Projects & Accomplishments

The Hungarian American Coalition is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization founded in 1991.  Its mission is to identify and promote the interests of the Hungarian-American community.  Its goals are:

• to foster appreciation of Hungary’s history and culture;

• to encourage educational and cultural interaction between the people of the U.S. and Hungary;

• to protect and preserve the human and minority rights and cultural heritage of Hungarians throughout the world; and

• to support democratic institutions and economic development in Hungary.

• Co-sponsored the Human Rights Workshop for Hungarian-American activists and students held this year at the Eastern Michigan University, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, between June 5-7, 1997.

• Administered The White House Internship Program by Ameritech which provided sponsorship to three Hungarian-American college students.

• Sponsored the 50th Anniversary Concert Tour in the United States of the Bartók Béla Choir and the ELTE University Orchestra of Budapest, between October 18 and 25, 1997, with nine performances in New Jersey at the Riley University and Rutgers University; in Washington, DC at the World Bank, and the U.S. Senate; in Maryland, at the University of Maryland, in Virginia at Martinsville; in New York at the United Nations and Columbia University.

• Co-sponsored the Hungarica Project by providing funding for research in the United States for the objective analysis of the critical events surrounding the Revolution of 1956.  Another objective of the project is to retrieve and archive sound tapes for the Hungarian Radio’s permanent collection.

• Participated in domestic and international conferences and forums dealing with various issues, including NATO expansion and minority rights.

• Supported visits to the U.S. by members of the Hungarian media and various other Hungarian visitors through cooperation with USIS in Budapest.

• Provided support for projects in the Hungarian minority communities in Romania and Slovakia, including financial support to the Spolek Madach, Medical Clinic No. 2 in Tirgu-Mures (Marosvásárhely), Duna Televizióért Alapítvány, and other institutions.

• Established a scholarship fund to partially fund college studies for Hungarian students at U.S. universities.

• Maintained an Office of Information in Washington, DC.

• Took a leadership position as member of the Washington, DC-based Central and East European Coalition and the NATO Enlargement Working Group.

• Provided information and held regular meetings with Washington decisionmakers in the White House, Congress, State Department, and Agency for International Development.

• Secured funding from foundations, corporations and the U.S. government to organize three conferences in Hungary, entitled “Hungary in an Expanded NATO: Benefits and Responsibilities.”  The conferences featured thirty-eight speakers, including political, economic and military experts from Hungary, NATO, Western Europe and the United States.  The first conference took place at the Hungarian Parliament on November 6.  On November 8 a full-day conference was held at the historic Reformed College in Debrecen, while the venue for the third conference was Lillafüred, outside Miskolc, on November 10.  The conference series received extensive national and local media coverage in Hungary.

• Invited to participate in NATO fact finding mission to NATO headquarters, U.S. European Command and Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, between October 18-26, 1997.

• Testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on NATO enlargement and ethnic minorities on November 5, 1997.

• Established a bi-monthly publication, News from Slovakia, to provide information to Washington decisionmakers and the press on events which affect the daily life of the Hungarian minority in that country.

• Published three Coalition Newsletters: Spring, Summer, and Special Issue on NATO.

• Maintained an e-mail network connecting Coalition members, and a home page on the World Wide Web (http://www.hungary.com/hac).

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