AABANY, with the Syracuse University College of Law, hosted a discussion with Justice Doris Ling-Cohan (retired) on March 29. Justice Ling-Cohan is the first Asian woman judge to be elected to the New York Supreme Court and appointed to an appellate court in New York.
AABANY Executive Director Yang Chen introduced Justice Ling-Cohan to start off the program. Justice Ling-Cohan shared with students her groundbreaking path to judgeship. She discussed the many barriers she encountered during her election as a political newcomer and an Asian American woman. “Do not put barriers on yourself,” she advised her audience. “You don’t have to be the best to do [what you want].”
Civic engagement has been a constant theme through Justice Ling-Cohan’s accomplished career. She reminded students that they do not have to work in the public sector to be of service. “Anyone can have a foot in their community. There is so much you can do… compose op-eds, start petitions and campaigns.”
The evening continued with remarks on public service and diversity by Syracuse’s assistant dean for career development, Lily Yan Hughes. Syracuse Law School student leaders then led a Q&A session. The students were interested to know about the challenges of being a justice and navigating a bureaucracy with competing interests.
We thank Justice Ling-Cohan and Dean Hughes for their time and insights. This event was co-sponsored by Syracuse Law School APALSA, KLSA, SALSA, Office of Career Services, and the Asian Americans and the Law Seminar.
WASHINGTON – The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is proud to announce that the Open Society Foundations has selected it to receive funding for boosting civic participation in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Muslim, Arab, and South Asian (MASA) communities.
Leveraging and organizing our power, strength in numbers, geographic diversity, and in-language reach of NAPABA’s nearly 90 affiliated AAPI bar organizations and their members, our community is able to make a difference. Our goal is to equip our members with the tools to increase AAPI engagement in voting through non-partisan voter registration, election protection, and voter education.
“Open Society Foundations’ support of NAPABA builds upon our strategic plan to increase AAPI engagement and empowerment nationwide, especially as our communities continue to grow. The five-year grant will be instrumental in ensuring that NAPABA has the resources to bolster the ability of our affiliated bar associations to reach local communities around the country and support a sustainable investment in creating engaged AAPI communities,” said A.B. Cruz III, acting president of NAPABA. “We are grateful for their support in building a stronger voice for the AAPI community.”
In December 2021, Open Society Foundations announced its investment of $42.5 million over five years to AAPI and MASA communities to engage in nonpartisan efforts. The investment is part of the foundation’s 10-year campaign to build and protect a multiracial democracy.
The Open Society Foundations grant is the fifth grant over the last year that NAPABA has been awarded to advance the work of its programs.
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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander descent
Interest in learning more about public service and diversity & inclusion
Current sophomore, junior, or senior in undergraduate insitution
Application form
Resume
At least 1 Recommendation Letter
All Official Transcripts mailed/submitted directly to ILF
About the Fellowship Program
The ILF Civic Fellowship is the nation’s most prestigious civic leadership development program, designed specifically to foster the next generation of AANHPI leaders in public service. Supported by current leaders, the Fellowship aims to teach outstanding AANHPI college students from across the nation how to cultivate their leadership potential. Fellows learn how politics, the policy-making process, and public service are integrated in governance and how to make government work for the community. ILF Civic Fellowship provides a 8- to 10-week public service internship at federal agencies, scholarships, a federal job fair, and a variety of seminars and workshops on civic engagement and career, personal, and leadership development.
About ILF
The International Leadership Foundation (ILF) is a 501( c )(3) non-profit organization that promotes the civic engagement, leadership empowerment, and economic prosperity of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community to enhance the representation of diversity in our country. Our mission is to develop young leaders in the United States, Asia, and Pacific Rim countries in the fields of public service, entrepreneurship, and international business and politics through a network of business and community leaders. Our mission is accomplished through civic leadership training and support from the ILF’s network of 15 national and global advisory boards. Since 2000, ILF has cultivated the pipeline of emerging leaders by providing scholarships and educational programs to over 7,000 students.
ILF handles can be found here: Facebook @InternationalLeadershipFoundation Twitter @ILF_National Instagram @ilfnational LInkedin @International Leadership Foundation
NAPABA provides undergraduate and law students who are interested in the legal profession and advocacy within the Asian Pacific American community with the opportunity to work in Washington. D.C. The program develops leadership and professional skills and encourages political and civic engagement.
Purchase your early bird tickets here. Price: $25 Early bird. $30 at the door 4-Hour Open Bar.
Need to unwind? Join KALCA in celebrating the summer and the end of an eventful Primary election. For open bar, we have curated premium drinks and we will be voting for the best drink!
Play some cornhole, take a civics trivia quiz, or just have some fun! All proceeds will go to our College Internship Program and future voter engagement efforts.
