The Bangladeshi-American Foundation, Inc.
11021 Brent Road, Potomac, MD 20854, USA

2000 in Review

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Bangladeshi-Americans:
Some Positive Achievements in 2000

The Bangladeshi-American community enters the New Millennium with positive achievements. During 2000, the first political posting at Ambassadorial level from South Asian community was a Bangladeshi-American. Although posted to a group of relatively small countries in the Pacific islands and for less than a year, Ambassador Siddique proved his diplomatic skills during the negotiations that followed a military coup in Fiji. His achievements and contributions are reflective of the contributions by the estimated 230,000 Bangladeshi-Americans to the American economy and society. 

The year 2000 was also the first full year of activities for the Bangladeshi-American Foundation. All told, it has been a successful year from many perspectives. 

The Foundation introduced three new modalities in community representations. First, the Foundation introduced the concept of inviting and receiving inputs from Internet-based audience on community matters. Second, the Foundation brought together a significant number of professional and all purpose Bangladeshi-American organizations to work together to formulate issues of community interests and to raise the same with US Administration officials. Third, the Foundation organized two workshops with representatives of participating organizations to review submissions from organizations and individuals. See http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/6 and http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/16 for more details. 

Consensus developed at the workshops formed the basis for community meetings with White House/State Department officials, before and after President Clinton’s visit to Bangladesh. Indications received from Administration officials are that the meetings were useful in shaping US assistance to Bangladesh in several aspects, including promotion of social dialogue, environmental mitigation and debt relief. 

It should be stressed that although constituency meetings with the White House and State Department officials are common with other communities, this has not been the case with the Bangladeshi-American community until the initiative taken by the Foundation during 2000. With the initiative and logistical support of the Bangladeshi-American Foundation, our community put personal and individual interests aside and representatives met collectively on a common set of issues and priorities. 

Similarly, representatives of Bangladeshi-American organizations met with the new US Ambassador to Bangladesh and discussed issues of interests to our community. See http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/31 for more details. During this meeting, representatives of Bangladeshi-American organizations also formally thanked State Department officials for responding to an earlier request by community members for an active State Department involvement in a case involving a Bangladeshi maid in the USA. 

In addition, during 2000 the Foundation organized a fundraising dinner for community assistance (see http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/3), provided assistance to need persons (see, for example, http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/21), organized a community picnic (see http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/22), organized a Seminar on US-Bangladesh at FOBANA 2000 (see http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/26 ) and made a slide presentation on community achievements and challenges at FOBANA 2000 (see http://www.egroups.com/message/bafi/27). 

Looking to the future, the Foundation has already initiated another constituency meeting with the incoming US Administration. The Foundation has also initiated a collaborative program with participating Greater Washington area organizations to produce a Community White Pages for Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC. It will also continue with other efforts such as community assistance, Scholarship funds and funds for Bangladesh Community Centers. 

BACKGROUND: The Foundation is a membership-based, non-profit and mission-driven organization without any political affiliation in the US or in Bangladesh and with respect for both transparency and confidentiality. Contributions to the Foundation are tax-exempt as permitted by the US Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation also accepts zakat contributions for eligible purposes. 

The primary objectives of the Foundation are to uphold and foster community development in the US while a secondary objective is to help the poor and destitute in Bangladesh. To these ends, the Foundation is organized to achieve six broad objectives.

The first and foremost objective is the establishment of Bangladesh Community Centers in major centers of community concentration. These Centers will sponsor, coordinate and facilitate various social, educational and cultural activities, including maintaining on-line services and promoting youth exchanges between Bangladesh and the US; and provide residential accommodation-cum-catering facilities for students and visiting members. Reflecting high priority for this objective, 70 percent of all membership fees and general donations are invested in an account for this purpose.

A second objective is to provide financial assistance to low income community members at times of crisis. The potential beneficiaries include all persons of Bangladeshi-origin, including students and visiting Bangladeshis.

A third objective is to provide scholarships to low-income Bangladeshi-Americans to attend post-secondary education and training courses in the US, and provide a limited number of scholarships to American resident students for higher education or voluntary work in Bangladesh.

A fourth objective is to organize Bangladesh Day annually in different States of the USA simultaneously in collaboration with other organizations to recognize and encourage community achievements and to promote the cultural heritage. To this end, funds are being saved in an account for community recognition awards.

A fifth objective is to promote youth development by making provision of resource persons for guidance, organizing workshops on internship and other employment opportunities, and by providing leadership experience.

The sixth objective is to raise funds to finance development activities to benefit the poor and destitute in Bangladesh.

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES INVITES YOU TO SUPPORT THESE OBJECTIVES BY BECOMING A MEMBER, A DONOR OR A VOLUNTEER.  All relevant documents are maintained at http://www.Bangladeshi-American.org. (As the site is currently being updated, if you encounter any problem please visit us later.) 

Alternatively, contact BAFI, 11021 Brent Road, Potomac, MD 20854. Tel. 301 299 3770. This is also the mailing address for any donation.

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Last Updated: January, 2001