Tuesday, June 28, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

All-ASA Leadership Retreat Trains Next Generation of Community Organizers

by Asbarez Staff
January 29, 2009
in Haytoug, News
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

BIG PINES, Calif., –President Obama has made community organizing a hot topic these days. But very few understand what it actually means to organize people around community-based issues. It’s not an easy task, but a group of young Armenia’s took time out of their busy schedules to spend their weekend, secluded from city life, learning just what it takes to effectively harness the potential of their respective communities and organizations.

This leadership retreat brought some forty college students and graduates to AYF Camp last weekend for a series of group activities and educationals to build and hone leadership skills for organizing Armenian youth throughout California’s colleges and Armenian communities. Organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s Shant Student Association through the All-ASA Confederation, the retreat featured discussions with accomplished leaders from the community on effective organizing, as well as group activities on team building techniques and strategies. Participants from Armenian Student Associations at Universities of California in Irvine, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, as well as Glendale Community College, Pasadena City College, and Loyola Marymount spent the weekend networking with members from various AYF chapters throughout the western region, discussing community issues and strengthening ties between their organizations.

“I came up to camp to build new relationships and network with other ASA’s and AYF’s so that we can collaborate on and off the campus in future programs,” said Iren Tatevosyan, the President of the ASA at UCLA. “I think others had the same intention to come here to work together and build bridges with other organizations.” The challenges facing Armenian youth groups today make it necessary to work together, she explained, stressing the singularity of their cause as Armenian youth in America.

Effectively channeling Armenian youth to understand and work toward that cause was the main focus of the weekend seminar. California’s only elected City Clerk of Armenian decent, Ardashes Kassakhian spoke to the participants on the importance of effective communication and organized meeting structure. Kassakhian’s commen’s combined his experiences as an ASA president at UCLA when Turkey was trying to bribe the campus to establish a Turkish chair (see Asbarez, Oct. 31, 1997), his tenure as the Government Relations and Executive Director of the ANCA-WR and his current post as City Clerk and the executive parliamentarian for the city of Glendale.

During his presentation, Kassakhian discussed ways to maximize organizational potential, discussing methods for running effective meetings and strategies for planning successful campaigns or events. He stressed the importance of communication within groups, respect among members, and the logistics behind organizing productive meetings. "Respect your members, and they will respect you," Kassakhian kept emphasizing. He also spoke about the importance of networking with other organizations and ethnic groups. A leading expert in the Armenian community on community organizing and political advocacy, Kassakhian urged the students to take an active role in campus advocacy efforts.

“The university is the perfect platform for advocating for Armenian-American issues and building coalitions with groups eager to help raise awareness of your cause,” he said. “Here you have a captive and educated audience motivated to learn about your issues and take what they learn back with them to their own communities.”

Much of the participants saw in Kassakhian’s presentation many of the issues they face trying to organize their communities on campus. “I think it’s very important to be efficient,” said Artin Sarkisian from the ASA at UC Santa Barbara. “Ardy really touched on great points and tactics on how to have an effective meeting. We haven’t been that precise about everything, the way he told us to be. Following his advice would make our meetings run that much better.”

For Andre Kazanjian, the biggest challenge his ASA faces at Loyola Marymount is getting students involved. “We have about 40 Armenia’s at LMU,” he explained, noting that less than half that number can be considered active. “Our biggest challenge is getting people involved, and I think if we start having agendas for our meetings and be more organized and goal oriented, we will attract more members” he added.

Efficient meetings, however, are not the end all and be all of organizing. “We need to show enthusiasm and motivate our members to not only understand the issues, but push them forward,” Tatevosyan said, commenting on a discussion about activism led by longtime community organizer Mourad Topalian.

Activism, Topalian said, is not just about holding picket signs at protests. "We need all forms of activism in the Armenian community. There’s a place for everyone, from that guy carrying the sign, to you writing the article for your school paper on genocide denial." Every one has a role to play and an opportunity to contribute, he added, noting how one person’s desire to practice law can lead to their filing a lawsuit against the Turkish government, or another’s passion for medicine can find them in Armenia helping vilagers in their local hospitals.