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.
The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs in partnership with Coro New York Leadership Center is proud to announce the launch of recruitment for the2013 Immigrant Civic Leadership Program (ICLP). ICLP is a signature project of One NYC One Nation, a citywide civic engagement initiative bringing together philanthropic, public and community leadership to strengthen New York City’s immigrant communities.
ICLP enhances the capacity of people working to lead change in immigrant communities across the five boroughs. Using NYC as a classroom, ICLP participants gain a deeper understanding of policy and decision making in the city, the skills to effectively lead change in their organizations and communities, and a network of engaged and influential alumni to support them in reaching their goals. Approximately 20 active and engaged community members working to bring about improvement and change to the city’s immigrant communities are competitively selected to participate each year.
March 21, 2013 – 86% of Asian Americans polled in New York voted for President Obama and two-thirds support immigration reform, according to the results of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) exit poll in New York, released today. AALDEF conducted a nonpartisan multilingual exit poll of 4,089 Asian American voters in New York in the November 2012 elections, the largest survey of its kind.
“Asian Americans are a rapidly growing portion of the electorate in New York,” said AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung. “Elected officials and candidates should understand the policy priorities of Asian American voters, from the economy to immigration reform.”
86% of Asian Americans polled in New York voted for President Obama, compared to 77% of those polled nationally by AALDEF. Among Asian New Yorkers surveyed, 69% were Democrats, 8% were Republicans. and 20% were not enrolled in any party.
The findings also indicate that two out of three Asian Americans (67%) polled in New York supported immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. 70% of those who voted for Obama supported immigration reform, and almost half (49%) of those who voted for Romney supported immigration reform.
“As Senator Charles Schumer and the ‘Gang of Eight’ are poised to propose an immigration overhaul, our exit poll indicates that Asian Americans stand strongly behind comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship,” said Fung.
On Election Day, AALDEF polled Asian American voters in 37 cities across 14 states and documented voting problems. In New York, AALDEF conducted the exit poll in counties with large Asian American populations: New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), and Queens Counties. The largest Asian ethnic groups in the New York exit poll were Chinese (43%), Bangladeshi (20%), Korean (11%), Asian Indian (11%), Filipino (4%), and Indo-Caribbean (3%).
Across all ethnic groups, limited English proficiency was high. 45% of Asian Americans in New York spoke English less than “very well” compared to 37% of all Asian Americans nationally. Korean Americans had the highest rate of limited English proficiency at 69%, followed by 51% of Chinese Americans, and 48% of Bangladeshi Americans.
AALDEF Democracy Program Director Glenn Magpantay said: "We must ensure that the New York City Board of Elections meets its obligations under the Voting Rights Act to provide language assistance in Chinese, Korean, and Bengali. With the upcoming 2013 mayoral and citywide elections, it is critical for the Board of Elections to fix the election process so that Asian Americans and all New Yorkers can exercise their right to vote.”
“New York’s voting process and language assistance must accommodate its increasingly diverse electorate,” said Jerry Vattamala, staff attorney with AALDEF. “New York must continue to gather information about various ethnic groups to determine whether or not counties need to provide language assistance in elections, and the Board of Elections must continue to work with voting rights organizations to ensure that it is meeting its federally mandated requirements for interpreters, signs, and bilingual ballots.”
Magpantay presented the exit poll results at the offices of Dickstein Shapiro in New York City. Key findings on “The Asian American Vote in the 2012 Presidential Election” include the following:
Asian Americans are a growing portion of the New York electorate.
·In the 2012 elections, 29% of Asian Americans were first time voters. Of the Asian American voters surveyed, more than 1 out of 3 (34%) in Brooklyn, almost 1 in 3 (30%) in Queens, and 1 out of 5 (20%) in Manhattan were first-time voters.
A majority of Asian Americans favored comprehensive immigration reform.
67% of Asian Americans in New York supported immigration reform, including a path to citizenship, with the highest support from 80% of Bangladeshi, 78% of Indo-Caribbean, 76% of Korean, 76% of Filipino, 68% of Asian Indian, and 56% of Chinese American voters.
·70% of those who voted for Obama supported immigration reform, and almost half (49%) of those who voted for Romney supported immigration reform.
70% of those who voted for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand supported immigration reform. In all of the races for House of Representatives, the majority of Asian American voters supported immigration reform.
·71% of Democrats, 59% of Republicans, and 60% not enrolled in any political party supported immigration reform.
The majority of Asian Americans in New York voted for the Democratic candidate for Congress and President.
·83% of Asian Americans in New York voted for incumbent Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, compared to 9% for Wendy Long.
·In all of the congressional districts surveyed, at least 75% of Asian Americans voted for the Democratic candidate for House of Representatives.
