#MyAAPIStory: Sharing the Diverse Stories of the AAPI Community
#MyAAPIStory: Sharing the Diverse Stories of the AAPI Community
Tell your story for APA Heritage Month. Thank you to Alissa Ko, Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, for sharing this opportunity to speak about our shared identity and diverse perspectives.
In February, we launched a call for nominations for White House Champions of Change for AAPI Art and Storytelling. But we know that there are countless other inspiring and powerful stories within the AAPI community. That’s why we’re teaming up with StoryCorps to document and share these stories.
We encourage you to share your story and those of others within the AAPI community. Highlight issues you care about, share what your identity means to you, or interview others – friends, family members, community leaders, for instance – that are making a difference for the AAPI community.
You can share a story about any topic you wish, and the recording can be as short or as long as you’d like. Themes could include:
- Being the first in your family to go to college
- Your immigration story
- Defying the model minority myth
- Preserving culture and identity
- Overcoming odds
Be as creative as you’d like!
You can use the StoryCorps app to record your story or interview, and then post it on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #MyAAPIStory. Select stories may be highlighted throughout the month of May in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
For more information, click on the link in the title.
Executive Director
MinKwon Appoints James Hong Interim Executive Director
Dear Friends
The MinKwon Center for Community Action’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce James Hong as the Interim Executive Director, effective July 1, 2016.
As Director of Civic Engagement, and since joining MinKwon in 2010, James has worked tirelessly to increase immigrant political participation through voter registration, mobilization, education and awareness campaigns and community organizing. He spearheaded MinKwon’s redistricting campaign, which brought together 14 Asian American organizations around federal, state and city-level redistricting. Through this coalition, New York’s majority-Asian districts quadrupled to better reflect the community’s growth. He also oversaw the development and expansion of APA VOICE into a pan-Asian coalition of 18 organizations, the largest collaboration of its kind in the Asian community. More recently, he has led MinKwon’s new civic engagement team to integrate the work of our advocacy, community organizing, voter engagement and Youth Empowerment Program.
James assumes the position of Interim Executive Director with the full support, confidence and enthusiasm of MinKwon’s Board of Directors, staff and allies. We look forward to his leadership in harnessing and focusing the energy that will come from this transition period, seeding the ground for MinKwon’s next executive director, as well as the organization’s ongoing efforts to empower our Korean and immigrant communities.
Sincerely,
The MinKwon Board of Directors
The above message comes from MinKwon Center for Community Action. Click on the link in the title for the Executive Director Job Posting.
Advancing Justice | AAJC 2016 Youth Leadership Summit, Sept. 22-24
Advancing Justice | AAJC’s Youth Leadership Summit is a three-day leadership development program for high-achieving college students. The 2016 summit, which will be held on Sept. 22–24, will bring 25 student leaders to Washington, D.C., for three days of advocacy training and leadership development workshops focused on civic engagement. The Youth Summit provides a unique opportunity for young advocates from across the country to both interact with their peers as well as learn from and network with national leaders.
Apply here by May 24, 2016.
AAJA-NY 2016 Trivia Bowl: The winning moment captured on video. For an album of photos from Corky Lee, visit our Facebook page here. And below are the answers to the trivia questions posted in the earlier blog post about this event:
Round 1: Diversity and the Oscars – In which year did Prince win best original score for the soundtrack to Purple Rain?
1985.
Round 2: Summer Olympics – Who was the first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States in diving, in 1948? He was also the first to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving and later coached Greg Louganis.
Sammy Lee.
Round 3: Einstein, Geography and Literature – What is the smallest country on the mainland of Africa?
The Gambia.
Round 4: Current Events – In what city was the 2016 Super Bowl held?
Santa Clara.
Round 5: Presidential Elections – How many delegates are needed to win the Democratic Party nomination?
2,383.
(Source: https://www.facebook.com/)
Featured Alumna: Doris Ling-Cohan | NYU School of Law
Featured Alumna: Doris Ling-Cohan | NYU School of Law
Congratulations to Judge Doris Ling-Cohan, long-time friend of AABANY and New York’s first Asian-American woman to serve as an appellate judge, on her 2016 Woman of Distinction Award from the Women of Color Collective (WoCC) at New York University.
Click on the above link to read her Featured Alumna story, including her humble roots and message of triumph:
Growing up, Ling-Cohan did not imagine that one day she would be a leader, or even a lawyer. “As a child, I didn’t dare to dream. Reality simply stifled my dreams,” Ling-Cohan recalled in her speech at the WoCC ceremony. “Like many of my generation, growing up in Manhattan’s Chinatown, my parents were immigrants. My father worked in a laundry, and my mother was a seamstress. As a child, I too worked in a sewing factory sewing and cutting thread.”
Ling-Cohan entered law school hoping that her law degree could be a tool for social change, both for her own community and other disadvantaged groups.
Please join us in congratulating Judge Ling-Cohan on this wonderful honor.
Webinar: 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey
Inclusion vs. Exclusion: 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Contact:
Michelle Boykins, mboykins@advancingjustice-aajc.org, (202) 296-2300
Alton Wang, media@apiavote.org, (202) 223-9170
WASHINGTON, DC – National and state-based leaders in the Asian American civil rights community will release new polling data on Asian American voter attitudes during a press call on Monday, May 23, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Please register.
Speakers will discuss the results of the 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey, which polled 1,200 Asian American registered voters. Speakers will also discuss registration drives and get-out-the-vote organizing efforts of Asian American community groups on the ground in key states.
WHO:
- Mee Moua, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
- Christine Chen, Executive Director of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote
- Karthick Ramakrishnan, Director of AAPIData and Professor of Public Policy
WHAT: Release of the 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey
WHEN: Monday, May 23, 2016 at 1:00 P.M. EST
REGISTER:
Please register: bit.ly/aapi-survey. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
AABANY @ CAPA Fair, May 15
Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Happy to be part of #capafestival #Chinatown #nyc
A photo posted by AABANY (@aabany) on May 15, 2016 at 12:58pm PDT
AABANY was at the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA) 2016 Festival, and though there was a little rain in the morning, people still turned out in droves! Thanks to Yang Chen, Chris M. Kwok of the Issue Committee, Charles Chen of YLC Committee and Thalia Huang of GSPI Committee who manned the tables. There were 40 organizations represented at the Festival, and we were able to outreach to the Asian American community about AABANY’s pro bono initiatives.
