BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
On January 14, 1933 Karekin Njdeh established the Armenian Youth Federation, which grew into a worldwide youth movement that today has turned 90 years young.
Njdeh was dispatched to the United States by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation to bring together burgeoning and scattered youth groups and create a youth organization that would advance the national aspirations of the Armenian Nation in a post Genocide and post independence nascent Diaspora.
The U.S. was the perfect locale since the communities here had already become established and had welcomed many fleeing the Genocide and post-independent Armenia. The Armenian youth in America was looking to serve the Armenian nation and become a critical part of the effort to organize the communities around the common Armenian Cause.
For 90 years the AYF has been that singular organization that, through its various programs and projects, has marshaled the Armenian youth to advance the national aspirations of Armenians in the United States, internationally in countries with significant Armenian population and since the early 1990s in Armenia and Artsakh.
Njdeh believed that through education and understanding of the struggles of the Armenian people the youth can mobilize and become the torchbearers of our national ideals through the unique perspective and lens of a younger generation.
Members of the AYF have gone on to become leaders in the community, educators, academicians, and political officials in various local and state bodies, as well as the government of Armenia post 1991 independence.
However, it is the AYF projects and programs that have become mainstays in our communities and have become the bastion for generations that have been nurtured to work hard toward the Armenian Cause.
Take AYF Camp as an example. It was Njdeh’s vision and the efforts of the early generation of AYFers to create a venue where Armenian youth can gather. The grounds of the AYF Camp Haiastan in Franklin Massachusetts were acquired in the 1940s with its summer camp session kicking off in 1951. Here on the West Coast AYF Camp has been part of the Armenian youth narrative since 1977 bringing together hundreds of youth every summer since to promote camaraderie and to instill and preserve their national identity with a focus on strengthening the participants’ commitment to the Armenian Cause.
In 1994, AYF Western U.S. leaders believed that with a newly-independent Armenia and Artsakh there was an imperative for a direct bridge between the Diaspora and Homeland. They conceived the AYF Youth Corps program, which sent its first seven participants to Artsakh in the summer of 1994. Since then hundreds of Armenian youth have participated in the program creating lasting relationships and planting the seeds of activism for decades among the youth of Armenia and Artsakh, with offshoot programs developed by other AYF regions in Javakhk.
Next year, the Youth Corps will turn 30. The impact that it has had on the youth of this region and Armenia can be seen today in the vibrant activities of the Shirvanian Youth Center in Gyumri, which is part of the larger “We are Gyumri” program, which is led by current and former AYF members.
Another critical project, which was born from the need to help those who have sacrificed their lives in defense of our homeland and nation, is the With Our Soldiers effort. This project has impacted the lives of our soldiers who needed medical treatment and other assistance following the 2016 War, and continues to be a known force in helping our soldiers and their families, and, more importantly, instilling hope in those men and women who are on the frontlines on a daily basis.
To enumerate the vast accomplishments of the organization during its nine decades would require equally vast volumes, because, on the road to marshaling generations to serve their nation, the AYF has also become an integral part of each and every community in which there is an AYF or AYF Junior organization chapter.
Now more than ever, the AYF’s and its members unique determination to mobilize and empower the community is needed as our nation is experiencing one of the most disproportionate—and yes debilitating—defeats and disappointment our nation has seen in a century.
Now is the time for the AYF to embrace the mission laid out by Njdeh and that has evolved throughout the decades to impact the fate of our nation. As a 90-year-young organization, the AYF must rise to this occasion and grab the mantle to lead us through the challenges facing our homeland—for the sake of our Nation.
