New York City – Hoping to help their fellow immigrants to ease the
process of integration into American society, representatives of more
than 40 Russian-speaking grass roots organizations are expected at a
public forum August 25 in Brighton Beach.

The forum, “Semiannual Report of Civic and Voter Education
Initiative,” is free and open to the public, and is scheduled for
Friday, August 25, at 11:30 a.m. at Restaurant National, 273 Brighton
Beach Avenue.

Civic and Voter Education Initiative
(CVEI), is an ambitious educational project fostering comprehensive
involvement of members of the Russian speaking community in the civic
life in the United States, has recently enjoyed tremendous progress,
according to one of the key organizers, Gene Borsh, of the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society.

“This year the goal of the
project, implemented in partnership with CVEI partners and offices of
area elected officials, is to further strengthen the Russian-speaking
community of New York and to provide it with meaningful tools that will
facilitate its engagement in civic and political life of America,” says
Borsh.

The agenda for the meeting includes a brief
report on the project activities during 2006, the presentation of two
publications: the third edition of Handbook for the Russian-American Voter: WE VOTE, and the first manual for community leaders who want to run for public office: I’m Your Candidate. The agenda also includes an awards ceremony for CVEI activists, and an open discussion on future plans of this project.

The achievements of the CVEI project to date include:

• More than 40 Russian-speaking grass-root and community–based organizations have become CVEI partners.
• 136 Civic and Voter Education events including: Public Forums,
  workshop-training, seminars, conferences, etc - were organized and
  conducted City wide. More than 200,000 Russian–speaking Americans have
  attended these events.
• 175 voter registration drives were conducted. During the drives over 13,000 Russian–Americans became registered voters.
• 36,000 Voter Registration Forms; 40,000 flyers and information packages about the Project were distributed.
• 292 articles, 97 TV and radio shows about the Project appeared in both English and Russian language media.
• 60,000 copies of the new updated publication ofHandbook for the Russian American Voter – WE VOTE a comprehensive guide to voting process in the United States were developed, printed and distributed nationwide.
• 10, 000 copies of second edition of Road to Success a guide for community leaders and 1,000 copies of first manual for community leaders who wants to run for a public office: I’m Your Candidate, were developed, printed and distributed nationwide.
• CVEI web site www.wevote.us has been visited by almost 76,000 people since its opening in September, 2004.

For more information, contact Gene Borsh, 212-613-1351.