APAPA held its first Annual Major Sponsor’s Dinner on January 31, 2012 at its National Headquarters in Sacramento. Corporate sponsors, public officials and APAPA board members introduced themselves and shared how they became acquainted with CC Yin and APAPA. The guests had an opportunity to network throughout the evening.  

 

Dr. Lilly Cheng, a Professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Director of Chinese Studies Institute at San Diego State University was invited to speak that evening. In her presentation, China's Future Economic Trends for Industries, she shared about the economy in China, past and present. Maeley Tom, who emceed concluded the evening with a list of Statewide Asian candidates who are running for office this election year. The number of Asians participating in the political arena continues to grow.

 

APAPA would like to thank Senator Ted Lieu, Assemblymembers Roger Dickinson, Paul Fong, Doug LaMalfa, and Richard Pan for attending the event. And special thanks to Ken Le, owner of Oshima Sushi, for providing the dinner.

 

Link: Photo Gallery

 

 

APAPA Forum was launched on New Year's Day. This is an Internet TV show produced by APAPA and Ding Ding TV. The purpose of this show is to empower Asian Pacific Islander Americans across the country to become the local, state, national, and indeed, global leaders of tomorrow. Viewers can watch on-line anytime, anywhere and post their comments.

Host: Don Sun
Producer: Diana Ding
Speakers: Hsing Kung, Albert Wang

Link: http://www.dingding.tv/bencandy.php?fid=33&aid=1551

 

Dear APAPA members and friends,

 

December 4, 2011 was a historical day for us. On this day, APAPA successfully launched the seventh and southernmost chapter in California.   

After countless meetings and planning sessions, we were able to first form a strong San Diego board. And on December 4th, the San Diego Chapter had a great launch at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The grand opening event was attended by 200 guests and many dignitaries, including Senator Mark Wyland, Assemblymember Mike Eng, Assemblymember Jim Nielsen, Supervisor Ron Roberts, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, former CA Appointments Secretary John Cruz, former CA Veterans Affairs Secretary Rocky Chavez, AT&T executive Ignacio De La Torre, APIA leaders, diverse community leaders, business and government leaders.   

 

Among the many representatives from APAPA chapters statewide were: APAPA Founder CC Yin, Sacramento VP Vicki Beaton, Bay Area Executive Director Don Sun, Southern California Region Chair Nelson Huang, Honorary Chair Dr. Anyork Lee, VP Elizabeth Huang, board members James Lee & Phillip Lee, Youth Leadership Council Chau Nguyen & Teresa Tran, and many members from out of town in support of the new Chapter.  

 

APAPA-SDC board members with elected officials and statewide leaders

  

 

   

The new APAPA-San Diego Chapter was facilitated by APAPA Southern California leaders Nelson and Elizabeth Huang, led by Dr. Lilly Cheng (Chair), Tom Hom (Honorary Chair), Ron Cho (President), board members Loretta Hom, Edward Park, Len Novarro, Rosalynn Carmen, Dr. William Tseng, Dr. Sam Ho, Steven Lei, Khoa Nguyen and Midori Wong.

 

Congratulations on a job well done. Let's work together to serve the community in the coming years.    

 

CC Yin, Founder & Chair

Amy Tong, Statewide Vice Chair

Lucy Oback, Statewide President

 

 

 

Click here for article

 

 

 

What is the 1882 Project?

Read more: http://www.1882project.org/

Applications are now available for the 2012 Scholarship & Internship Program:

2012 Internship Application Form (PDF)

2012 Scholarship Application Form (PDF)

 

If you have any questions, please contact Lucy Oback at (916) 928-9988 or lucyoback@apapa.org.

2:15 pm.. Mayor of Ed Lee delivering the kickoff speech...packed house here at the Art Academy Forum in San Francisco.  

2:21 pm... James Yu from the Bay Area Chapter on the podium now.  First time APAPA has ever held a forum in San Francisco.   Apparently they asked in 1 day to rent the facility, and 3 days to send a contract.  Fast planning!

2:28 pm.  CC Yin on the stage.   Run for office, get an appointed position, make sure to vote he reminds everyone.  

2.42 pm.  Chi-Ling Tong, a member of an advisory commtitee in the Obama administration, is presenting a Presidential Volunteer Award from President Obama to Regina and CC Yin.

2:44 pm.  Sponsors (Comcast, PG&E, AT&T) being acknowledged.   "They can't understand because you're not speaking Chinese," CC Yin whispers to the mcee.  Now he comes up to speak in Mandarin to ask the audience who needs a translation device.  At least 2/3 of the people in the audience seem to be raising their hands.

2:51 pm.  Assemblywoman Fiona Ma being teed up..  she's on stage now.  Is she priming the SF mayor candidates to appear?   We're almost at 3pm and still waiting for the first public discussion.

3:00 pm.  Otto Lee (a commander in the Navy) and a city councilperson from Sunnyvale recognized for being in the house.

3:09 pm.  Willie Brown about to give the keynote speech.   Will we finally start to see the public debate?  A lot of patience audience members....He's starting to talk about term limits and how he served in almost every single capacity in the legislature.  It takes 41 votes to be elected speakership.  He got more votes from the Republican side than Democrats to be elected.   He thinks there needs to be people in Washington D.C. who can forge similar relationships.   5 top quality candidates, especially of Asian descent -- Jeff Adachi, David Chiu, Phil Ting, Ed Lee, and Leland Yee -- all being mentioned as a "credentialed" and "qualified" mayoral candidates.

