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Our Mission: 
We are dedicated to educating, inspiring and mobilizing Americans to support the principles and vital work of the United Nations, strengthening the United Nations system, promoting constructive United States leadership in that system and achieving the goals of the United Nations Charter.

Upcoming Events:

Celebrate UN Day with UNA Westchester

When: Sunday, October 27, 2-4 PM
Where: Manhattanville College, Reid Castle

Theme: "Why the World Needs the UN and the UN Needs US"

Event registration begins at 1:30pm. Event will begin promptly ay 2pm.

Program Agenda:

Principal Speaker: Kanni Wignaraja, Assistant Secretary General & Regional Director Asia-Pacific, UN Development Programme
Principal Speaker: Laurel Rapp, Deputy Director, Policy Planning Staff, Liaison with the United Nations, US Department of State
SDG Honorees: The Afya Foundation, GEMS Program, Feeding Westchester, Yonkers Partners in Education

Our Honorees:

Recent Events:

UNA Westchester Board Members Attend UNA-USA National Leadership Summit

From UNA Westchester President, Marcia Brewster: "It has been an inspiring four days in Washington with USA members who are passionate about mobilizing support for the United Nations in the face of drastic threats to defund the organization and many of its agencies in the House of Representatives. The National Leadership Summit featured three days of meetings and on Tuesday the group was on Capitol Hill to speak to our representatives or their staff. It was worth the effort to gain support for the struggling organization that President Marcia Brewster called home for 30 years. Our New York delegation included people who had immigrated from DR Congo, Guinea, Indonesia, China, Egypt, Bangladesh and many other countries. All of the representatives we spoke to were supportive of the United Nations, including UNRWA, believe it or not."

2024 UNA Westchester Media Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to student and artist Kal-El Drew, the winner of this year's UNA Westchester Media Contest! Kal-El is a senior in the IB program at Mt Vernon High School. With him is his teacher, Ms Laina Jones of the Foreign Language Department.

Relive our Earth Day & Annual Meeting Event in Snapshots!

United Nations Association of Westchester had a very enlightening and heartwarming Earth Day and Annual Meeting "Communities Creating a Cleaner World" at Yonkers Riverfront Library on Sunday April 28th. The speakers and cosponsors were excellent, and the students who are part of the winning Model UN Teams from Mercy University and Iona University (the National Model UN conference held in New York City every year in April) were so engaged and articulate. Thanks to our Board of Directors and all of the volunteers who made it such a special day. Thanks to Darrick Hatwood and his son for orgainizing the audio visual support. And special thanks to our photographer Susan Rutman for her beautiful photos, and to Sue McAnanama and Clare Francis for taking care of the zero waste reception.

Calendar

Sunday, October 27: UN Day event (Manhattanville University Reid Castle, 2:00- 4:00 PM)

UNA Westchester Vice President elected to UNA-USA National Council

Paul Presendieu, recently elected to be Vice President of UNA-USA, Westchester Chapter, joins three other regional representatives to represent the Mid-Atlantic Region on the UNA-USA National Council.

Paul is the multilingual son of Colombian and Haitian immigrants, and the current Director of Community Engagement for Soulful Synergy, a social enterprise in sustainability dedicated to promoting green jobs training in the needed clean technology for the decarbonization of residential and commercial properties. His company is in its second year of having received funding from the United States Department of Energy to support the Justice 40 Agenda of President Biden by creating green-collar workers in environmental justice communities.
Paul is the current environmental advisory committee chairman for the City of New Rochelle, New York’s municipal government, and the board secretary for the New York State Association of Conservation Commissions. Paul currently holds Consultative Status for the United Nations Economic & Social Council, participated in the United Nations inaugural Youth Climate Summit program of 2019, and was a 2020 delegate to the United Nations’ 75th General Assembly Youth Plenary and ECOSOC Youth Forum.

He has been the Co-Chair of UNA-Westchester's Young Professionals Program for 5 years and is in his 2nd term as the UNA-USA Global Goals Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal #13, Climate Action.