·In the presidential race, 86% of Asian Americans in New York voted for Barack Obama. The highest support came from South Asian voters: 97% of Bangladeshi and Indo-Caribbean and 89% of Asian Indian Americans.
·Support for President Obama was consistent across all categories, including first-time (90%), foreign-born (87%), native-born (87%), limited English proficient (87%) and English proficient (85%) voters, and voters of all age groups.
·The major factors influencing the Asian American vote in New York were economy/jobs (52%), health care (36%), civil rights/immigrants rights (29%), education (25%), women’s issues (13%), and terrorism/security (11%).
Asian Americans in New York have higher levels of limited English proficiency.
·45% of Asian Americans in New York spoke English less than “very well” compared to 37% of all Asian Americans nationally. Korean Americans had the highest rate of limited English proficiency at 69%, followed by 51% of Chinese Americans, and 48% of Bangladeshi Americans.
Voting barriers persisted.
Voters were asked if they encountered any voting problems. Below are the numbers of complaints:
·1120 were required to show identification though 706 of them were not first-time voters and therefore not required to show ID.
·120 were required to prove their U.S. citizenship.
·211 indicated that their names were missing or had errors in the voter lists at poll sites.
·136 had to vote by affidavit ballot.
·116 voters indicated that poll workers were not informed.
·97 voters indicated that poll workers were rude or hostile.
·74 voters indicated that no interpreters or translated materials were available when needed.
·61 were directed to the wrong polling place or the wrong voting machine or table within a site.
AALDEF’s multilingual exit polls reveal vital information about Asian American voting patterns that is often overlooked in mainstream voter surveys. AALDEF has conducted exit polls of Asian American voters in every major election since 1988. In 2012, more than 100 community groups and organizations joined AALDEF to mobilize over 800 attorneys, law students, and volunteers to conduct the exit poll and to safeguard the voting rights of Asian Americans. A list of co-sponsoring organizations and law firms follows below.
About AALDEF:
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.
2012 ASIAN AMERICAN EXIT POLL – Co-Sponsoring Organizations and Law Firms
National Co-Sponsors
Alliance of South Asian American Labor
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
APIAVote
Common Cause
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
National Korean Amer. Service & Education Consortium
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
North American South Asian Bar Association
OCA (formerly Organization of Chinese Americans)
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Local Co-Sponsors
ACCESS – MI
APALA – Nevada
APIA Vote – Michigan
Asian American Society of Central Virginia
Boat People SOS Delaware Valley – PA
CAAAV – NY
Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia
Center for Pan Asian Community Services – GA
Chhaya CDC – NY
Chinese-American Planning Council – NY
Chinese Community Federation of Atlanta
Chinese Progressive Association – MA
Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia
East Coast Asian American Student Union
Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York
Hunter College/CUNY, Asian American Studies Program – NY
Korean American Civic Empowerment of NY/NJ
Korean American Resource and Cultural Center – IL
MinKwon Center for Community Action – NY
NAAAP – New York
NAAAP – Philadelphia
NANAY – FL
NAPAWF – DC
NAPAWF – New York City
OCA: Georgia
OCA: Greater Houston
OCA: Greater Philadelphia
OCA: Greater Washington DC
OCA: Northern Virginia
OCA: South Florida
Pace University, ACE House – NY
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition
Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation
Princeton Asian American Students Association – NJ
Q-WAVE – NY
South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association of New York
U. California San Diego, Lambda Phi Epsilon
U. Maryland, College Park, Asian American Studies Prog.
U. Massachusetts Boston, Asian American Studies Prog.
Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans
Legal Co-Sponsors
Asian American Bar Association of Houston
Asian American Bar Association of New York
Asian American Lawyers Assoc. of Massachusetts
Asian American Legal Advocacy Center of Georgia
Asian Bar Association of Las Vegas – NV
Asian Pacific American Bar Assoc. of Wash., DC
Asian Pacific American Bar Assoc. of Pennsylvania
Asian Pacific American Bar Assoc. of South Florida
Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of NJ
Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center – DC
Boston University School of Law, APALSA – MA
Brooklyn Law School, APALSA – NY
Columbia Law School, APALSA – NY
Filipino Amer. Legal Defense & Educ. Fund, Inc. – NY
Georgetown Law, APALSA – DC
Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Greater Boston Legal Services: Asian Outreach Unit
Harvard Law School, APALSA – MA
Korean Amer. Bar Assoc. of the Washington DC Area
Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater NY
Louisiana Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Muslim American Bar Association of New York
New England School of Law, APALSA – MA
Pace Law School, Public Interest Law Center – NY
Rutgers School of Law-Newark, APALSA – NJ
South Asian Bar Association of New York
South Asian Bar Association of Washington, DC
Suffolk U. Law Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service
