (FSLIC) became insolvent in 1989. Its insurance functions were taken over by a new organization supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Resolution Trust Corp. was established to handle the bailout of the failed S&Ls.

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or news service or wire service

Organization that gathers, writes, and distributes news to newspapers, periodicals, radio and television broadcasters, government agencies, and other users. It does not publish news itself but supplies news to subscribers, who, by sharing costs, obtain services they could not otherwise afford. All the mass media depend on agencies for the bulk of the news they carry. Some agencies focus on special subjects or on a local area or nation. Many news agencies are cooperatives, with members providing news from their area to a pool for general use. The largest news agencies are United Press International, Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.

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Group of lawyers organized primarily to deal with issues affecting the legal profession. In general, they are concerned with furthering the interests of lawyers through advocating reforms in the legal system, sponsoring research projects, and regulating professional standards. Bar associations sometimes administer the examinations required for admission to practice law. The largest U.S. bar association is the American Bar Assn.

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Game played, predominantly in the U.S. and Canada, on a rectangular field having two goalposts at each end. In the U.S. it is played between two teams of 11 players each. The object is to get an oblong ball, in possession of one side at a time, over a goal line or between goalposts by running, passing, or kicking. A team must advance the ball 10 yards in four attempts (called downs) in order to continue to have the ball for another four downs. A kick through the goalposts (field goal) counts as three points. A run or completed pass over the goal line (touchdown) counts as six points. Following a touchdown, a team may attempt to kick the ball through the goalposts for one additional point or to run or pass the ball over the goal line for two additional points. Gridiron football (so-called because of the markings on the field), derived from rugby and soccer (see football), emerged in the late 19th century as a collegiate sport; the early rules were mostly written by representatives from Yale, Harvard, and Princeton universities. Each year the college football season concludes with a host of bowl games held on and around New Year's Day. Professional football began in the 1890s but did not become a major sport until after World War II. The National Football League was formed in 1922. The NFL is now divided into an American and a National conference; the conference winners compete for the Super Bowl championship. A Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton, Ohio, U.S. Canadian football differs from U.S. football principally by having 12 players on a team rather than 11, employing a larger field, and allowing only three downs to move the ball 10 yards. These variations allow for a more wide-open style of game, with an emphasis on passing. Seealso Canadian Football League.

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or association football or soccer

Game in which two 11-member teams try to propel a ball into the opposing team's goal, using any part of the body except the hands and arms. Only the goalkeeper, when positioned within the penalty area in front of the goal, may use hands and arms. The game's first uniform set of rules was put in place in 1863, when England's Football Association was created. Professional leagues began appearing in the late 1880s, first in England and then in other countries. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in 1904, and has hosted the World Cup every four years since 1930. Football has been included in the Olympic Games since 1908. Now played on all continents in over 150 nations, with over 40 million registered players, it is the world's most popular ball game. Seealso Australian Rules football; Gaelic football; football, gridiron; and rugby.

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Irish sport, an offshoot of the violent medieval game mêlée. In the modern game, sides are limited to 15 players. Players may not throw the ball but may dribble it with hand or foot and may punch or punt it toward their opponents' goal. Goals count as either one or three points, depending on whether the ball passes above (one) or below (three) a crossbar attached to the goalposts. It is played mostly in Ireland and the U.S.

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Variety of football played between two teams of 18 players. The field is oval, 145–200 yd (135–185 m) long, with four goalposts at each end. A six-point goal is scored when the oval ball is kicked through the two central goalposts. A one-point “behind” is scored when the ball is kicked over the behind line extending between the central and outer goalposts. The game's finest spectacle is the “mark” in which competing players leap, sometimes riding on the back of an opponent, in order to catch the ball directly from the kick of another player. The player making such a catch is awarded a mark, an unhindered kick from behind the spot of the catch. The sport was developed in Melbourne. The Victorian Football League was established in 1896 as the first professional league. It was renamed the Australian Football League in 1990 to reflect the addition of franchises outside of Victoria state.

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In psychology, the process of forming mental connections or bonds between sensations, ideas, or memories. Though discussed by the ancient Greeks (in terms of similarities, contrasts, and contiguities), the “association of ideas” was first proposed by John Locke and subsequently examined by David Hume, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, and William James. Ivan Pavlov used objective methods to study the phenomenon, resulting in his identification of the conditioned reflex (see conditioning). Within psychoanalysis, the therapist encourages “free association” in order to help identify latent conflicts. Practitioners of Gestalt psychology and others have criticized associationist theories as too all-embracing, while some theorists of cognitive psychology have made it central to their theory of memory.