Stressing that point, Topalian painted a portrait of Armenian activism in the United States, from its explosion on the scene in the 1960s to its ever-evolving role in driving community life today. “We came up in an age and a time where Armenian activism was just coming about, when our people were still in a state of depression over the Genocide and its denial,” he explained. “The establishment of the Armenian community then was so set in its ways and so shocked that a group of Armenian boys and girls, would chant and demonstrate, peacefully.”

Talking about the issues that inspired his generation, Topalian, asked the group to take a look a good, critical look at their own communities. The challenge facing this generation, Topalian explained, are apathy and a natural acceptance of the status quo. “Most of the people at your school you are trying to reach were raised protected by their parents, insulated so much they became complacent and took things for granted,” he said, pointing, as an example, to the unspoken reality that genocide activities in thecommunity accomplish little when we don’t try to raise greater attention on the issues outside the American public and media at large.

“If you are truly a good leader, you will prepare the next generation of leaders to take our people to the next level, to be even more profession, more original and more active than you. Because that’s what our people call for, that’s what our nation needs,” Topalian exclaimed.

The problem with getting people active, according to some of the participants, is that young people have a hard time seeing how their involvement on campus can affect the current affairs of Armenia and Armenian communities throughout the world. “Before this seminar I thought of myself as just another guy in the ASA but now I really feel that I can actually make a difference,” said Sevak Abrahamian, an executive member of the ASA at UCSB, who described Topalian’s discussion as motivational and eye opening to the reality of his potential. “I think inspiration is very important for us on the campuses to bring about change.”

That inspiration, according to Topalian, must come from this generation. “You the young people have to think critically and outside the box to change us,” he stressed. “I need you to step up because there is a hell of a vacuum between my generation and yours. All leadership becomes complacent, comfortable in leadership and needs the youth to demand change–to change how we are doing things, our ways of publishing our papers, raising our money, our ANC work, as well as our community organizing.”

Motivated by the discussion, UCLA’s Lilit Azarian said she found inspiration in knowing just what exactly her generation is capable of. “Learning about the accomplishmen’s Armenian youth have had in the past shows you what we are capable of doing,” she said. “We shouldn’t let them down. We should be a part of history too.”

To expand on the discussions, Chris Minassian a member from the SSA, who holds a PhD in Organizational Psychology, took the participants out of their comfort zones with a series of group exercises designed to teach the importance of communication and teamwork. “One of the activities, called the ‘Human Knot,’ brought groups of ten together to hold each others hands so they in a sense create a knot,” he explained. “It’s up to them to communicate and use problem solving tactics to work together to break the knot and untangle to form a circle without letting go.”

Two other activities followed and each time the participants were forced to work closer together to come up with unique solutions to unorthodox problems. One exercise required each group to get as many of its members off the ground as possible in a minute, using only their bodies as a means of elevating off the floor. Another exercise had the groups struggle to fit as many members as possible inside a small 2×2 square perimeter taped onto the floor.

“With these very basic exercises, we were able to split participants up from the groups they came in and take them out of their comfort zones to interact closely with others in order to build a cohesive bond this gets them to not only solve their problem, but also build relationships that will take the team to the next level in terms of cohesion,” Minassian explained, adding that these exercises build the most basic foundations for an organization, creating an environment where you and your peers are comfortable to communicate ideas, comment, criticize and debate.

Communication is vital to a successful organization, according to Armine Alian, a member from ASA at UCI. “If I become an executive at my school’s ASA, I will enforce it as much as possible,” she said. “Without it you can’t get anything done.”

