Cotton States Region

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Welcome to the official website of Cotton States!

Cotton States Region (CSR) is a region in BBYO made up of 12 chapters in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. BBYO is an international youth group that is divided into regions based on geography. Cotton States Region #72 is made up of 5 AZA Chapters, 6 BBG chapters, and 1 BBYO chapter. They are located in Birmingham, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans.

What is BBYO

BBYO is an independent Jewish youth group for teenagers in high school.

BBYO is the world's only independent, international, pluralistic Jewish youth group for high school teenagers. Formerly associated with B'nai B'rith, the youth group split with its parent organization but its name still contains the words "B'nai B'rith."

BBYO is unique amongst its peers in its organization into local fraternity- and sorority-like chapters. Male chapters are known as AZA chapters, and female chapters as BBG chapters; AZA and BBG began independently before being united as brother and sister organizations under B'nai B'rith. In smaller communities where there is not a sufficient Jewish population to support both AZA and BBG chapters, there may exist just a single BBYO chapter which borrows traditions from both organizations.

Membership to BBYO is open to any high schooler in high school who identifies as a Jew. BBYO's mission is, "More Jewish teens, more meaningful Jewish experiences." The organization's uniqueness stems from its youth leadership model, in which teen leaders are elected by their peers on a local, regional and international level, and are given the opportunity to make their own programmatic decisions.