This is going out on the UNA NorCal listserve both as a (way way too close in) invitation for Aug 30 and as preparatory reading for our Sep 6 get together in Santa Cruz.
The UNA San Francisco Bay Area Council of Organizations is a recent (since January, 2014) startup network of organizations in the Bay Area that support the goals of the United Nations. We have 7 members so far: UNA-San Francisco, Democratic World Federalists, Bay Area Humanists, U.S. Servas, American Association of University Women San Francisco, Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office San Francisco, and the San Francisco chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
At the same time, the SF Bay Area COO is a project of UNA-SF. So UNA-SF has a first among equals role as both a member with just one vote, yet also the provider of a bank account and the 501(c)(3) status the COO enjoys.
The SF Bay Area COO is putting together a UN 69th Anniversary Luncheon on October 19th in collaboration with the Unitarian-Universalist UNO office at the UU Church on Franklin at Geary in San Francisco.
We are also about to activate a UN 70th Anniversary Committee to put together a big event at the War Memorial building in San Francisco on Saturday, Oct 24, 2015. The War Memorial is where the UN Charter was signed on June 26, 1945. UNA-SF has reserved both main rooms in the building for Oct 24, 2015, and Herb Behrstock (VP Programs of UNA NorCal Division), Eliz Weinberg and I recently met with Beth Murray, Managing Director of the War Memorial, who advised about how UNA/COO could organize a program and celebrations, renting the space of the War Memorial building after its remodeling is completed in mid-2014. Additionally, she has approached Charlotte Shultz, the Chief of Protocol for San Francisco, and a Trustee of the building, who’d been involved in earlier anniversary celebrations of the UN in SF, including the 50 and 60 year events. Shultz, while not offering to take responsibility for the programs this time, reportedly ‘would be happy to work with the UNA if and when the Association has a plan for event funding and event particulars,” offer advice, and ‘help with event details’ pertaining to the City of SF’s participation (e.g. the participation of the Mayor). Beth Murray is also gave advice about the process to get authorization if we wanted to mount a plaque on the outside of the building marking it as the birthplace of the U.N.
Importantly, though no other UNA chapter in addition to UNA SF is yet involved nor endorsing the SF COO nor the 70th Anniversary program, Mary Steiner, VP of UNA Eastbay has offered in her personal capacity to lead the UN 70th effort, taking the helm of the COO UN 70th Committee that will have its first meeting Saturday, Aug 30 from 2 to 4 pm at the African American Arts and Culture Complex third floor conference room -- 762 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. If you want to participate in the effort you are encouraged to attend.
How might UNA NorCal and the Northern California UNA Chapters best participate in this effort? Clearly this will be more likely to succeed if it is going to be a coalition effort. That is, we cannot expect all players to join the UNA SF Bay COO, though they are welcome and invited to do that. Rather, we all need to come together, plan together and work together under Mary’s orchestration regardless of the organizational boundaries. For instance, UNA NorCal may want to take primary responsibility for the unveiling of the new plaque. In this case it will be important that NorCal has one or more members regularly attending UN 70th Committee meetings so the various events can be scheduled without conflict.
The UNA SF Bay Area COO is new and could be reshaped. As it is currently envisioned, the COO is looking to become a Bay Area NGO powerhouse for all organizations that believe in the goals of the United Nations. That means we hope that all the UNA Bay Area Chapters will join the COO and become together its backbone. UNA NorCal itself and UNA NorCal chapters outside the Bay Area would be welcome if they want to join the COO on the understanding that meetings will be held in the Bay Area. Efforts in this direction will begin in the San Francisco area, so in reality what we might end up with is a San Francisco COO rather than a Bay Area COO.
Another possibility, though, would be for each UNA Chapter to establish its own COO and then we could bring together a NorCal Coalition of COOs. Is this a real possibility, tho? Or we could scrap the Bay Area idea and bring in all of NorCal, but we have started this as a UNA-SF project and, in my opinion anyway, the Bay Area is a coherent political and economic region in a way that Northern California is not. On google, “Northern California” has 13 million hits, while “Bay Area” has 38 million. We know big changes are needed to promote sustainability, and the Bay Area Region is a natural target in a way that Northern California is not.
In conclusion, then, I want to offer the COO as an avenue to organize the UN 70th with all of us working together harmoniously. In the process, I hope we will expand the COO and bring in the NorCal Chapters, at least those that do not want to form their own Council of Organizations.
I am happy to answer questions about the COO. Questions about the UN 70th might best be directed to Mary Steiner in person at the UN 70th Committee Activation on Saturday Aug 30, 2-4pm at the AAACC in San Francisco.
Roger Eaton
+1 415 933 0153
UNA-SF Communications Chair
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