Bangladesh Unity Federation of Los Angeles

BUFLA

Bangladesh Unity Federation of Los Angeles

BUFLA Website:  www.bufla.com

Minutes of the Meeting,   July 30, 2006,  Sunday,  2PM to 4 PM

Shatto Recreation Center,

3191 W. 4^th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (on 4th Street near Vermont).

Summary of the Mtg-Minutes:

1. About 45 people representing 30 different Organizations attended this meeting.
2. June 4 Mtg Minutes were approved.
3. BUFLA-Logo proposals were reviewed. More proposals in next meeting.
4. For Unity Celebration Day, a list of suggested days have been received.
5. BUFLA-EC will be discussed by the whole BUFLA team in the next meeting.
6. AC and Sub-committee members will be selected during an upcoming meeting.
7. Next meeting is on August 27, 2006, Sunday starting at 2 PM at Shatto.

Here are the details of the Minutes.

Attendees:

1. Abu Hossain (Manju)
2. Abul Ibrahim
3. Abul Kashem Toha
4. Anisur Rahman
5. Ashraf Akbar
6. Delshad Rahman
7. Dr. M. A. Hashem
8. Emdadul Haque (Bob)
9. Enamul Haque (Kanchon)
10. Farid Khan
11. Golam R. Chowdhury (Moynun)
12. Habib Ahmed Tia
13. Hasan Kabir
14. Ismail Hossain
15. Jahan Hassan
16. Jalil Khan
17. Kamal Khan
18. Kanchon Chowdhury
19. Kazi Monwar Hosain (Bhaia)
20. Lincoln Khan
21. M. A. Hanif
22. M. Tarek
23. M. Zafar Ullah
24. Mahbub Khan
25. Md. Babul
26. Mizan Shaheen
27. Mohammad Enamul Hoque  (Emran)
28. Mohammad Ahmed
29. Mujibur Rahman
30. Mushfiqur Chowdhury (Khosru)
31. Omar Huda
32. Quazi Moshurul Huda
33. Shah Alam
34. Shah Hasan Kabir
35. Shah Mohammad Alam
36. Shah Newaz Khan (Anis)
37. Siddiqur Rahman Siddique
38. SK Ali Hyder
39. Sohel Rahman Badal
40. Syed M. Hossain
41. Taher Rahim
42. Zainul Abedin
43. Zakir Khan

30 Organizations attended the meeting (in bold black).

11 Organizations were absent (in regular Italic blue).

So, it was a very clear quorum with over two-thirds in attendance.

All 41 organizations are listed below in alphabetical order:

1. AABEA
2. Agni Bina
3. Ahle-Sunnah al-Jama’a
4. Anjumane Rahman
5. Awami League
6. BAC – Bangladesh Association of California
7. BALA (Bangladesh Association of Los Angeles)
8. Bangla Pathshala
9. Bangladesh Academy
10. Bangladesh Association of Greater valley
11. Bangladesh Asociation of Valley, LA
12. Bangladesh Cultural Organization
13. Bangladesh Mela
14. Bangladesh Shiksha Kendro
15. Bangladesh-US Business Forum
16. Bangladesh Valley Association
17. Banoful
18. BAPAC (Bangladeshi American Political Action Committee)
19. Baul
20. BDSAC (Bangladesh Students Association of California)
21. Bengal Heritage of California
22. Bikrampur Samity
23. BNP
24. Boishakhi Mela
25. BSLA (Bangladesh Society of Los Angeles)
26. California Jalalabad Association
27. Chittagong Association of S. CA
28. Christian Association
29. Dhaka University Alumni Association
30. Jatio Party
31. Jhumur Gushti
32. Jalshaghar Entertainment
33. Khulna Society
34. LA-Sherrif’s Advisory Committee
35. MUNA (Muslim Ummah of North America)
36. Organization of Orange County
37. Shishu Kishore Jagot
38. Tablig Jamat
39. Taranga (Nazrul Academy)
40. Uttoron
41. Writers’ Association

Out of the 11 Newspaper/TV Representatives, 8 were present at the meeting, as listed below:

1. ATN Bangla
2. BSS
3. Channel - 1 (One)
4. Channel - I
5. Ekush
6. Freelance
7. NTV
8. Thikana
9. Kagaj
10. News Asia/USBBF
11. Vinnomot

The Agenda of the meeting was as follows:

1. Introductions by the attendees.

2. Approval of June 4 Meeting Minutes.

3. Review of BUFLA Website www.bufla.com

4. BUFLA Logo review.

5. Selection of the day for the Joint event, the “Unity Celebration Day”, when all Organizations can celebrate together.

6. Executive Committee Members of BUFLA.

7. Selection of Advisory Council members of BUFLA.

8. Selection of several Sub-Committee members (4 to 5 members per Sub-Committee), as follows: (i) Community Center,  (ii) Job-training,  (iii) Job-finding,  (iv) Immigration help,  (v) New-Comers’ help,  (vi) Political liason with local/state officials,  (vii) Youth Network liason,  (viii) Outstanding Service or Achievement selection,  (ix) Burial Service,  (x) Bylaws, (xi) Website (xii) Other specific community needs.

