Genevieve Fiore

Genevieve Fiore (1912–2002) was an American women's rights and peace activist, who was the founder, and served as the executive director, of the Colorado Division of

Having experienced personal discrimination, and losses of family members in both World War I and World War II, Fiore was passionate about creating a world focused on peace and tolerance.^[3] From the formation of the Steele Community Center in north Denver in 1937, Fiore worked as a volunteer.^[4] While serving as a board member of the Steele Center in 1947, Fiore learned that Denver was to host a regional United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference.^[5] The first UNESCO Club had been established a few months earlier by Koichi Ueda in Japan.^[6] Using the center’s registration, she attended the conference as an official observer and collected literature at the event to begin a UN library. She founded a UNESCO group at the Steele Center, though she initially had trouble getting others to support her pacifist views. When no one else would accept the chairmanship, Fiore took the role,^[2] planning to hire an executive director.^[3] The founding of the organization in 1947, marked only the third UNESCO club in the world, preceded by Ueda's group in Sendai and one founded in Kyoto.^[7] Urged to stay on and supported by family members^[3] Fiore became the executive director and worked an average of 70 hours per week as a volunteer.^[8]

Through a school adoption program, Fiore and her club members provided clothing and school supplies to a school in

Until 1959, the Denver UNESCO organization was operated out of the Fiore family's basement. In that year, she moved the office and International Hospitality Center to the Denver International House and continued as executive director for another fourteen years.[8] Fiore retired in 1974, but she continued her involvement with the International Hospitality Center, hosting foreign visitors and encouraging others to participate.^[13] She also attended the International Women's Conference and Tribunal held in Mexico City in 1975. The tribunal was a non-governmental meeting, while the conference was the official government meeting. Both sessions were held at the same meeting so that delegates participated in discussions on official policy and program implementation to improve women's educational opportunities, equality, economic position and collaboration.^[14] The 1975 UN World Conference on Women, which was part of the International Women's Year focus, was a precursor in the development of the provisions of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).^[15] Fiore felt invigorated by the experience and pledged to continue to work for women's empowerment.^[14]

In 1977, Fiore chaired the Colorado Women’s Conference plan of action committee and received top votes to go as the state delegate to the National Women’s Conference in Houston.^[16] In 1979, she established the Genevieve Fiore Educational Trust Fund which provides awards annually to high school students who write essays about the United Nations.^[17] In 1983, the United States withdrew its UNESCO membership, citing mismanagement of funds, but Fiore argued for Denver's group, which had never utilized government funds, to continue its independent status.^[17] Her campaign was successful and in 1986, the organization changed its name to the UNESCO Association of Colorado. In 1994, Fiore began producing and hosting a weekly radio program called "Focus International", which examined international educational projects and UNESCO initiatives.^[7] Fiore died March 10, 2002, in Denver and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.^[18]

Awards and honors

In 1967 Fiore was honored as one of the inductees for the 1966

• List of peace activists

References

Citations

Biography

External links

• Oral History Project: Interview with Fiore by Laura McKinley, July 22, 1989.
• Colorado Women's Hall of Fame