[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14884-14885]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM RAMSTAD

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 18, 2006

  Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to submit an article on 
promoting civic responsibility that was brought to my attention by a

[[Page 14885]]

constituent, Gopal Khanna. Mr. Khanna knows a great deal about civic 
responsibility, having served as a community and business leader, as 
well as Chief Financial Officer of the Peace Corps. This article 
outlines the very significant work being done to promote civic 
responsibility among immigrants, citizens and institutions in America. 
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

        Cherian Pushes Civic Responsibility as Medium For Change

                 [From the India Abroad, May 19, 2006]

                           (By Aziz Haniffa)

       Dr Joy Cherian has embarked on yet another mission, and 
     discovered another outlet for his social activism.
       The man who, 25 years ago, founded the Indian American 
     Forum for Political Education, the first ever Indian American 
     political organization, and went on to become the first 
     Indian American to hold a sub-cabinet level rank position in 
     the US government when he served as Commissioner of the Equal 
     Employment Opportunity Commission in the Ronald Reagan and 
     George H W Bush administrations, signaled his latest 
     direction when, last month, he convened a roundtable 
     conference of the Association of Americans for Civic 
     Responsibility.
       Following his stint at the EEOC, Cherian had started his 
     own company, J Cherian Consultants, Inc, which blossomed into 
     a highly successful international government and public 
     relations firm based in Washington, DC. A year ago, he wound 
     that company up and founded the AACR, in conjunction with 
     Syracuse University's School of International Affairs.
       The conference, at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of 
     International Relations in Washington, DC, touched on topics 
     as varied as `The American Immigrant Community and US 
     Immigrant Organizations' and `The Role of Small and Midsized 
     Enterprises in Promoting Civic Responsibility by Immigrants'.
       Panelists included Dr Michael Schneider, director, Maxwell 
     School of International Relations, who is also chairman of 
     AACR's Advisory Committee; Alysia Wilson, Senior Policy 
     Adviser, US Department of Commerce; Tess Scannell, Director, 
     Senior Corps, Corporation for National and Community Services 
     in Washington, DC; Chad Tragakis and Pavlina Majorosova, vice 
     president and account executive respectively of Hill & 
     Knowlton, Washington, DC; Jennifer K Woofter, president, 
     Strategic Sustainability Consulting, Washington, DC; Mahadeva 
     (Matt) Mani, director, Strategic Markets, AT & T, Oakton, 
     Virginia; Joseph Melookaran, member of the President's 
     Advisory Commission on Asian and Pacific Islanders and Dr 
     Piyush C Agrawal, national coordinator, Global Organization 
     of People of Indian Origin.
       While acknowledging that there are no rules and regulations 
     or even informal encouragement of civic responsibility in the 
     federal government, Wilson noted that several agencies have 
     taken their own initiatives in this direction.
       Wilson said that it is likely the Administration would soon 
     start a program to train `private and public sector decision-
     makers in other countries on ethical issues and on how lack 
     of transparency in their own countries impedes growth and 
     progress.'
       Agrawal, who kicked off the immigration panel discussion, 
     spoke of the `socio-political climate' in the United States, 
     `which for the most part has created an extremely conducive 
     environment for the immigrants to prosper and become whatever 
     they wanted to be,' and argued that in this process the 
     nation has also progressed to be the affluent superpower that 
     it is.
       But, he said, `it must be pointed out that the history of 
     immigration, as well as the assimilation in this country has 
     not been smooth, Every wave of migrants has paid its dues, 
     going through various types of suffering and discrimination, 
     and even the laws enacted in this country of immigrants have 
     not always been fair and equitable despite the claim of 
     liberty and justice for all.'
       Agrawal said the oldest immigrant organization, the 
     Association of Indians in America, established in 1967 `when 
     the USA opened its borders for the first time for legal 
     migration from India,' was an exemplar of communities 
     organizing to fight for their rights.
       Such organizations, he said, `usually take their civic 
     responsibility seriously', and by way of example pointed to 
     the activist role played by the community's various bodies 
