Final day devoted to financial, political and organizational themes (07/11/99)

Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations

Final day devoted to financial, political and organizational themes

by Roma Hadzewycz

ARLINGTON, Va. - The culmination of the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations - and a partial answer to the question "Where do we go from here?" - came on the mega-conference's last day, Sunday, June 27, in a series of three panels discussing financial, political and organizational aspects of Ukrainian American community life.

The community's financial institutions

"The Growing Role of Ukrainian American Financial Institutions" featured representatives of fraternal societies, banks and credit unions on a panel chaired by Bohdan Kekish, president and CEO of Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union.

Ulana Diachuk, president of the Ukrainian National Association, provided an overview of Ukrainian fraternal organizations, including the UNA, Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics in America, Ukrainian Fraternal Association and Ukrainian National Aid Association of America. All are tax-exempt and are organized for the mutual benefit of members, have a lodge (branch) system and representative government. Together these four fraternals have assets of more than $106 million (UNA, $75 million; Providence, $13.2 million, UFA, $12.25 million; UNAAA, $6 million).

The fraternals subsidize publications, offer scholarships to members and provide other benefits to members and the community at large; two of them subsidize resorts. Mrs. Diachuk explained that fraternals now find themselves in competition with the one-stop shopping financial services offered by banks and others. She also underlined that fraternals are realizing that they must merge in order to cut down on expenses.

Julian Kulas, president of 1st Security Federal Savings Bank, which boasts $342 million in assets, explained that the focus of his bank - which he said is "the only Ukrainian bank in American and possibly in the Western world" - has always been to provide the most efficient services and competitive bank products.

"We do pay taxes, but we help the community through our Heritage Foundation," Mr. Kulas explained. Before its transformation in October of 1997 into a shareholders' institution, the bank gave capital of $2.5 million to the foundation; shareholders later voted another $2.5 million in stocks to the foundation.

Mr. Kulas noted that new legislation provides that fraternals can create thrift institutions. "Perhaps the only way to save our fraternals is for them to unite and create a bank from which they could support their fraternal activity," he suggested.

Bohdan Watral, vice-chair for external affairs of the Ukrainian National Credit Union Association, stated that the UNCUA today encompasses 22 credit unions, 75,000 family members, over $1 billion in assets and a combined reserve of $200 million. He also pointed to the rebirth of the credit union movement in Ukraine, where approximately 300 such institutions now exist.

He concluded by exhorting the audience: "Visit your Ukrainian credit union, Ukrainian fraternal, Ukrainian bank - we all are committed to preserving our heritage and helping our community to prosper."

Tamara Denysenko, general manager and CEO of the Rochester Ukrainian Federal Credit Union and the newly elected chair of the UNCUA board of directors, noted that credit unions have a common bond: "They fill a special niche in our community." They offer share accounts with higher dividends, savings and investment opportunities, retirement accounts, bank cards, credit cards and low-cost loans; some are exploring home and Internet banking.

Sponsored by Self Reliance associations, Churches, fraternals and others, credit unions have helped the community build churches, seniors centers and community centers, and they have helped home buyers. "They are now the main conduit for the fourth wave's (new immigrants from Ukraine) integration into the Ukrainian community," Ms. Denysenko added.

Political empowerment

Representatives of the two major American political parties and a former congressman from Philadelphia were the speakers on a panel discussing "Political Empowerment of the Ukrainian American Community" that was chaired by Michael Sawkiw Jr., director of the Ukrainian National Information Service in Washington.

Thomas Albert, director of Ethnic Outreach for the Democratic National Committee, informed his audience that there are two ways in which ethnic Americans can become involved in the Democratic Party: Leadership Councils that encompass various ethnic groups and Ethnic Coordinating Councils that are set up in states and key ethnic cities during election years.

Robert George, director of coalitions for the Republican National Committee, explained that his position deals with business, policy and ethnic groups. He noted that the Republican Party has a Heritage Council, as well as task forces that it uses to gauge concerns of ethnic groups and "to find out how we can address those concerns." He added that party representatives attend conferences such as this, and try to reach ethnic communities in various other ways, including via the ethnic media.

Charles Dougherty, who represented the Philadelphia area in the House of Representatives in 1979-1983, and was founder and chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Baltic States and Ukraine, focused his remarks on "the why, where and how of your participation in the American political process, which is vital to the freedom of Ukraine."

