Welcome to the team.

Bun venit in echipa.

Summitul Comunitatii Romane revine la Chicago, 18–20 septembrie 2026. Editia a IV-a.

The Romanian Community Summit returns to Chicago, September 18–20, 2026. The 4th edition.

Last September, 363 of us walked into a room and 45 high schoolers walked across that stage.

This year, we're building something bigger. You're now part of it.

Draga voluntarule,

Dear volunteer,

You said yes during a week when we needed exactly that. Thank you.

Why this year is different

This is a community-organized summit — three days of federated programming, accessibility-first pricing, and the broadest tent we've ever held. It's the most ambitious edition we've ever attempted, and it only works because people like you are deciding to carry a piece of it.

Last September

363 of us walked into a room together. 45 high schoolers walked across the RANHA stage to be recognized. Families cried. Strangers became collaborators. We left knowing the 2026 edition had to be bigger, warmer, and more open. That's what we're building now.

The shape of the next four months

We move in weekly cadence: a short async update, one all-hands checkpoint per month, and a working channel for your team. Most decisions happen in writing so nobody is held hostage to a meeting.

2+ hours per week is the baseline, with a surge in the final 2–3 weeks. If that stretches you the wrong way, tell us now. Burnout helps no one.

Three things to do today

1. 1.Join the WhatsApp volunteer chat→
2. 2.Open the planning Drive folder→
3. 3.Hold the next all-hands date→

Where to find help

If you get stuck on anything, message Onita Varlam on WhatsApp. She'll get you sorted within a day.

Whether this is your first summit or your fourth: we remember what you carried before, and we know what we're asking of you now. You are not joining a corporate task force. You are joining a community organizing itself at scale — choosing to make space for the next generation of Romanian-Americans, in public, together.