The Foreign Service Journal, June 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2018 55 AFSA NEWS AFSA Outreach: Retirees Across America AFSAmembers remain impressively engaged in outreach programs around the country. In recent weeks, retired FSO Laurie Meininger spoke to the Durango, Colo- rado, Rotary Club; Ambas- sador (ret.) Gary Grappo gave a talk at the University of Wyoming Center for Global Studies in Laramie, Wyoming; and Ambassador (ret.) James Bullington spoke at the U.S. Coast Guard Yorktown Offi- cers’ Association in Yorktown, Virginia. Further, eight retired diplomats—Ambassador (ret.) Gordon Brown, James Bullock, Ambassador (ret.) Ron Neumann, Phil Wilcox, Bill Milam, Ambassador (ret.) Richard McKee, Andrea Farsakh and Larry Mandel— spoke to attendees at AFSA’s April Road Scholar program in Washington, D.C. AFSA President Ambas- sador Barbara Stephenson continues to engage in AFSA’s outreach efforts, as well. In September, she will travel to California to speak at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco and at the San Diego Diplomacy Council’s annual meeting. She will also meet with the Foreign Service retiree associations of North- ern California and San Diego. During the first week of October, Amb. Stephenson will speak at AFSA’s Road Scholar program in Chautau- qua, New York, where she will be joined by retired Ambas- sadors Robin Raphel, Kenton Keith, Charles Ray, Shari Vil- larosa and Shaun Donnelly. For those who participate in these programs, we want you to know that AFSA con- tinuously updates and adds to resources available for your use in outreach. Please visit www.afsa.org/resources- speakers for the most up-to-date information, or email AFSA Retiree Outreach Coordinator Christine Miele at miele@afsa.org for the lat- est version of AFSA’s talking points document. In early May, AFSA offered a workshop on best practices in being an effective advocate for the Foreign Service in your community. Part of the work- shop focused on how you can use the resources AFSA offers to reach out in your com- munity. We plan to offer that workshop in a webinar format in the near future. Finally, we also urge those of you who are speaking with groups in your communities to report back to us here at AFSA so that we have a sense of the great work you are all doing. Visit www.afsa.org/ telling-foreign-service-story to fill out a quick webform that allows us to collect feed- back from you. n