He then posed a series of questions to his audience: "Why is there a requirement for certification on aid to Ukraine, but not to Russia? Why is most-favored-nation trade status given permanently to China, but not to Ukraine? Why do Ukrainians have to travel to Warsaw for immigration visas? Why is the Russian spelling of Ukrainian names used? Why is NATO expansion promoted for Lithuania, but not for Ukraine?"

The answer: "We do not yet have the political presence in the U.S. Congress to offset the Russian mindset of the Russophiles in the U.S. State Department." That is why, the former representative from Pennsylvania said, "Individually and collectively, we must gather together and become active in the political system."

Mr. Dougherty concluded by stating that Ukrainian organizations should run voter registration drives every year and invite congressmen every year to come to some event and, "if they don't come, support their opponent in the next election."

He continued: "individuals, if they care about Ukraine, are obligated to get personally involved in campaigns" and should invite the candidates to speak, help raise money, go door-to-door, go to town meetings. If candidates are not aware of Ukrainian issues, he advised, "take this as an opportunity to educate them." In addition, "everyone should have a personal relationship with his/her congressman" - should write to congressmen and travel to Washington to meet with them.

"Think about this: Will our grandchildren's grandchildren live in a world where Ukraine is free, independent, democratic, secure and prosperous, or in a world where 'the' Ukraine is a junior partner in a greater mother Russia? What we do will determine that," he stated.

Direction for our organizations

The finale to the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations was an open panel discussion headlined "Finding Direction for Our Organizations."

Dr. Roman Goy, coordinator of the Joint Conferences, served as moderator for this session, inviting representatives of any community organizations to join the panel at the front of the hall. He began by stating that the goal of this particular session was "to provide a framework for some sort of follow-through" to the Joint Conferences. He then set the stage for further discussion by noting that not all is fine within the Ukrainian American community and that too often community members are faulted for the decline of Ukrainian American organizations. In contrast, he recalled, "When IBM was in crisis, they didn't blame the public, the consumers. They blamed themselves and fired the board."

Dr. Goy cited some of the problems that plague the community as a whole, such as lack of cooperation among organizations, due in part to the fact that the umbrella organizations do not unite everyone and thus anyone outside the umbrella is left out of the loop. In addition, the umbrella organizations are perceived to be politicized, which further hinders cooperation, he said.

He concluded with a suggestion: "to create a council of leaders, a network of equals to meet once a year, or as often as needed, in a forum that would not be politically controlled" in order to benefit like the Joint Conferences from synergy.

Participants in the discussion who represented diverse community organizations were: Zenia Chernyk, Ukrainian Federation of America; Orest Deychakiwsky, The Washington Group; Ulana Diachuk, Ukrainian National Association; Larissa Fontana, Ukrainian American Community Network; Ihor Gawdiak, Ukrainian American Coordinating Council; Nusia Kerda, Ukrainian National Credit Union Association; Iryna Kurowyckyj, Ukrainian National Women's League of America; Askold Lozynskyj, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America; Walter Nazarewicz, Ukrainian Institute of America; Bohdanna Pochoday, Ukrainian American Bar Association; and Lubomyr Romankiw, Plast Ukrainian Youth Organization.

All had an opportunity to react to Dr. Goy's opening statement and to present their own ideas. The overwhelming majority of the leaders agreed that the proposal for a council of leaders of Ukrainian organizations should be put into effect. Mr. Deychakiwsky underlined that a conference of presidents should "serve as a consultative mechanism to achieve consensus on activity and should not be seen as a threat to anybody."

Mr. Gawdiak pointed out that the Ukrainian American community is "diverse, but has elements of unity." He agreed that "we need a council of presidents to meet informally, once in a while, to confer and set direction for our community." Mrs. Kurowyckyj noted that "we need a coalition of our organizations to work together, and I believe this conference has given us the opportunity to do this."

Mrs. Diachuk observed that, "we must speak with each other more, look each other in the eye and work jointly to solve our problems." Her comments were echoed by Dr. Romankiw, who added, "we have to seize the moment to aid Ukraine because, at this point, Ukraine can go either in the direction of Russia or the West."

The only leader to express reservations about the idea of a "council of presidents" was UCCA President Lozynskyj who, while outlining an agenda for community activity, stated that there "should be a line of communication, not a structure - we do not need yet another community organization."

At the conclusion of the discussion, Dr. Goy offered the good offices of the UMANA to coordinate the first meeting of community leaders. "But we need the community to call us and let us know who you are," he said to the organizations' representatives and, by extension, to the entire community. Interested organizations may call 1-888-RX-UMANA (toll-free).

| Home Page |