UNWLA advocacy efforts have been integral to our actions since the beginning. 

We have been advocating for the recognition of Holodomor as genocide since the day when the news reached the US coast. Read more here 

Advocacy often goes hand in hand with our efforts to educate people about Ukraine and to cultivate our rich heritage. 

However, since the beginning of the large-scale invasion in February, 2022, we dedicated most of our efforts to advocating for support to Ukraine. Our goal is to empower and equip our community to reach out to their elected officials and promote what Ukraine needs the most – financial and military assistance.

On February 24th, 2022, we officially established the UNWLA Advocacy Committee. The first tools and lessons came from Vera Andryczyk, a professional in advocacy and policy-making. 

A 7-day Advocacy Challenge followed it, each offering participants different ways to speak up for Ukraine. Our campaign resulted in R.T. and its sister networks being dropped from U.S. cable providers. In June 2022, activists traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with elected officials and raise awareness of Ukrainian issues in person.

Later UNWLA joined a group of other organizations and co-founded the American Coalition for Ukraine with the key idea of mobilizing and organizing grassroots advocacy efforts within the Ukrainian community. 

Since its launch in 2022, the Coalition has organized three Ukraine Action Summits in Washington, DC. The summit’s main goal is to bring constituents to the congressional offices to advocate for Ukraine. 

Each time, the summit drew more and more attendees, resulting in around 500 people attending and having over 200 meetings on the Hill during the third event in Fall 2023.