Report on Current BADC Activities (July-August 2014)

On Thursday, July 10, Nasreen Rahim, Tahsina Haq and Nilufar Haque attended the Santa Clara County Democratic Club as the formally-nominated Executive Board of BADC.

In the first week of July, Executive Committee (EC) members were busy researching the state and federal financial and legal documents to ensure that the paperwork met the deadline and all the criteria. Steve Preminger, President of SCCDP, suggested that we request the help of Herb Engstrom for help with financial and legal documents.

On July 15, the BADC-USA (umbrella for all BADCs in the US) caucus leaders met congressmen Sander Levin, John Conyers, Gary Peters, Chris Van Hollen, John Dingell, and representatives of congressmen George Miller, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chris Van Hollen, Mike Honda, Keith Ellison, Gerry Connolly and Rush Holt. The intention of the Democratic Party Caucus was to play a complementary role and provide positive feedback towards the development of Bangladesh while strengthening US-Bangladesh bilateral relations. BADC-USA President Nazmul Hassan and VP Zakirul Haque kept the Bay Area BADC updated.

Regarding Bangladesh Garments, the following issues were presented:

• Reinstatement of a trade privilege, GSP (generalized system of preferences), that was blocked last year
• Request duty-free access for Bangladeshi garment items to the US market

On July 18, 2014, BADC was invited to the Bay Area Sikh Panchayat event honoring US Congressman Mike Honda (CA-17) in Chandni Restaurant, Newark, CA. The American Sikh Congressional Caucus was also represented in the event, along with CAIR and others.

Satinder Malhi, young democrat of Contra Costa County, inspiring youths in the audience

On July 24, Arinee Rahman, along with three of her friends, including Angela Cortese (daughter of San Jose mayoral candidate Dave Cortese), hosted a vigil for peace between Palestine and Israel to remember and commemorate all the lives lost in this conflict, in front of San Jose City Hall, from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

On August 12, EC members agreed to unanimously endorse SB 52 (California Disclose Act). To receive the input of the rest of the BADC members and finalize the endorsement, a survey will be emailed to all BADC members: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MHNXBZX. 

The deadline for responding to this survey is Sunday, August 31, 2014.

Also on August 12, Herb Engstrom, CDC Treasurer and Treasurer of the Santa Clara County Democratic Club met with Nasreen Rahim and agreed to meet with the BADC EC to help with the club finances and other legal paperwork with the federal and state.

On August 15, the BADC Advisory Board members were finalized, along with membership drive sub-committee coordinator.

On August 17, at 10:30 am, the EC and a couple of Advisory Board members attended the “Club Finances” training session with Herb Engstrom for approximately 2 hours. In this session, members learned about the finer details of maintaining the club finances, as well as filing relevant legal documents.

On Monday, August 18, an invitation to the first meeting of EC with the Advisory Board, scheduled for Sunday, September 7, was emailed to members.