About Us

Board of Directors 2011:

President: Meghana Frenchman
Vice President: Cecila Jackson
Treasurer: Judith Harris
Secretary: Jon Charles
Sonia E. Amin
Chris Fennessy
Regan Franklin
Rebecca Haussling
Wilma Jakobsen
Chiraphone Khampouvong
Julia Long
Phluntè Riddle
Joyce Sloss
Margaret Soderberg, MD
Renèe Williams

Our Mission

United Nations Association (UNA) Pasadena/Foothills Chapter... A Better World Starts Here
The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a national organization dedicated to strengthening the U.N. system and to enhancing U.S. participation in that system. UNA-USA carries out its action agenda through a unique combination of public outreach, policy analysis, and international dialog. UNA-USA provides information and educational services on the work of the United Nations and on other global issues for students, scholars, Congress, business leaders, and media. Each year it coordinates the observance of U.N. Day (October 24) commemorating the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.

The United Nations Association (UNA) Pasadena/Foothills Chapter is dedicated to fostering these goals on a local level. With a membership that covers most of the San Gabriel Valley, Burbank, Glendale, and Northeast Los Angeles, UNA Pasadena/Foothills Chapter is one of the largest UNA-USA chapters in the nation. Our members belong to a unique organization whose informational, educational and cultural programs are designed to reach all ages. The chapter was formed in 1947 and continues to celebrate its service to the greater Pasadena area.

These are the Eight UN Millennium Development Goals. By 2015, all UN Member States have pledged to:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
   Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day
   Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
   

2. Achieve universal primary education
   Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling
   

3. Promote gender equality and empower women
   Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
   

4. Reduce child mortality
   Reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children under five
   

5. Improve maternal health
   Reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio
   

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
   Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
   Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
   

7. Ensure environmental sustainability
   Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
   Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
   Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers by 2020
   

8. Develop a global partnership for development
   Develop further an open trading and financial system
   Address the least developed countries needs
   Address the the special needs of landlocked and small island developing states
   Deal comprehensively with developing countries debt problems
   Develop decent and productive work for youth
   Provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries
   Make available the benefits of new technologies.

Our Commitment In concert with the goals of the UNA-USA, the UNA Pasadena/Foothills Chapter promises to:

1. Make the United Nations activities known and understood by the people this association serves

2. Advocate and support those policies of our government that will enhance the effectiveness of US membership in the United Nations

3. Establish and maintain ongoing contact with our Congressional delegates in order to encourage US support for the United Nations

4. Study the means by which the United Nations may be strengthened to meet the needs of an ever-changing world

5. Educate through basic fundamental study of permanent peace and the machinery for the development of this peace

6. Increase awareness of the United Nations among the elementary, secondary and high school students

7. Work with Adopt a Minefield® program to resolve global landmine crisis by raising funds for mine clearance and survivor assistance

8. Educate public, especially youth, of UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Eight UN Millennium Development Goals through sponsoring and organizing community events, such as UN Day, celebrated annually in October.

For more information on the Eight UN Millennium Development Goals, see the Road Map towards Implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration at: www.un.org/millenniumgoals.

Our History

In 1972, the Pasadena/Foothills Chapter became one of the first UNA-USA chapters to be incorporated and immediately began an extensive program to educate the general public about the United Nations. Membership grew quite a bit in the late 1970's and has endured through the years. We are currently working on several initiatives locally and internationally.

Our most active arena is in education. This year the Chapter is sponsoring a Great Decisions course at Pasadena City College , taught by one of our own distinguished board members. We sponsor the UNA-USA National High School Essay Contest each year and host current-event lectures on a regular basis. We also publish a quarterly newsletter, Our World, with information not only about our chapter's activities, but also about advocacy issues and current foreign affairs that affect each of us.

Our present thrust is an attempt to get the Model UN curriculum into the elementary and high schools in the Pasadena area. Model UN is an educational program that encourages empathy, leadership and co-operation while giving students opportunities to participate in research and competition in the arenas of International Affairs, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution.

In addition to our educational initiatives, the Pasadena Chapter has taken up political endeavors as well.  In 1998, when the formation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established, our Chapter was instrumental in organizing a Southern California working group on the Court. This group now has its own non-profit status and is promoting the ICC's objectives successfully.

Our Chapter regularly sponsors a Night of a Thousand Dinners, collecting funds for the clearance of land mines. We have also organized several international trips which have enabled our members to participate in UN conferences - including those in Turkey , China , Italy , Cuba and most recently, South Africa .

This year we look forward to hosting many exciting events for the entire community to enjoy.  See News/Events for more details.

We welcome your interest in our Chapter, and look forward to having you become a Member.