     following disasters such as 9/11, the tsunami in South Asia, 
     the Gujarat earthquake, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
       `Besides raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for these 
     causes, we continue to serve the daily needs of the poor, the 
     indigent and the downtrodden here in the US through helping 
     out in homeless shelters, food banks, soup kitchens, medical 
     clinics and other civic activities, including but not limited 
     to, voter registration and `get the vote out' campaigns,' and 
     `Be Counted' operation for the US Census.'
       Melookaran said that small and medium enterprises' (SME) 
     involvement in corporate civic responsibility (CCR) is a vast 
     untapped potential that could dramatically change the face of 
     our communities.
       He said that corporate social responsibility or corporate 
     civic responsibility is often built into the strategic 
     planning of big corporate entities. However, `If you ask a 
     small business owner about his CCR initiatives, you will draw 
     a blank.'
       These, he said, was not because such small businesses did 
     nothing in this area, but because big business did not view 
     the work as corporate initiatives, or dignify such efforts by 
     terming them CCRs.
       The flip side, he said, was that many SMEs did nothing in 
     terms of CCR, and said such films needed encouragement and 
     guidance. He suggested that the MCR should serve as a 
     clearinghouse for activities and training of CCR for such 
     businesses.
       A significant majority of employees in the US are SMEs, and 
     therefore a broad-based effort to stimulate CCR initiatives 
     among this group could have a tremendous impact, and be the 
     vehicle for change in communities across the country.
       Mani expanded on the theme, from his perspective of a 
     diversity initiative that is an integral part of AT&T in its 
     CCR activities, while Majorosova talked about charity and 
     volunteerism from a Central and East European perspective 
     from the experiences she has had.
       She distinguished how volunteerism is abused under 
     repressive regimes and compared it to how it finds a sense of 
     purpose in free and civic-minded societies.
       Scannell, who was the featured luncheon speaker, emphasized 
     the importance of the pool of baby-boomers `who will be ready 
     to share their civic responsibilities if the activities are 
     tailored to their skills and tastes.'
       Cherian told India Abroad that his philosophy in founding 
     AACR was to ``educate and encourage all individuals and 
     institutions in the United States to advance the public good 
     of all the people by engaging in civic responsibilities such 
     as volunteerism, social involvement and community service.''
       He said the mission statement of AACR, which he authored, 
     holds that this civic responsibility, that ``springs from 
     one's ethical and moral obligations, is more than just a 
     `social responsibility,' because `civic responsibility' 
     requires all members of all sectors of life in the United 
     States to give back to the country based on their privilege 
     or living, working, learning, or doing business in the United 
     States.
       ``The essence of democracy is the participation of the very 
     people and entities that benefit from its fruits,'' Cherian 
     said, adding that consequently, ``the active performance of 
     civic responsibility is essential for the continuance of the 
     democratic process in tile United States.''
       To this end, he said, AACR seeks to foster understanding of 
     the concept of civic responsibility among American citizens, 
     non-citizen US residents, institutions of all kinds.
       Admitting that critics see the vision as utopian, Cherian 
     said this was no new thought, but the very philosophy that 
     had guided his founding of the IAFPE more than two decades 
     ago.
       He carried that same philosophy over to the Asian American 
     Voters Coalition, which he chaired, and later during his 
     tenure as Commissioner of the EEOC.
       ``This is something I believe is vital for the future 
     generations of Indian Americans, including my children and 
     grandchildren and everyone else who came here and have made 
     America their home,''he said.
       ``All of our children and grandchildren will benefit if we 
     give back to society,'' he said. ``We have only to see some 
     of the incidents and historical antecedents of immigrants, 
     including Indians in various parts of the world when they 
     isolate themselves and don't integrate and become part of the 
     mainstream.''
       Cherian said the conference ``will be a sort of historic 
     conference because it's the first conference ever exclusively 
     focused on immigrants and civic responsibility.''

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