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Report of Honorary Consul for San Francisco for 2004
Below is a report of my activities as Honorary Consul in San Francisco for 2004.
As you’ll see, in the beginning is a synopsis of some of the major objectives and projects of my position and a short statement of the progress achieved. Following this, is a month-by-month report on my most important activities as Honorary Consul.
General statement of purpose:
I believe the Honorary Consul Position should play a role in advocating the interests of the Polish people, the Polish government and Polonia with respect to the U.S. government, state and local governments and the greater diplomatic community of San Francisco and Northern California, and among the American people generally. In my first year, I have tried to carry out these objectives within the framework of my limited resources. One of my objectives for 2005 is to assemble a corps of interns, volunteers and community activists to better assist in the accomplishment of these goals.
Specific Projects and Objectives in 2004:
- Promote trade with Poland.
I have made numerous efforts to promote trade with Poland. I have worked closely with the Commercial Consuls in Los Angeles, Zygmunt Janiec and Sylvester Kozak. I have attempted to introduce the Consul General and Consul Kozak to key business leaders in the Polonia community, many of whom do business in Poland. This has included convening two meetings in Silicon Valley to introduce Silicon Valley business people with Consular staff.
I have also worked with outside organizations, such as the European American Chamber of Commerce, the I.M.M.A and the RussArt organization, all of which are involved in promoting trade with Europe. I have met with venture capitalists interested in investing in Poland.
Most of all, I have worked closely with the US-Poland Trade Council to obtain non-profit status for them and have become a de facto member of their Board of Directors. See discussion below.
- Work for a better visa policy toward Poles.
I have worked actively on promoting the proposal for the inclusion of Poland in the visa waiver program applicable to some 26 countries and most members of the EU. I drafted a proposed lobbying plan which I sent to the other Honorary Consuls and the Embassy. I also drafted “talking points” and draft letters to Congressmen for use by Polonia in this effort.
I personally corresponded with Senators Feinstein and Boxer on this subject and spoke with their staffs.
- The 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.
I attended and spoke at the 60th anniversary memorial in San Francisco in September and also attended another anniversary function in San Jose in November.
I represented the Consul General in bestowing all of the veterans of the Warsaw Uprising with an award from the Republic of Poland. For those not present at the September ceremony, I sent the awards by mail.
I also hired an archivist to produce DVDs of 10 filmed interviews with Polish veterans (many of them participants in the Uprising), which I personally filmed in 1993 and 1994. These interviews have been distributed to the family members and to the Consulate General in Los Angeles. The DVDs are available for copying by interested members of the community.
- Establishment of a non-profit charitable foundation.
At the request of the Consul General in Los Angeles, I prepared and filed the Articles of Incorporation and registered a non-profit foundation, “Polish American Society”, in order to raise money and accomplish certain charitable goals of the Consulates.
Among the goals of the “PAS” is the promotion of Polish culture in the U.S., the establishment of educational scholarships for Polish students in California, the establishment of a legal clinic for Poles in the U.S., and other charitable purposes.
I recently prepared and filed an application for 501(c) (3) tax-deductible non-profit status with the IRS for this Charitable organization.
- Community Building.
I have tried to mobilize the resources of successful and talented Poles and Polish-Americans living in the Bay Area. We have established a mailing list of approximately 5000 names of Poles and Polish-Americans living in California.
I have tried to draw from the pool of very talented people I have met in my 15 years of working as a lawyer in the Polish-American community in Northern California. It is a talented, highly-educated, resourceful and hard-working population. Yet this skilled workforce has not been yet fully utilized for the benefit of the community as a whole.
- Enhance Jewish-Polish relations.
I have worked hard to maintain and improve relations with the various Jewish groups in the Bay Area and the Jewish community as a whole. This has included meeting with a delegation from the American Jewish Committee (“AJC”) in the Consulate; meeting several times with representatives of the Taube Foundation and Tad Taube; attending an annual fundraiser for the B’nai Brith Anti-Defamation League, at their invitation.
I have agreed to speak in my capacity as Honorary Consul to Poland to several groups of Jewish students preparing for a trip to Poland in the summer of 2005. I intend this to be a regular event for these student groups. The topic of the talk will be “Modern Poland and Polish-Jewish relations in the 21st century”.
- Develop a functioning business community in Polonia.
There are hundreds of small businesses in the Polish-American community in Northern California, but there has yet to be an organization that even attempts to support them or unify them. I have worked to involve these very talented people and successful people in the Polish-American community in Northern California. Among other things, I organized two meetings of Silicon-Valley Polish business people in 2004. I have also met repeatedly with these individuals throughout the year.
- Work with the U.S-Poland Trade Council to Promote Trade.
I personally handled the application for 501(c) non-profit status for the U.S. Poland Trade Council. The organization received its non-profit status in November 2004.
I also introduced one critical board member to the group, George Slawek, a Vice-President of Bank of America, who has recently been elected an officer of the group.
I have attendend meetings of the Board of Directors of the USPTC and intend to assist further in their efforts in 2005.
- Relations with the Consular Corps and the City of San Francisco.
I have been an active member of the Consular Corps, attending most of its meetings as well as its annual Christmas and Summer dinners. I also attended meetings the Consular Corps had with new San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Governor Schwarzenegger, his liaison for international business, David Crane; the Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, ex-Mayor Willie Brown and present Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown; former Secretary of State George Shultz; and other community leaders.
I have established a good relationship with Mayor Newsom’s staff. His Chief of Staff, Steve Kawa, is a Polish-American with whom I have often communicated. We organized a flag-raising for May 3rd at City Hall, which will now be a new tradition in San Francisco.
I also was invited to and attended the new Mayor’s inauguration and prayer meeting at Grace Cathedral in January 2004.
Calendar of Events 2004 |
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