United Nations Association of San Francisco

The United Nations Association of San Francisco (UNA-SF) is the San Francisco chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), a national, nonpartisan, and nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing US participation in the United Nations system and to strengthening that system as it seeks to define and carry out its mission.

Important News and Announcements

The United Nations Association of San Francisco supports the US and World Act

US and the World Act:

The United States and the World Education Act calls for $200 million annually in new federal funding for professional development of prospective, future and in-service teachers in international education defined by the act as "education subject matter related to world history, regions, cultures, and geography, as well as foreign languages, contemporary world issues, international relations, international economics, international and non-governmental organizations, and the technology and communications mediums related to such subject matter.”

The following is a letter to US Rep. Lynn Woolsey from UNASF President Kim Weichel:

The Honorable Lynn Woolsey
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congresswoman Woolsey:

On September 25, 2008 Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-47) introduced H.R.7063, the United States and the World Education Act. This proposed legislation authorizes
$ 200 million annually in new federal funding for professional development of prospective and in-service teachers in the field of international education. Section 7 (6) of the Act defines international education as: “subject matter related to world history, regions, cultures, and geography, as well as foreign languages, contemporary world issues, international relations, international economics, international and non-governmental organizations, and the technology and communications mediums related to such subjects.”

Our youth face daunting global challenges: a global market place for jobs, rapidly accelerating environmental degradation, complex international trade and immigration issues, and the diminishing reputation of the United States in the world arena.
The purpose of H.R.7063 is to train our teachers to better prepare our youth to successfully meet these challenges.

This legislation was drafted by Ron Herring, the Executive Director of the California International Studies Project (http://csmp.ucop.edu/cisp). Mr. Herring’s draft is based on the February 2006 report by the Committee on Economic Development: Education for Global Leadership, the Importance of International and Foreign Language Studies for U.S. Economic and National Security. An Executive Summary of the report is enclosed for your reference.

H.R.7063 is comparable to and complements the Teaching Traditional American History Act that was passed by Congress in the early days of the G.W. Bush administration. This

act has provided more than $ 1 billion in the past eight years for professional development of American history teachers with the goal: “to teach American history as a separate academic subject and not as a component of social studies”.

We urge you to support passage of this important legislation in this session of Congress.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Weichel
President
United Nations Association of Marin County and San Francisco

Visit San Francisco's UN Attractions

Download San Francisco Downtown Maps

• While in San Francisco, be sure to visit the United Nations Plaza. The Plaza honors the ideals expressed in the founding of the United Nations. Learn more... This document is a pdf file (3 MB). You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file. If you do not have the Reader download it for free here.

• War Memorial Veterans Building - In 1945, the Charter for the United Nations was signed in the auditorium of this building , now known as the Herbst Theatre. A mural capturing the historic signing is displayed in the theatre. The War Memorial Veterans Building is on the corner of Van Ness St. and McAllister St. It is part of San Francisco's Civic Center area. See yellow highlighted area on map for location.

• San Francisco Fast Facts

Message from the President

The UN in Action

Kimberly Weichel, President, UNA-SF

It is useful to learn about some of the many ways in which the United Nations assists people each day around the world. Every time I travel overseas I hear stories about how the UN has helped people by the UN's many programs and initiatives that we rarely hear about in our mainstream media.

As the UN and Global Affairs Correspondent for Positive Spin TV show, I'm able to learn about some of these inspiring stories each month. They include:

Among Sudan's 34 million people, more than two and a half million people are nomads. UNICEF 's mobile school program provides children from these families with a basic education. It has been difficult for the children to attend school in the past as families moved from place to place in search of water and pasturage. The 1994 mobile school program has enrolled more than 110,000 boys and girls since its inception.

Twelve years ago, genocide and war in Rwanda devastated the country and affected the lives of most of the population. After fleeing her country, Beatrice Gakuba has returned to help rebuild it. She has successfully launched an international flower company, Rwanda Flora. Women represent 80% of the workforce. With clients from all over the world, this rose-based business is helping to alleviate poverty in Rwanda and improve people's lives.

The population of dolphins, an extremely popular and intelligent animal, continues to dwindle in spite of commercial hunting bans. Many get accidentally caught every year in fishing nets all over the globe. A program funded through the UN Development Program is distributing acoustic devices to fishermen in the Black Sea to help keep dolphins at bay.

We'd love to hear any UN stories you have. You can email them to us here here.