INTERVIEW: UCCA president reflects on his goals after first year in office (PART I) (12/23/01)

INTERVIEW: UCCA president reflects on his goals after first year in office

Last year, at the 28th Congress of Ukrainians in America, the quadrennial convention of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Michael Sawkiw Jr. was elected as president of the UCCA.

Born in the Albany, N.Y., region, Mr. Sawkiw was active in the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) and began working in the Ukrainian community at the age of 18. He obtained a B.S. in mathematics from Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.) and an M.B.A. in corporate finance and international business from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in May 1992.

Mr. Sawkiw served as a consultant to the Ukrainian Incubator Center, a program established by RPI in the beginning years of Ukraine's independence to stimulate business development. From there, Mr. Sawkiw entered the corporate world as a financial analyst at AIG Financial Products Inc. in Connecticut.

Since 1996 Mr. Sawkiw has been the director of the Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS), a position he continues to hold.

The interview below was conducted by Roma Hadzewycz. The conclusion will appear in next week's issue.

PART I

Q: As the newly elected president of the UCCA, what did you see as your immediate priorities? Have these changed at all, now that you've been on the job for the past year?

A: Having been elected as UCCA president last October, one of my first priorities was to expand on the UCCA's outreach to the entire Ukrainian American community. I must consider many avenues to begin this first challenge of my new presidency and have already begun the process.

First, as with many ideas of the 21st century, one must go with the flow, with the technology of the day. In this manner, several months ago, the UCCA began its series of monthly Internet chats with the president which are devoted to a new topic every month. In this modern format, I get to hear directly from the community on their various thoughts and ideas, as well as have the chance to answer questions regarding their concerns. So far, we have held four chats dealing with the larger looming question of the Ukrainian community in the U.S. and its future; the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide and how we as a community should properly observe it; reactions to the Third World Forum of Ukrainians and celebrations of Ukraine's 10th anniversary of renewed independence; and the Ukrainian American community's role in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on our country.

Other possibilities of interaction with the community are annual or biannual, regional conferences with UCCA branches to receive input on their daily functions, as well as for the branches and their members to hear directly from the Executive Board what they plan in the future for the UCCA. Such regional conferences will be held in the autumn of 2001 and will conclude in winter/spring 2002. Overall, nine to 10 regional conferences have been planned, and where possible, the executive vice-president, the treasurer, and other executive board members also will participate. Following the conferences, I will present a talk about the role of the Ukrainian American community in the 21st century. This talk is open to all community members and will conclude with a question and answer session.

As information and access to the information are key to any future projects and development of the UCCA, the UCCA team of advisers has spent much effort working to enhance its website (http://www.ucca.org). The website currently features information about our organization, its various councils and publications, its New York and Washington offices, news stories from Ukraine, as well as international and national news. All this is meant to inform the community about the role of the UCCA in the 21st century, to expand the level of information to all levels of the Ukrainian American community, and to enhance the effectiveness of our organization and its role as a representative organization.

Q: What are your long-term goals as UCCA chief?

A: No matter what institution, organization or country someone leads, one must have a vision to help guide and lead the entity. This holds true also for me as UCCA president. Indeed, my long-term goals center on the goodwill and hard work of the Ukrainian American community. It is through our community that we have been a functioning diaspora for over a century, and in this new century my goals are to continue fulfilling the needs of the community as new problems and ideas warrant.

Above all, my long-term goal is the overall promotion of a strong, vibrant and politically active community - one that doesn't merely react to issues being thrown its way, but one that makes issues happen. I know all too well the energy needed to make our collective voice heard in Washington or throughout various state capitals. With The ever-growing Ukrainian community's diversity and geographic placement in numerous areas throughout the country, we have the potential for a truly resounding voice that must be reckoned with.

I am proud to say that the UCCA has two main offices in the United States - in New York and in Washington - however, if it weren't for the local Ukrainian communities, these offices would be useless in their daily functions and duties. Maintaining, if not building upon, an active community is another future objective of mine. It is interesting to notice how our community is thriving, growing and expanding. This expansion must be harnessed for positive results, such as the development of new UCCA branches where communities did not exist before, as well as the strengthening of existing community organizations, whose roots go back decades and whose work continues.

A subset of this relates to the continued revitalization of the Ukrainian American community, especially its youth and student organizations. These individuals will be the future leaders of our Ukrainian organizations in the decades to come. I would like to strive to make them an integral component of our community's continuing evolution.