9. Next meeting date.

10. Close of the meeting.

The meeting continued as follows:

Agenda Discussion:

At first the Agenda of the meeting was presented and discussed. There was a question about the Sub-committees, and what BUFLA should do if any organization of BUFLA does similar thing. The answer is that the Sub-committee can help that organization more by coordinating the support of the BUFLA-team for that organization to achieve that goal. Also, someone from that organization can be a member of that specific sub-committee who can bring better awareness of the efforts to the BUFLA team and get stronger support to achieve the goal.

The agenda was approved, and the meeting moved on.

Item – 1:  (Introductions)

All the attendees introduced themselves individually.

Item – 2:   (June 4 Mtg-minutes)

The June 4 Mtg-minutes has been posted on the BUFLA website. It was discussed for any errors, and then it was approved.

Item – 3:   (Website)

The BUFLA website has been registered and hosted soon after the June 4 meeting. Many information has been posted there, including the BUFLA Mission, Structural-and-Functional formats, BUFLA EC-AC-SubCommittee formats, and also the June 4 mtg-minutes. Many of the attendees said that they have visited the website, and it looks good. Everyone was requested to give additional feedback to improve the website over time.

Item – 4:   (BUFLA Logo)

The two following designs were proposed for the Logo:

(a)    A Shapla flower type of design, with 5 circles and several peddles, with the word BUFLA written at the center. This design symbolizes unity, holding all the peddles together in one flower, and at the same time it is like the National flower of Bangladesh.

(b)   A bunch of sticks tied together that is harder to bend or break, symbolizing the strength of unity. This comes from a very famous story that we read in our elementary school, where the father taught this great lesson to his quarreling sons, who became united again.

Additional designs and ideas were requested. There was also a suggestion to offer a cash award for a good design of the Logo. It was agreed that all the members of the BUFLA team will think about it and then come up with their ideas and Logo sketch and bring it with them in the next meeting. The team will then review all the ideas and sketches, and then pick the best. After that, a web-compatible artist can do the art work, and the webmaster can then post it on the BUFLA website.

Item – 5:   (Unity Celebration Day)

During the discussion to identify the Unity Celebration day, the following suggestions came forward:

i)                    Bangladesh Parade day

ii)                   Boishakhi Mela

iii)                 Pohela boishakh

iv)                 Probashi Dibosh

v)                  Celebrate on a long weekend (like Memorial day, Independence day, or Labor day)

vi)                 1^st Sunday of Boishakh

vii)               14^th April Pohela Boishakh

viii)              Desh prem Dibosh (Love for Country Day)

ix)                 Borsho Boron  (Welcoming the New Year)

x)                  Shadhinota Dibosh (Independence day of Bangladesh)

xi)                 Bijoy Dibosh

xii)               BUFLA Day (on the last Saturday or Sunday of July)

These suggested days will be reviewed and discussed further in the next meeting, and then a decision will be made by the BUFLA team.

Item – 6:   (BUFLA-EC)

The BUFLA-EC item was discussed next. In the list of 37 Organizations, there are some organizations that are bigger than others, and some are more active than others. Also, there are different types of organizations. So, the BUFLA team decided to discuss about this item in the next meeting, and then identify a good format for EC.

Item – 7:   (BUFLA-AC):

The Advisory Council item was discussed, and the team decided to select the AC members after identifying the EC format.

Item – 8:   (Sub-Committees)

The Sub-committee item was discussed next, and the team decided to select the Sub-committee members after identifying the EC format.

Item – 9:   (Next meeting Date)

The next meeting date is August 27, 2006, Sunday,  from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Shatto Recreation Center, 3191 W. 4^th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (on 4th Street near Vermont).

The meeting adjourned at about 4:15 PM.

Respectfully,

Mahbub Khan

408-859-3566-cell

mahbubkhan@ieee.org

Appendix:

Community Calendar (2006):

August 6, Sunday:  Picnic of MUNA (Muslim Ummah of North America).  Griffith Park, Merry-go-round area, 11 AM to 5 PM. Contacts: 213-926-2959, 323-516-9791, 310-365-9275

August 11, Friday:  Women’s Association program

August 11, Friday: Bangabandhu’s Death Anniversary (Milad and Feeding the poor). Subudh center.

August 13, Sunday:  Valley Awami League Milad.

August 15, Tuesday:  Awami League Jatio Shoak Dibosh (National mourning day)

August 19, Saturday: ATN Bangla Tarokader Taroka, Hollywood High School

August 19, Saturday:  Borsha Boron (Welcoming the Rain)

August 20, Sunday:  CA-Jalalabad Association Picnic, Magnolia Park, North Hollywood (12 -6).

September 2 -3, Saturday-Sunday:  Bangladesh Mela, Shatto Recreation center, 12 – 10 PM.  Contacts: Tarek: 323-382-4129, Anis: 213-321-0267, Taslim: 213-948-7879

September 10, Sunday:  AABEA-SC Chapter Annual Picnic, 11 AM to 5 PM.  Tickets must be paid in advance to attend this picnic, because there is no provision for money collection in the park. Please call  310-370-7706 for details.

Job Openings:

North Hollywood Islamic center is looking for a Hafiz and Mowlana to teach Arabic to the kids.

Beacon Construction Co. (Design Construction) is looking for a Superintendent and Project Manager, and the position can be filled immediately if a suitable candidate is found. Please contact: 818-419-6477