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in full Young Men's Christian Association

Nonsectarian, nonpolitical Christian lay movement that aims to develop high standards of Christian character among its members. It originated in London in 1844 when 12 young men formed a club to improve the spiritual condition of young tradesmen. The first U.S. club was formed in Boston in the 1850s. YMCA programs include sports and physical education, camping, formal and informal education, and citizenship activities. It also runs hotels, residence halls, and cafeterias. National councils are members of the World Alliance of YMCAs (established 1855), headquartered in Geneva. The YMCA was charged with sponsoring educational and recreational facilities in prisoner-of-war camps by the Geneva Convention of 1929. It now operates in dozens of countries. The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) was founded in Britain (1877) to address the needs of women from rural areas who came to the cities to find work; in the U.S. (founded 1906), it has championed racial equality. The Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association (YM-YWHA) developed in the mid-19th century from Jewish men's literary societies in the U.S. and now exists in some 20 other countries worldwide.

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Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. groups sponsor regional and national shooting competitions and offer gun safety programs. The U.S. NRA, one of the most powerful political lobbies in the country, has vigorously opposed many legislative proposals for the control of firearms.

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Voluntary association of U.S. teachers, administrators, and other educators associated with elementary and secondary schools and colleges and universities. Founded in 1857 as the National Teachers Assn., it is among the world's largest professional organizations. Operating much like a labour union, it represents its members through numerous state and local affiliates. It seeks to improve the schools and working conditions, advance the cause of public education, promote federal legislation, and sponsor research.

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in full National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization. It was founded in 1909 to secure political, educational, social, and economic equality for African Americans; W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells were among its 60 founders. Headquartered in Baltimore, Md., the NAACP has undertaken litigation, political activity, and public education programs. In 1939 it organized the independent Legal Defense and Education Fund as its legal arm, which sued for school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). During World War II it pressed for desegregation of the armed forces, which was achieved in 1948. In 1967 its general counsel, Thurgood Marshall, became the U.S. Supreme Court's first African American justice.

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formerly (until 1980) Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA)

International association of Latin American countries originally dedicated to improving its members' economic well-being through free trade. At its founding in 1960 LAFTA included Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay; by 1970 Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia had joined. The organization aimed to remove all trade barriers over 12 years, but its members' geographic and economic diversity made that goal impossible. LAFTA was superseded in 1980 by the LAIA, which established bilateral trading agreements between members, which were divided into three groups according to their level of economic development. Cuba was admitted with observer status in 1986, and it became a full member in 1999. Seealso Inter-American Development Bank.

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International organization whose purpose is to remove barriers to trade in industrial goods among its members. The EFTA's current members are Iceland, Liechteinstein, Norway, and Switzerland. It was formed in 1960 by Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Britain as an alternative to the European Economic Community (EEC). Some of those countries later left the EFTA and joined the EEC. In the 1990s Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway joined the European Economic Area, which also included all members of the European Union. Each country in the EFTA maintains its own commercial policy toward countries outside the group.

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in full Association of Southeast Asian Nations

International organization established by the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand in 1967 to accelerate regional economic growth, social progress, and cultural development and to promote peace and security in the region. Brunei became a member in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999. ASEAN became a leading voice on regional trade and security issues in the 1990s; in 1992 member nations created the ASEAN Free Trade Area.

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Organization of U.S. physicians. It was founded in 1847 “to promote the science and art of medicine and the betterment of public health.” It has about 250,000 members, about half of all practicing U.S. physicians. It disseminates information to its members and the public, operates as a lobbying group, and helps set medical education standards. Its publications include Journal of the American Medical Association, American Medical News, and journals on medical specialties.

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Voluntary association (founded 1878) of U.S. lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals. The largest bar association in the U.S., it seeks to improve the legal profession, ensure the availability of legal services to all citizens, and improve the administration of justice. It conducts educational and research projects, sponsors professional meetings, and publishes a monthly journal. At the beginning of the 21st century its membership exceeded 400,000.

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formerly American Association of Retired Persons

Nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that addresses the needs and interests of Americans aged 50 and older. It was founded in 1958 by a retired teacher, Ethel Andrus, and merged in 1982 with the National Retired Teachers Association, also founded by Andrus (1947). Its bimonthly magazine, Modern Maturity, has the largest circulation of any U.S. periodical. Its membership exceeds 35 million. Its members' reliably high turnout at the polls has made it one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country.

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