Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 November 2008 12:45 Written by Administrator Wednesday, 05 November 2008 12:27

Congratulations to President-Elect                    Barack Obama!

President-Elect Barack Obama's views concerning the United Nations can be seen at

http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=3879851 He has written, "Working cooperatively with the international community and engagin in multilateral organizations can be an important and cost-effective means for furthering national security interests of the United States. The United Nations provides a forum for the U.S. to build support for global action on enduring foreign policy interests, such as international stability, prosperity, and the promotion of fundamental freedoms. Through Burden sharing, the UN allows us to advance our goals without paying all the bills or taking all the risks. Unfortunately, the United States is falling far behind and is more than $1 billion in debt to the United Nations, despite the fact that we are asking the UN to undertake a wide variety of new tasks and missions, including new and complex missions in places like Iraq, Lebanon, and Darfur."

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 December 2008 14:49 Written by Administrator Tuesday, 26 August 2008 09:42

New Date - February 6, 2009

The First United Nations Association Mid-Atlantic Conference "Year of Change, Year of Choice: America and the UN" is being planned. YPIC and the Council of Organizations are co-sponsors with the UNA Southern NY State Division and the New Jersey Division. Invitees will include UNA-USA members from the Mid-Atlantic Region and nearby areas, UNA-USA Council of Organizations members, UNA-USA Council of Organizations members from northeastern states, and students and faculty from local and regional colleges and universities, including Columbia University, La Guardia Community College, Lehman College of CUNY, Long Island University, Manhattan College, Manhattanville College, Mercy College, Vassar College, College of New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Monmouth University, Princeton University, Rutgers University and Seton Hall University.

Ramu Damodoram, Deputy Director of Outreach of the Department of Public Information, will give the welcoming address. Opening plenary invited speakers are New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. The Conference will focus on three topics: Human Rights, Peace and Security, and Climate Change. A Youth Speaker will be invited to participate in each panel.

Volunteer Opportunities: YPIC has offered to seek volunteers, and others who are interested may also apply for these volunteer opportunities: Registration team; Room Monitor team; University Participation liaisons; Speaker Liaison team; Youth Panelists Liaison; Model UN Team; Council of Organizations Team; New York UNA Chapters Team; New Jersey UNA Chapters Team; and Fundraising Team.

Updates: Updates on the program and information on registration will be posted here soon. Contact Catherine White or George Garland with any questions: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 July 2008 16:51 Written by Administrator Wednesday, 09 July 2008 14:39

What can we say? Hot, Hot, Hot! But always exciting to be in Washington. The many who attended the CCD Annual Meeting and Conference, held in Washington from June 7 - 10, found the meetings particularly worthwhile and commented on the high quality of all the presentations. Highlights were:

◊ a focus on the Best Practices compendium put together by Ed Elmendorff and his team, working with Liuba Grechen and other UNA staff. (A compendium has been sent to each Chapter and Division President);

◊ a workshop provided by the Truman National Security Project team, which trained participants in how to communicate important issues with lawmakers; and

◊ the Day on the Hill, which included a luncheon with the UNA-USA Board of Directors. Kathy Bushkin Calvin, chair of the Board's Advocacy Committee, gave many participants a chance to report on their meetings with their Representatives.

◊ YPIC held a day-long event on Saturday the 7th, before the start of the main meeting.

Excellent substantive sessions prepared participants for their work in education and advocacy, and the CCD Steering Committee and several sub-committees held meetings for planning their work. Jonathan Roberts, Chair of the National Board's Executive Committee, discussed the UNA-USA Strategic Plan for 2008-2010 with the CCD Steering Committee.

Plans were also discussed in Regional Meetings. Jeff Laurenti led the Mid-Atlantic meeting, which focused specially on planning for the Mid-Atlantic Conference which will take place at the UN on November 8. Phil Reynolds (President, Westchester Chapter), Peg Shannon (President, Queens Chapter) and Ginger Stillman (V. President, Southern NYS Division) attended the conference and had a chance to meet with some new UNA members from the region.

Photos from the Annual Meeting can be viewed in the Event Image Gallery under Links of Interest, at the bottom right of this site.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 June 2008 09:45 Written by Administrator Friday, 09 May 2008 17:03

Lehman College is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its founding as an independent Unit of the City University of New York.

On May 21, the college presented "The United Nations at Lehman College: a Homecoming." To see photographs of the event (taken by David Stillman), see:http://www.flickr.com/photos/unasouthernny

President Ricardo Fernandez introduced a panel, which included Sir Brian Urquehart, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Special Affairs and Mrs. Margaret Bruce (Molly), whose work for human rights and women's rights began at Lehman. Professor Duane Tanenbaum, of the History Department, moderated the panel and also read the remarks of Ms. Betty Teslenko, who could not attend. She had begun her UN work at the founding Conference of the UN in San Francisco in 1945, as an interpreter. After the Symposium, Molly was interviewed by Channel 12 News of The Bronx.

Activities began in the "Old Gymnasium," site of the meetings of the UN Security Council in spring 1946. About 100 people attended, including UNA Southern NYS Division Officers and Board Members Catherine White, David Stillman, Phil Reynolds, Peg Shannon, Jackie Fisher, Sohrab Kheradi, and David Cockroft. Former ASG Lila Doss also attended, as did Andres Castellanos, George Saddler and other AFICS members (Association of Former International Civil Servants). Brad Kaufman, who collects memorabilia about the UN in Queens also attended.

President Fernandez then led the re-dedication of a Peace Grove of trees, originally dedicated in 1996 on the 50th anniversary of the UN. Photos were taken of some of the crowd as well as of the Mohicans. The paragraphs below about the Mohicans are reprinted from the Summer 2006 newsletter of the United Nations Association of Maine. They appeared in a larger article by R. Bruce Stedman, retired Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and a member of the Mohicans. He was sorry he couldn't attend the Lehman College event.

"The first temporary headquarters of the United Nations was established at Hunter College in the Bronx in March 1946. The girls’ dormitories became offices, staff lounges were converted into meeting rooms, the girls’ swimming pool became the temporary home of the Security Council. The organization transferred into more appropriate headquarters in Lake Success in July of that year. Staff members who were on board at Hunter College established an organization to commemorate their pioneer status, called “The UN Society of the Mohicans”. I reported for duty at Hunter College in May of 1946 and thereby became a “Mohican”. We were a happy band, proud of our status as workers in the world’s best hope for peace — the United Nations.