Alian was among a number of participants at this year’s seminar who have yet to be elected to leadership roles within their organizations. In prior years, the leadership seminar had been open only to executive members of the AYF, SSA, and ASA. Things were different this year, however. The organizers pushed hard to have regular members attend the retreat, dropping participation fees and advertising the weekend with the general memberships of these organizations. Raffi Missirian a member from the ASA at Pasadena City College emphasized that it is “vital for regular members to take the initiative and learn these types of skills.” Meetings, he explained, are not designed to be one-way mechanisms for executives to dictate their agendas to a quite membership. “Regular members are also part of the meetings and if regular members don’t participate and take the initiative we won’t have good ideas for the future of the ASA,” he stressed.

Missirian, who recently joined his ASA, said the retreat went a long way in preparing him for a future leadership role in the organization. “I was new to ASA and I didn’t feel like I had done enough to help. Now I will be reporting on the weekend to my executive body, relaying important information and experiences that will help them run better and more efficient meetings.”

But the weekend wasn’t all about work. Aside from the educational activities, the participants also had a night to party, barbequing Kebob by the campfire, and dancing and singing into the night. Creating a social atmosphere is just as important as creating a working atmosphere, according to Patil Aslanian, a member of both the UCI ASA and San Fernando Valley Chapter of the AYF. “AYF camp is a great environment for having retreats of this kind. It creates an atmosphere that brings people together and makes a serious seminar like this not only bearable, but exciting.”

Although camp makes it fun to learn, leadership takes more than one weekend to develop, according to Armen Aboulian, who chairs the SSA. “There is no surefire way to become a leader, but at least through this event, we can conceptualize what it takes and motivate each other to realize our potentials,” he said. “The process has to start somewhere, why not at camp.”

"It sends a powerful message that the All-ASA Confederation, a body consisting of ASA’s throughout California, was able to bring students and young activists from across the state to one location to work together to develop and advance leadership skills, which will benefit them not only as student leaders, but as future leaders of our community," said Raffi Kassabian, a former president of both UCLA’s ASA and Armenian Graduate Student Association.

******

Editor’s Note: Arek Santikian is a member of the Armenian Youth Federation’s Hollywood ‘Musa Dagh’ Chapter. He can be reached for comment at Areks@yahoo.com. For more information on the Shant Student Association visit www.arfshant.org. To find out how you can get involved with the AYF visit www.ayfwest.org. For information on how to get plugged into your campus ASA, email info@asbarez.com.

Related Articles:
The AYF Inspires
Tags: AbrahamianacceptanceactivismadviceageAndre KazanjianapathyArdyArmeniaarmenian communitiesarmenian revolutionary federationarmenian student associationsarticleArtin SarkisianASAattentionayfboxcampuschallengechangechantChris Minassiancollege studentscomfortCommunityconfederationdenialdepressiondesiredifferencediscussionEfficientendenthusiasmestablishmenteveryoneeverythingexampleexerciseexplosioneyefloorgenerationGenocideglendale community collegegoalgovernmentgroupgroup activitiesguyhalfhellhot topicinspirationinvolvementknotlawlawsuitldquoleaderleadershipleadership retreatleadership skillslevellifeLMUlookLoyolaloyola marymountMarymountMedicinemeetingmembermotivationalMouradnationnumberObamaopeningopportunityorganizerpaperpasadena city collegepassionpersonpicketplacePointportraitproblemprofessionpublicQuoquotrdquorealityroleSanta BarbarasceneSchoolseminarSevakShantsignsingularitystatestatusStressingTatevosyanteam buildingthecommunitytimetodayTopalianUCSBUnited Statesuniversities of californiaunspokenvacuumwayworldYouthyouth groups
Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

Javakhk Leaders Charged with Spying, 'Militant' Actions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Menendez, Schiff Alarmed that Biden Again Approves U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan

Menendez, Schiff Alarmed that Biden Again Approves U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan

10 hours ago
Press Boycotts Pashinyan’s ‘News Conference’

Press Boycotts Pashinyan’s ‘News Conference’

13 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • asbarez.com
    • June 28, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to