UNA-USA Southern New York State Division Elects Officers

At its Annual Meeting on October 20, at the National Arts Club in Manhattan, the UNA-USA Southern New York State Division elected officers for 2010-2011. Elected are: Jeanne Betsock Stillman, President; Catherine D. White and Marcia Brewster, Vice Presidents, Margaret Shannon, Secretary, and Lee H. Bloom, Treasurer. The two-year terms begin January 1, 2010.
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Ambassador Tom Miller, President of UNA-USA, spoke of his vision for UNA-USA and especially work with the Chapters and Divisions. He mentioned that the strength of UNA-USA is in its 12,000+ members, and its 135 chapters. The challenge is to educate the American people about the UN, and to work on certain policy issues. He concluded by saying, "We have the wind at our backs, with an administration that 'gets' multilateral diplomacy, and the challenge for us is to take advantage of this."

Jeffrey Laurenti, UNA-USA Board member representing the Mid-Atlantic Region, spoke on international policy issues before the Obama administration as well as how chapters, divisions and individuals can be strong advocates for a positive US policy vis-a-vis the United Nations. Laurenti is senior fellow and director of foreign policy programs at The Century Foundation.

Dr. Joseph Baxer, president of the UNA Connecticut Division, spoke about his travel to South Korea to attend the International Plenary of the World Federaion of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), held in Seoul from August 10-12, 2009. He, Ambassador Miller and Jeff Laurenti were part of a 10-person U.S. delegation to the conference. He gave some of the history of WFUNA, and UNA-USA's important role in it. He urged that chapters and divisions should consider partner relationships with other countries' UNAs. Bilateral relationships were good, but chapters and divisions could also become involved. For example, the Connecticut Division had for some time partnered with the Dominican Republic.

Patricia Sacristan, Chair of the Division's Young Professionals for International Cooperation group, spoke of the upcoming travel by YPIC members to Haiti, as part of their flagship program, The Haiti Expedition Project. The group planned to fly on UN Day to Port-au-Prince, and to return to New York on November 1. They planned to meet with UN, Inter-American Development Bank and other officials and to volunteer with several non-profit organizations.

For more and links to photos, see the UNA Southern New York State Division website.