One key element that I would like to concentrate on as UCCA president is strengthening and furthering awareness of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933. Unlike other genocides throughout the world, the Ukrainian Famine at times goes unnoticed; at best, it is characterized as Stalin's act of forced collectivization to increase production of agricultural foodstuffs, when in reality, it was genocide.

Such awareness needs to be brought to the attention of world governments (including the Ukrainian government, whose pathetic monument in Kyiv in front of St. Michael's Cathedral is a disgrace to the millions of victims) and the United Nations. But crucial aspects of familiarity with the Famine start at the lowest of levels, with the children in school. In seven years, Ukrainians throughout the world will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide and my goal will be to mark the occasion with proper vigor and fortitude.

It is inspiring to say that the UCCA has been involved in the educational film business for the past several years. Our first film co-produced with Oles Film Studios, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, was called "Atentat"; it was the story of the assassination of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera. Our second film, released several months ago, is "The Undefeated," the dramatic story of Gen. Roman Shukhevych, whose courageous efforts and leadership of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) kept the hope for Ukraine's independence alive for years after the final outcome of World War II. It is in this tradition that I would like to continue making movies - placing emphasis on the lives and situations of people who affected today's renewed independent Ukrainian.

And lastly, one could not envision a strong and vibrant community without a re-unified centralized body to lead and coordinate the community's activities. My goal will be to unify the community into one centralized organization whose organizations will be integral players in the decision-making process, as well as instrumental in an organized, centralized community representative organization.

Q: How does the UCCA today serve and represent the Ukrainian American community, how does this differ from the UCCA's role in the past?

A: Today, as in the past, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America is a representative umbrella organization of organizations. The main function of the UCCA has always been as a coordinating body of organizations, whose common goals and desires are achieved through concerted efforts to represent the community's best interests, whether in Washington, state capitals or individual cities.

The UCCA also takes into account varied interests within its composition of organizations and must respond in kind to their needs. The UCCA represents a wide realm of social, humanitarian, political, women's, youth, student, veterans, and fraternal organizations whose common goal and purpose are to further the influence, good name and prestige of the Ukrainian American community.

Q: There has been a large influx of immigrants from Ukraine in recent years. What type of outreach has the UCCA done to reach this growing segment of our community? And, by the way, can you tell us how many of these new arrivals there are in the U.S. and where they are concentrated?

A: For nearly a decade, the issue of the so-called "Fourth Wave" of Ukrainian immigrants to the United States has perplexed our Ukrainian organizations. How do we entice, intrigue or respectfully request their participation in Ukrainian community affairs? There are no easy answers to any of these questions, but solutions do exist, upon which the UCCA is currently working. During the first executive board meeting following my election as president, board members suggested that the UCCA must concentrate its efforts on tackling the "problem" of the newest immigration, and subsequently formed a "Fourth Wave" Committee. Members of the committee are exclusively from this immigration group, and they are proposing projects they see as reasonable for the eventual interaction of Fourth Wave members with existing Ukrainian organizations.

Plans have called for a "New Immigration Room," which was re-modeled on the first floor of the UCCA headquarters building on New York's Second Avenue. The room would function as a centralized location for social service programs dealing with the newest wave of immigrants, such as courses in English as a Second Language (ESL); the room is also equipped with donated computers for instruction on their basic usage. We have also formed a Fourth Wave branch of the UCCA for the metropolitan New York City area. The branch will coordinate the work and functions of the UCCA's other citywide or regional branches but with one caveat: they will be composed primarily of new immigrants and will propose ideas to involve this newest and growing segment of the Ukrainian American community.

Sadly, we have found out more about our newest immigrant community through recent news, such as that of murders in Sacramento, California, where the press consistently referred to the accused as "the Ukrainian immigrant." Such instances of bias must be stopped since the majority of those living in the United States have some immigrant connection to faraway lands.

We have noticed that many Fourth Wave immigrants have settled in the Northwest regions (Seattle, Portland), while newer communities are constantly forming themselves in areas not previously inhabited by many Ukrainians - California, the Carolinas, the deep South and also Florida.

There are no exact figures as to the number of newest immigrants (though that may be possible to determine from the latest U.S. Census recordings), but many experts believe that in the past 10 to 12 years, as many, or even more, Ukrainians have entered the United States as immediately following the second world war.

PART I

CONCLUSION

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