FILIPINO INTERCOLLEGIATE NETWORKING DIALOGUE (FIND)

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Purpose

The FIND conference is a conference for members of Pitt’s FSA that are interested in becoming a board member for our club. If you are interested in becoming a board member, more information with regards to location and time for the next conference will be posted as soon as possible. Members of Pitt’s FSA have gone to the FIND conference every year.

History of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue

Founded on April 11, 1992, the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND) stands as a symbol to the ethnic consciousness presently seen on university campuses. With the growing number of Filipino organizations at these institutions, there exists an inherent “desire to know” about one’s culture. Ranging from the personal search and identification to the large scale social awareness, FIND Inc. is an organization that opens the door to communication and collaboration among its members. It offers those interested an opportunity to see what else is out there: a broad perspective to the increasing Filipino presence in America.

Aware of a strong but fragmented Filipino presence on the East Coast, college students from the Northern seaboard attended a dinner sponsored by KASAMA in April 1991 at Yale University. These college students discussed the collaboration of a formal network that would tie together smaller networks in the coastal regions. A group of enthusiastic students volunteered to form a Steering Committee for the formation of the East Coast Network of Colleges (ECNC). This steering Committee (SC) has met several times in the New England area prior to a second conference held at New York University (NYU). A constitution was created incorporating the SC’s vision of an organization that would accommodate the need of the Filipino student. The International Filipino Association at NYU conference was structured to further the networking efforts and eventually facilitated the ratification of a regional network. The name FIND was chosen to illustrate a continuing process of student unification. An official Steering Committee was elected with representatives from each of the six established districts, mainly in the Northern region of the East Coast. A ratified constitution and bylaws of FIND Inc. were complete in time for the first FIND Conference held at Harvard in April 1992. FIND became a reality. (notes from 1995 UVA dialogue program)

Established 1991
At a conference sponsored by KASAMA, at Yale University in April of 1991, Filipino college students from the Northern seaboard discussed the formation of a formal network capable of linking East Coast institutions. Realizing the importance of such a network, a group of students designed a Constitution to provide an efficient, effective structure whereby students could interact to discuss issues, to mobilize our communities, to celebrate our culture and heritage, and to support one other. With the formal ratification of our Constitution on April 11, 1992 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the framework for an organization capable of unifying Filipino students emerged. FIND was on its way to becoming a reality.

FIND Inc. has also established a working relationship with other networks such as the National Filipino American Youth Association (NFAYA), the National Pilipino Student Conference (NPSC), and the East Coast Asian Student Union (ECASU).

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