Unity Celebration day:

Bangladesh Day

 

On March 25, 2007, Sunday at 4th St/Vermont in LA

 

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BUFLA

Bangladesh Unity Federation of Los Angeles

BUFLA Website:  www.bufla.com

 

Minutes of the Meeting,  October 1, 2006,  Sunday,  2PM to 4 PM

Shatto Recreation Center,

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

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Summary of the Mtg-Minutes:

 

  1. About 40 people representing 31 different Organizations attended this meeting.
  2. July 30 Mtg Minutes were approved.
  3. BUFLA-Logo discussion lead to a combo-design to be finalized in next mtg.
  4. Unity Celebration Day was decided to be “Bangladesh Day” on March 25, 2007.
  5. BUFLA-EC format referred to Ad-hoc committee (to be formed on Nov 5).
  6. AC and Sub-committee members to be suggested before next mtg.
  7. Next meeting is on November 5, 2006, Sunday starting at 2 PM at Shatto.

 

 

Here are the details of the Minutes.

 

Attendees:

 

  1. AKM Shamsul Alam (Salim)
  2. Ali Ahmed
  3. Ali Akbar
  4. Ashraf H. Akbar
  5. Delshad Rahman
  6. Dr. M. A. Hashem
  7. Dr. Wali Mondal
  8. Emdadul Haque (Bob)
  9. Habibur R. Bhuiya
  10. Ishtiaq Chisti
  11. Jalil Khan
  12. Kamal Khan
  13. Khaleed Hossain
  14. Lincoln Khan
  15. M. Tarek
  16. Mahbub Khan
  17. Mahtabuddin Tipu
  18. Majib Siddiquee
  19. Md. Shamim Hussain
  20. Mizan Shaheen
  21. M. M. Lutfur Rahman
  22. Mohammad I. Hossain
  23. Mohammed Moiz uddin
  24. Mostain Billah Dara
  25. Nadim
  26. Omar Huda
  27. Quddus Khan
  28. Saleh Kibria
  29. Santanu Halder
  30. Shah Alam
  31. Shah Mohammad Alam
  32. Shah Nazrul
  33. Shiully Rahman
  34. Sohel Rahman Badal
  35. Syed M. Hossain

 

 

31 Organizations attended the meeting (in bold black).

17 Organizations were absent (in regular Italic blue).

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

All 48 organizations are listed below in alphabetical order:

 

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

 

Out of the 9 Newspaper/TV Representatives, 5 were present (in bold black) at the meeting, as listed below:

 

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

 

 

The Agenda of the meeting was as follows:

 

1. Introductions by the attendees.

2. Approval of July 30 Meeting Minutes.

3. Review of BUFLA Website www.bufla.com

4. BUFLA Banner

5. BUFLA Logo review.

6. Selection of the “Unity Celebration Day”.

7. Re-visit Executive Committee Members of BUFLA.

8. Selection of Advisory Council members of BUFLA.

9. Selection of A-hoc Committee for Draft Constitution.

 

10. 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.

 

11. Next meeting date.

12. Close of the meeting.

 

 

The meeting continued as follows:

 

Agenda Discussion:

 

At first the Agenda of the meeting was presented and discussed. It was then approved with no major modification. Then the meeting started.

 

Item – 1:  (Introductions)

 

All the attendees introduced themselves individually.

 

Item – 2:   (July 30 Mtg-minutes)

 

The July 30 Mtg-minutes was discussed in this meeting for any errors, and then it was unanimously approved. It has been posted on the BUFLA website.

  

Item – 3:   (Website)

 

Considerable additional information has been recently posted is some sections of the website, including the Sections on “Community Calendar” and “Bangladeshi Businesses”. Several attendees said that they have visited the website, and it looks good. Everyone was requested to please give additional critical feedback to improve the website.

 

Item – 4:   (BUFLA Banner)

 

After discussion, the team agreed to finalize the Banner after deciding on the Logo.

 

Item – 5:   (BUFLA Logo)

 

The following two Logo designs, which were suggested in the July 30 meeting, were discussed again in this meeting as follows:

(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.

 

During the Logo discussion, several attendees gave feedback including Dr. Wali Mondal, Ishtaic Chisti, Dr. Hashem, and others. The latest design included Shapla flower, Eagle, Flags of Bangladesh and USA, and the word BUFLA in Bengali and English. Shah Alam offered that he will present several Logo drawings in the next meeting by a professional Bangladeshi artist including the latest design proposed by Dr. Hashem for the team’s review in the next meeting.

 

Item – 6:   (Unity Celebration Day)

 

To identify the Unity Celebration day, the following suggested items were presented and discussed.

 

i)                    Bangladesh Parade day

ii)                   Bijoy Dibosh

iii)                 Boishakhi Mela

iv)                 Borsho Boron  (Welcoming the New Year)

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

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

vii)               Desh prem Dibosh (Love for Country Day)

viii)              Language Day

ix)                 Nabi day (Prophet’s day)

x)                  Nari Dibosh (Begum Rokea Day)

xi)                 Nazrul Day

xii)               Pohela boishakh

xiii)              Probashi Dibosh

xiv)             Shadhinota Dibosh (Independence day of Bangladesh)

xv)               1st Sunday of Boishakh

xvi)             14th April Pohela Boishakh

 

After active discussions and open discussions by the team members, the Unity celebration day was unanimously decided to be BANGLADESH DAY with Parade on March 25, 2007, Sunday. The celebration will include a parade on the 4th street and Vermont, along with various other programs and activities representing Bangladesh. Inviting officials and dignitaries and artists are part of the program.

 

 

Item – 7:   (BUFLA-EC)

 

The BUFLA-EC item was discussed next. Regarding the Associate membership for some organizations who are not very active, the team referred this item to the Ad-hoc committee for draft Constitution, (which will be formed in the next meeting on November 5, 2006).

 

Item – 8:   (BUFLA-AC):

 

The Advisory Council item was discussed, and the team agreed to suggest names for AC by next meeting date of Nov 5 or before.

 

Item – 9:   (Ad-hoc committee for Draft Constitution).

 

This item was very widely discussed to form the Ad-hoc committee in this meeting, and some names were proposed as well. Then two members of the team (Mahtabuddin Tipu, and Md. Shamim Hussain) suggested to form this committee in the next meeting (on November 5, 2006), so that all organizations get a fair chance to participate. The team agreed to this suggestion.

 

 

Item – 10:   (Sub-Committees)

 

There were 12 Sub-Committees to be filled as follows:

 

  1. Community Center
  2. Job training
  3. Job finding
  4. Immigration help
  5. New comers’ help
  6. Political Liason with Govt officials
  7. Youth Activities help
  8. Outstanding Service or Achievement Recognition
  9. Domestic Violence victims help
  10. Counselling (for Family issues or Community issues)
  11. Burial help
  12. Website

 

The team members were requested to suggest 5 names for each of these 12 Sub-committees. Some names were submitted. The team mentioned that they needed more time to identify good members for these sub-commitees, and therefore agreed to suggest the names by the next meeting date (Nov 5) or before, by e-mail or other ways. Logo Sub-committee was also suggested to be added.

 

Item – 11:   (Next meeting Date)

 

The next meeting date is November 5, 2006, Sunday,  from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Shatto Recreation Center, 3191 W. 4th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (on 4th Street near Vermont).

 

The meeting adjourned at 3:51 PM.

 

 

Respectfully,

 

Mahbub Khan

408-859-3566-cell

mahbubkhan@ieee.org