OFCC ON THE THRESHOLD OF A GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

FROM THE SOUVENIR BOOK PUBLICATION SEPTEMBER 5, 2008
OFCC INSTALLATION - ALA MOANA HOTEL

OFCC on the threshold of a golden anniversary


An anniversary [from the Latin anniversarius, from the words for year and 'to turn', meaning [re]turning yearly], is a day that commemorates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year.

Quinquagenary: fifty years of giving, fifty years of leading.

In June of 1959, the Oahu Filipino Community Council [OFCC] was established. Born on the premise of camaraderie, beneficence, accountability and tradition, the Council took on the gargantua task of mobilizing existing duly organized group of Filipino americans on Oahu Island. It became the federation of eighty-five bonafide member units. Its mission was lucid and clear cut: to unite all Filipinos in Oahu and develop in them responsibility and participation in perpetuating Filipino culture, all for the common welfare of the community.

So for the next forty-nine years, OFCC withstood growing pains and cooped with the challenges of an ever changing mind-set brought about by immigration, brain drain or simple aversion to change. Thus these realities fortified the Council's governance and effectively pushed the mission and vision making the Oahu Filipino Community Council as one of the most dominant Filipino institutions in the Island of Oahu and perhaps in the state of Hawaii.

Make It Happen.

In order to keep up with the pace of the next fifty years, what must the present and the parade of future officers of OFCC do?

Leadership development! With an aging baby boomer membership, the Council must engage in recruiting younger generation of leaders. It should encourage awareness of the nobility of their heritage. It should instill in them pride of their culture and traditions and most of all inculcate respect for what and who they are. Then from this roster, leadership skills must be identified and eventually developed into full potentials.

Leadership development refers to any activity that enhances the quallity of leadership within this organization. The key concepts in this exercise are experiential learning, focusin on the learning process either by seminar-type sessions of person to person tutoring; self efficay or nurturing their belief about their capabilities; and visioning, developing their ability to formulate a clear immage of what they aspire to become. Once the Council develops this caliber of leadership, it can no plan succession that will insure its ability to face the tests of the next fifty years.

As the Council tiptoes on the edges of a new era, the new slate of officers must be unfaltering in their resolve to take action before its too late.

Lets make it happen.