Beginnings

The idea of AR-NE was born in December 2009 in Boston, specifically during the second annual conference of the GRSPSociety (Global Romanian Students and Young Professionals Society) which took place at the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, MA.

During the side conversations that took place at the conference, Razvan Mirica and Codrin Bucur discussed the possibility of creating an association of Romanians from the Boston area, with emphasis on professional networking and business activities.

The initiative was put into practice on January 2010, when Razvan Mirica hosted an inaugural meeting of the new group called Boston Romanian Professionals (BRP), attended by over 35 members of the Romanian community of New England.

AR-NE is still loosely affiliated with the GRSPSociety through the participation of some of its members in GRSPSociety projects: painting exhibition project Atelier-4, Jumpstart Romania, a virtual platform for organizing Romanian film festivals, etc.

BRP starts to take shape

Between February and June 2010 BRP held a series of meetings where the structure, objectives, and strategy of the organization were discussed. On the basis of the preferences and abilities of the the volunteers making up the committee, several working groups were created tasked with implementing different aspects of BRP (administration, activities, communications, etc).

Among the priorities identified during these meetings are the following:

• Surveying the Romanian community of NE with respect to which programs and activities would be of most importance and interest to them.
• Conducting an analysis on the usefulness and feasibility of incorporating BRP as a non-profit corporation in the near future.
• Promoting the group and increasing the number of members.

At the same time we had informal meetings and discussions with members of the Romanian community of NE who are involved in charitable work with a Romanian character. We are grateful for their insight and advice:

• Educational Enrichment for Romanian Children – EERC – Dana Floru, M.D.
• Romanian Saturday School “Castelul Copiilor” – Smaranda Moisescu
• Romanian Children’s Relief – RCR – Camelia Rosca, Ph.D.
• Honorary Consulate of Romania, Boston – Dan Dimancescu

AR-NE is born

Having organized various activities for the better part of a year, our team of volunteers is encouraged by the enthusiasm and ideas put forward by the participants to further develop the organization to better serve the needs of the Romanian community of New England.

On October 13th, 2010, “The Association of Romanians in New England – AR-NE, Inc” was incorporated in the state of Massachusetts. Please see About for more current information. AR-NE is currently a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable association with members.