EDITORIAL: "We Can Do Better" (09/14/97)

EDITORIAL

"We Can Do Better"

Reading recent issues of this paper we spotted an advertisement to which we reacted: finally, a conference near and dear to our hearts as a newspaper that serves the Ukrainian community. On October 10-12, The Washington Group, an association of Ukrainian American professionals that is based in the nation's capital but has members nationwide, is holding its annual Leadership Conference. In the past, the conference has tended to focus on issues that are of interest and significance to our community, but are in fact external to the community: most notably foreign affairs, U.S. policy-making, U.S.-Ukraine relations, etc. (It is, after all, The Washington Group.)

This year, however, organizers decided to take a different tack: to focus more on internal community affairs with an eye on what's happening inside our community, as well as on how we can learn from others outside our structures, and how community members have taken Ukrainian issues beyond our own circles. The theme of the conference: "We Can Do Better: Expanding Horizons for Ukrainian Americans."

We should add parenthetically that such a conference had been suggested before by several Ukrainian American community activists and leaders, but it had yet to be brought to fruition. In Canada, on the other hand, such focus on the community's internal issues has become almost the norm. Thus, the 1995 convention of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress adopted as the slogan "Evolution or Extinction: Challenge for the Future," while this year in August the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation conference discussed the direction of the Ukrainian Canadian community in the 21st century.

As we have noted previously in the pages of this newspaper, our community life in the United States appears to be on the wane due to a variety of reasons and a combination of factors, and it is badly in need of a redefinition of its role. So, it was about time for a conference like this to be held in this country.

The Leadership Conference, which is scheduled for Columbus Day weekend, will bring together panelists from our Churches, credit unions, professional associations and fraternal organizations to discuss "How Are Ukrainian American Organizations Doing?" Other panels will cover "Exercising Influence Within American Society" and "Lessons from Other Communities" (the latter will focus on the experiences of other ethnic groups). Some "external" issues will be covered as well, in the "Building Connections to Ukraine" panel and in the case-study-approach panel on how to get grants covering aid to Ukraine.

The theme of the 1997 Leadership Conference is an optimistic one: "We Can Do Better." Indeed we can. And now is the time for us to do better - not when it is too late to resuscitate our community life.

We commend the conference organizers, The Washington Group. But, at the same time we express the hope that the conference is more than just talk - that the discussions and suggestions become translated into concrete actions that will take our community into the next century, and that other organizations pick up the ball and hold similar conferences to deal with other issues that confront our diverse Ukrainian American community.

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