EDITORIAL: Leadership and looking ahead (12/14/97)

EDITORIAL

Leadership and looking ahead

The theme of the 1997 Leadership Conference organized by The Washington Group, an organization of Ukrainian American professionals based in the U.S. capital, was "We Can Do Better: Expanding Horizons for Ukrainian Americans." One of the more interesting panels at the conference featured representatives of other ethnic groups speaking about the work of their community organizations, about their pluses and minuses. This was an opportunity for Ukrainian American leaders to step back, to look outside our community and learn some useful lessons from others, in particular, from 9.5 million Polish Americans and 12 million Italian Americans.

As Ewa Matuszewski of the Polish American Congress put it: "We're all in the same shoes. We have a lot of people, but the problem is that not everyone is involved, not everyone is interested." Thus, she emphasized the importance of networking - not only among Polish Americans but with non-Polish groups as well.

Fred Rotondaro of the National Italian American Foundation reported: "We are constantly looking for new things to do that will be of importance to the Italian Americans who belong to our organization. ... We are looking for themes ... that relate to our heritage, but at the same time go beyond our heritage."

A very significant question posed to the panelists was: "How do you retain or attract members?" After agreeing that focusing on heritage is paramount, two principal ways became evident from the speakers' comments: their organizations continuously look at themselves to see if they are relevant to the needs of their members (Mr. Rotondaro called this "political futurology"; "we look to see where we have to go"); and they focus on youth - through youth conferences, camps, scholarships, mentor programs, etc. - their future members and leaders.

The immediate question that arises for us in the Ukrainian community is: Have we done any of this lately?

Well, if one is to judge by the speakers at the next panel, which focused on Ukrainian institutions, the answer is "not exactly..." Some, like our credit unions, have been more successful than others. Our fraternal organizations and even our Churches are losing members and finding it difficult to explain why someone should remain in or join their ranks. One speaker on that panel, Dr. Bohdan Vitvitsky, who spoke on behalf of Ukrainian professionals' and businesspersons' groups, pointed out that we have not yet begun to address why we as a community have to retain our community. "Our parents were involuntary ethnics, but we have a choice. We can assimilate; we are voluntary ethnics," he explained. Therefore, he suggested that the next Leadership Conference should consider: "Will There Be a Ukrainian American Community by 2020, and Does it Matter?"

A partial answer to the second part of that question was given earlier by George Masiuk, president of The Washington Group, in his introductory remarks at the conference: "Our Ukrainian American community has intrinsic value and must be maintained." But, he also underlined that our community "can be maintained better... "

That task, dear readers, is up to each and every one of us. If we want our community to continue to exist, if we value it, we must get involved and provide input so that it meets our needs, our children's needs, and - if we're extremely lucky - our children's children's needs. Let's hope we do this sooner, rather than later, or else the next conference topic could well turn out to be: "What Ever Happened to the Ukrainian American Community, and Who Cares?"

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