Originally issued as a CGS press release on September 30, 2007.
Dear Citizens for Global Solutions family,
We are writing you today to let you know that Charles Brown has informed us of his decision to step down as President and CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions, effective September 30, 2007. We deeply appreciate all that Charlie has accomplished during the past three years and we know that you join us in wishing him well as he pursues new challenges.
Over the coming weeks, the boards, working with our talented and committed staff leadership, will set out criteria for the selection of our next leader. We would, of course, especially value nominations and suggestions from you, our larger family. Until a new person is appointed, Raj Purohit, who has so ably served CGS over the past two years as our senior policy analyst, will serve as Interim Director.
Charlie has been at the helm during three years of extraordinary accomplishments. Thanks to your work and that of our terrific staff, we were able to repel the Bush Administration’s attacks on the International Criminal Court (ICC), in the process helping put a stop to the Administration’s efforts to penalize those countries who have joined the ICC. We have helped convince key officials that it is in America’s best interests to start working with the ICC to bring an end to the genocide in Darfur.
We worked with partner organizations to defeat the unilateralist campaign against the United Nations, preventing their efforts to cut UN dues – and in the very near future – to end the cap on peacekeeping dues. We continue to work with our partners and friends to promote the bold concept of the international community’s Responsibility to Protect those at risk of mass atrocities. In these and other ways, CGS has worked to make the UN the effective and capable institution we need to respond to the threats and challenges of a new century.
We have been able to connect the global to local in cities like Indianapolis, Des Moines, Santa Fe, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, helping build local coalitions of activists and giving them the skills they need to talk about global issues in their home towns. And as we saw earlier this year with the Darfur divestment campaign in Indiana, we are beginning to help local activists have an impact not only at home, but around the world as well.
We are proud that over 90 percent of the candidates we endorsed and supported were elected to Congress in 2006, helping to reverse the neoconservative tide in Washington and bring some balance to our lawmakers’ deliberations. Our annual Congressional Report Card is a “must-read” on Capitol Hill, with Congressional staff now encouraging their bosses to take actions just to improve their grades. The combined impact of our PAC, our professional advocacy staff, and your efforts back in the districts has meant that when Citizens for Global Solutions calls, Washington listens as never before. Candidates from both parties eagerly seek out our endorsement and our support.
Some of our most cherished long-term initiatives – including the creation of a UN Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) and Senate ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – are closer to becoming a reality than ever before. This summer, Congress may hold the first-ever hearings on UNEPS and this fall, the Senate should ratify UNCLOS.
CGS has helped organize youth around global warming, encouraged the leaders of cities to recognize what they can do to help the environment, and helped change the frame in the energy debate from independence to interconnectedness and diversity. We have brought in a new generation of activists to help make our work happen – more than 36,000 young people are now part of our online network, and our website now averages more than 1.5 million hits each month. Our flash animation competitions and online poetry slams have generated tremendous buzz and interest, in the process encouraging entirely new communities and groups to get involved in our work.
And thanks in part to our bold and collaborative leadership, John Bolton is no longer the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
I know that Charlie shares our pride in what our superb staff and activists have accomplished during his tenure. On behalf of the entire CGS family, we wish Charlie all the best and we look forward to opportunities to work together in support of the cause that we so passionately share. We are dedicated to ensuring the continued growth and strength that will permit Citizens for Global Solutions to accomplish its vision and mission.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Ramp, Chair, Citizens for Global Solutions
Don Ferencz, Chair, Citizens for Global Solutions Education Fund
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To all my friends and colleagues at Citizens for Global Solutions,
I write today to let you know that, after three wonderful years as CGS’s first President and CEO, I have informed our Boards that the time has come for me to move on to new challenges. My last day will be September 30, 2007.
It has been a privilege serving as your President, following in the footsteps of such extraordinary leaders as Norman Cousins and John Anderson. The opportunities I have had to work with so many of you over my tenure will remain among my most valued and cherished memories. And I am proud to have led the finest staff in Washington, bar none.
In my three years, we have managed to make Citizens for Global Solutions one of the most effective and recognized organizations working in Washington today. We are frequently cited as the peer of organizations ten or twenty times our size. And we are beginning to make ourselves known beyond the beltway as well. I am confident that under the leadership of our outstanding boards and our capable staff, recognition of our important work will continue to grow.
Citizens for Global Solutions is dedicated to the idea that no one country – not even the United States – can solve the world’s problems on its own. We know that global problems require global solutions. That core principle is, if anything, even more important and relevant today. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you – both as a member and as a donor – to make our vision a reality. Working together, we will build peace, justice, and freedom in a democratically governed world.
All my best,
Charles J. Brown
