UNWLA Annual Report 2022 – Advocate
In the face of russian aggression against Ukraine, our goal was to give our members and supporters tools to continue advocating, educating the community, and cultivating support for Ukraine. At a time when we feel powerless, advocacy provides a way that we can empower ourselves to make a difference.
Advocacy 2.0.22
The work of the newly founded UNWLA Advocacy Committee began with an advocacy seminar by Vera Andryczyk on February 24, 2022. This event kicked off a seven-day Advocacy Challenge, with each day offering participants different ways to speak up for Ukraine. These included contacting Senators, Representatives, and the President, writing Op-Eds, and pushing for divestment among university endowments and state pension funds.
At the same time, we began Nyetflix — a campaign to have U.S. cable providers drop russian state-sponsored channels from their packages. The petition started on Change.org to counter russian propaganda and gathered over 60,000 signatures. Our work resulted in RT and its sister networks being dropped from U.S. cable providers. RT America closed its doors (and streams) in March 2022.
In June 2022, the UNWLA launched an appreciation campaign — UNWLA Thank-a-Thon — thanking the U.S. government for the unprecedented support it has given Ukraine.
Ukraine Action Summit
The first-ever Ukraine Action Summit was held in Washington, D.C. on September 18-20, 2022. A community advocacy event on the Hill, it gathered over 270 advocates from 33 states. The Summit was an opportunity to exchange best advocacy practices and to continue educating our elected representatives about why the U.S. must support a Ukrainian victorу.
American Coalition for Ukraine
In 2022, the UNWLA, along with other Ukrainian organizations in the U.S., co-founded the American Coalition for Ukraine. Its mission is to bring together diverse organizations that:
- support American policies aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s defense, sovereignty, and reconstruction;
- promote efforts that strengthen U.S. relations with Ukraine;
- serve as a strong voice in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity;
- provide educational resources to elected officials and the American public about Ukraine’s history, culture, and positive impact on the world;
- implement critical work in both the U.S. and Ukraine to support and encourage Ukrainian prosperity and sovereignty.
Our Coalition partners call the United States home, but many of us share historical experiences of oppression, violence, and war in our countries of origin and ancestral homelands — often at the hands of russian imperialism. We wholeheartedly support Ukraine in its defense of the universal values of freedom and human dignity.
How We Advocate
The UNWLA Advocacy Committee focuses on three main advocacy areas:
Political Advocacy
- We engage in advocacy directly, meeting with elected officials.
- We are co-organizers of and active participants in the Ukraine Action Summit.
- We train our members and supporters to meet with their elected officials in person and to empower Ukrainian voices in their communities.
Local Advocacy
- We build relationships with community organizations and local government.
- We foster closer ties between Ukrainian and American cities.
- We support issuing proclamations for Ukrainian Independence Day and lighting up cities in blue and yellow on significant occasions.
Cultural Advocacy
- We give our members tools to advocate for Ukrainian culture;
- We promote the decolonization of Eastern European Studies;
- We support our members in sharing Ukrainian culture and it’s stories.