FOURTH CONFERENCE OF ROMANIAN AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS
VESTED IN WEAVING SOCIAL COHESION
2nd Day, Community Civic Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship Panel, Dec. 3rd 2022
The president of the Romanian United FundMihai Lehene, currently elected as president of the Federation of Romanian American Organizations (FORA) presented the impressive effort of the various member organizations to coordinate with the Romanian embassy using RUF as a common platform to fund-raise jointly for grassroots organizations assisting Ukrainian refugees in Romania. The Ukrainian Peace Fund raised an estimated $371,000. He presented the work of the Romanian Community Center in Chicago, a center that opened this year following a successful diaspora fundraising effort. He introduced Julien Zidaru from Exact Business Solutions and Alina Simpetru, Strategic Planning consultants in Bucharest, who implemented a Survey of Romanian Americans’ Solidarity. The work is funded by the State Department of Romanians Living Abroad. The survey is one of the four grants secured this year by the RUF from DRP. This is the largest DRP grant offered to any American diaspora organization and the sum of the grants secured stand in excess of $120,000, the largest co-financing line of credit was offered to build the ROCO Chicago community center. The Survey of Romanian Americans’ Solidarity implemented in November by the Bucharest consultants, is funded by DRP with 78,000 RON and it outlines interests and behaviors of diaspora members that may guide community based organizations and DRP in structuring their interactions with the public and prioritizing certain types of projects.