Over 100 UNA-NCA members attended the 2009 Annual Membership Meeting held at Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The meeting marked a time of many changes.
Tom Miller, on his first day as president of UNA-USA, addressed the group with inspiring remarks that assured all of his genuine commitment to building partnerships and strengthening chapter development. As a Virginia resident, Tom Miller is a UNA-NCA member. He indicated that he will continue to live in Virginia and will work from UNA-USA's Washington DC and NY offices. For more information on Tom Miller, click here. Outgoing president A. Edward Elmendorf presented the report for the fourth and final time of his tenure as UNA-NCA president. In the report, he emphasized UNA-NCA's accomplishments and challenges over the past year. One of the accomplishments was the Global Classrooms ® Washington DC program, which had 700 participants at the 2009 Model UN Conference which was held at the State Department in late spring. Another highlight was the UNA-NCA conference on Increasing Effectiveness of the United Nations - Opportunities for the Obama Administration and the subsequent summary held at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
The 2008-2009 Annual Report revealed the breadth of UNA-NCA activities as well as the large amount of volunteers who are a great asset for the staff. Ed said, "It makes UNA-NCA transparent to the public financially and otherwise, in justification of our tax-exempt status. And, it provides UNA-NCA's leaders an opportunity to express appreciation to people too numerous to mention, for their support of UNA-NCA." Discussion of UNA-NCA business concluded with the ratification of proposed amendments to the By-laws and the election of new officers and directors at large. Click to view the new Board of Directors and approved amendments to the UNA-NCA By-laws .
The meeting then turned to the subject of individual recognition, where Paula Boland was given the UNA-NCA Evelyn Falkowski Service Award, in appreciation for her years of service and commitment to UNA-NCA. Anne and Richard Griffis, last year's recipients, presented this award. Evelyn Falkowski wrote a special note regarding Paula's strong work efforts:
"Paula has served us well, with smiles and hugs everyday, and more than service, she's bestowed an outstanding administrative way. She came up from Young Professionals for International Cooperation (YPIC), and carried on with competence, zeal, and imagination. She even brought us John Carter to work for environmental protection and best of all was the day they brought us Ana Sofia, another life-time member! For all this and more every day, this service award is gratitude and expresses our desire to repay."
Paula described her tenure with UNA-NCA as a journey that began in 2003 as a UNA-NCA volunteer, which turned into her leading the Young Professionals for International Cooperation. For the past five years, Paula has served as executive director of UNA-NCA and has helped deliver the mission of the UNA-NCA. She said her acceptance of the award really belongs to UNA leaders and volunteers, who have helped her during her journey.
Paula Boland, "I cannot thank you enough. Together we have sorted out great challenges and made important contributions to the vital work of UNA-NCA, and we will continue to successfully face the obstacles of the future," said Paula.
Her position has been the most demanding, yet rewarding experiences of her professional life. She quickly learned that running an active and diverse organization like UNA-NCA is quite a challenge. However, the gentle and encouraging leadership provided by Andy Rice, (former UNA-NCA president and current co-chair of UN week), "provided me with an opportunity to get my feet under me and begin to learn the ropes."
She was able to hit the ground running by working with A. Ed Elmendorf, former president of UNA-NCA, who both shared the same inclination by taking on new challenges and concurrently establishing some limitations on UNA-NCA's future endeavors. The growth of the UNA-NCA's programs, including the success of the Global Classrooms® Washington DC, has given Paula a great deal of pride, she said. However, she said that her greatest personal satisfaction has come from "watching our young volunteers and staff become enriched by their time with us and continue on to become successful and effective leaders." Paula particularly expressed her honor of having the opportunity to have worked with Evelyn Falkowski, who is an inspiration to not only her, but many others in the UNA family.
The final indicator of change for the evening was the passing of the gavel from outgoing president A. Edward Elmendorf to incoming president Karen Mulhauser. Here are closing remarks by Karen Mulhauser, as the new UNA-NCA president:
"I want to thank all of you who have expressed your confidence in me as the new president of UNA-NCA. It is an honor to become the affiliate president as Tom Miller becomes the National president and as Ed Elmendorf becomes chair of the Council of Chapters and Divisions. I am humbled to have been asked to serve such an important and necessary organization at this exciting and critical time. Given the problems in the world, the mission of UNA-USA and its affiliates becomes increasingly important.
Recognizing that with the Obama Administration, the United States is able to restore its respected place in the world as a principled world leader, UNA and its affiliates have opportunities only recently possible to advance our mission. I am eager to work with all of you and want to take just a moment to remind us of why we work so hard. Here is our UNA-NCA mission:
"To use our unique position in the National Capital to reach out to national and local citizens, opinion leaders, and our government to educate, mobilize, and inspire Americans to support the principles and vital work of the United Nations, to strengthen the United Nations system, to promote constructive United States leadership in that system, and to achieve the goals of the U.N. Charter."
Yes, there are challenges: climate change, human rights violations, poverty reduction, and peacekeeping throughout the world will test our country's leadership and our strengths - but they also help define the need for our increased efforts.
When I agreed to put my name in nomination for president elect, I indicated that there would be three organizational concerns that I want to emphasize in addition to the substantive agenda and programmatic issues.
1. My first interest regards gender equity issues.
I will be forming the UNA-NCA President's Council on Gender Equity that will work with partner organizations to advance the U.N. Gender Equity Architecture Reform effort to create a new women's entity at the United Nations. We'll work with the U.N. Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women working group that is co-chaired by UNA-NCA's board member, Sarah Albert.
2. My second focus is that I want to inspire more young people to get involved.
There are so many opportunities with our exceptional Global Classrooms program and its exemplary Model U.N., which this year brought more than 700 area middle and high school students to the Department of State where they heard Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton talk about the importance of global engagement. I am very much looking forward to working with Colleen Teixeira Moffat, the YPIC Chair, to explore mutual mentoring opportunities and opportunities for increased collaboration.
3. My third priority is to strengthen our advocacy efforts.
I have prepared a draft Citizen's Guide to Strengthening and Supporting the United Nations, and am working with our Advocacy Committee and the UNA-USA staff to develop a plan that highlights the UNA-USA policy agenda and mobilizes area members to bring our concerns to Congress and the administration. We will meet with our Congressional representatives and provide orientation for our members to the spectrum of education and advocacy skills.
When I agreed a year ago to be president Eeect, ultimately to become president at this time, none of us knew of the economic crisis that would affect not only our personal lives and affiliate, but the country, and the world. Therefore, I have added another priority for UNA-NCA: Institutional Advancement. We must work even harder during this time of possibilities to build our membership, to work more with partners, to encourage more partners to become Institutional Sponsors, and to raise the necessary funds to support our programs and operations. We have the right team and we have the commitment.
Thank you for all that we will do together."