 "There is the national business for pursuing power for power's sake...not for the purpose of orchestrating solutions...you should support people based on their agenda and how they respond.  I watched the morning talk shows, and I'm sure you are alarmed by the reactions by the people who hold or seek public office... the next set of questions should be how do you produce a job? "  He mentions Obama's recent troop announcement to show how the 2008 election was about the pursuit of power to bring peace to the Middle East.  

"Make sure you extract a practical response as how we get there...that's what this system is all about.  I hope you will continously come back until the system is responsive, and the system will begin to change.  When that happens, we can obviously celebrate together."

3:29 pm.  The main event!  There are much fewer people here than when we started, but now the mayoral candidates are being lined up back-stage. James Fang, the BART Director, is here to moderate.   The final debate for the San Francisco's mayor's race.   The debate will be divided into three separate sections: 1) 1-minute statement of their candidacy 2) 6-10 questions that have been prepared that affect Asian Americans.  3) questions from the audience you would like the audience.

3:33 pm.   The San Francisco mayoral candidates being summoned as if they were game show candidates.   Only 2 candidates here,  Public Defender Jeff Adachi and Joanna Rees?  All of the other candidates are running late or not here?   What happened to Ed Lee who was here earlier?  Did everyone go AWOL?  

3:40 pm.  Joanna Brees giving her talk.   She's a venture capitalist running as a mayor candidate.   She's advocating neighborhood schools so that kids don't have to take Muni to their schools.  She's in favor of eliminating employee payroll tax and reducing the licenses that small merchants.  She's asked city budgets from every single department and none have responded so that she can do detail-by-detail to identify the critical services.  

3:43 pm.  David Chiu makes it into the room with when Joanna Brees is wrapping up.  He's on stage now.   Now we have 3 candidates on stage!

3:45 pm.  Question about Occupy SF movements.  What about the rights of citizens of San Francisco to balance the extended resources of citizens?  What about the rights of balance 1st Amendment and resources spent?  Joanna Brees makes a plug for the ranked-choice voting system and for everyone there to be the top three choices.  Brees somehow moves towards talking about the tax structure needing reform rather than the topic of Occupy SF.  Adachi supports the Occupy SF movements, and as long as the protesters follow the law and public safety is protected (public sanitation, no permanent structures where people are living, transportation is not disrupted).    Chiu agrees with Adachi and talks about families who are playing by the rules but not moving forward -- 30,000 jobs being lost in the past two years.  Chiu asks the Occupy movement to respect private property, but encourages the conversation to avoid violent confrontation.

3:51 pm.  Question about pension reform.  David Chiu supports Proposition C, thinks it's legally airtight and helps to reign in pension reform cost.   Adachi refers to pension reform as if the house is burning down.   Pension costs would go from $200M to $800M for retired city employees.  Situation occurring across the entire country, politicians don't want to upset labor unions.   Adachi put a ballot measure that gathered 50,000 signatures for the first measure, the second measure is now Proposition D.  Mayor Lee supposedly only supported a proposal that would save $50M.   Joanna Brees gives huge credit to Adachi for providing leadership on pension reform, but supports Proposition C.  Brees says that both Proposition C & D expect a return of 7 1/4%, though the average is usually 2.5%.  The amount of savings is not enough.  "I don't know where they are investing to get 7 1/4, so we be much more prudent and try for 2.8%".

3:56 pm.  How would you deal with the homeless problem?  Brees mentions the effective Denver homeless project and wants to consolidate the SF Project Homeless Connect into the umbrella problem.  Adachi: 1/3 of the homeless are families are people trying to struggle to get back into the workplace, 1/3 are struggling with mental illness, and 1/3 are transitional.  The solution would have to be for each.  Adachi would support housing via private/public partnerships, mental health care, and extend 6-8 months for those who are transitioning into housing.   David Chiu mentions 5 past mayors have tried to struggle with this issue, thinks that its swung from the prosecution side to the social services side.

4;02 pm.  Question of sanctuary cities.  How do you resolve the question of immigration?  Adachi mentions the issue of whether children should be turned into police if they were undocumented, stood up to the policy against Mayor Newsom's change in policy, helped change a law that requires a guilty conviction first.  Brees supports the sanctuary law and advocates supportive care rather than juvenile detention.   Chiu mentions his prosecution background and thinks shutting down sanctuary city policies is unfair since immigration determines what happens to them.

4:08 pm.  Assessor Phil Ting just showed up (which candidate will be next?).  He's thrown the same question of sanctuary cities.  Sanctuary cities keep San Francisco safe.   Doesn't want people to be afraid of cooperating with the police department if we didn't have this policy.    Stands by the long-standing policy of sanctuary cities.

4:10 pm.  What would you do about jobs?   David Chiu gets the first chance to answer.   Four things he would focus on: 1) eliminate the hundreds of fees for businesses 2) 15 city departments that regulate the private business (says current mayor has not) 3) taxes the payroll of companies, advocates removing the tax that incentivizes jobs 4) change contracting policies so that they go to small and diverse businesses.   Joanna Brees: we've lost some of our largest employees, AT&T, Chevron.  We should eliminate the employee payroll tax and stop taxing stock options.   25% of the working population commute out of the city so we need to encourage them to work them here.   Supports the gross receipts taxes, but cautions that it would affect low-margin businesses that affect their profit margins.   Adachi: mentions someone who wanted to open a bowling alley.  The city wanted $44,000 before she opened a bowling alley.  Most of the economic jobs due to small businesses, so he would change the payroll tax (hasn't been done for 9 years), changing licensing fees for small business, and aggressive program ($40M from the pension reform to invest in micro-loans up to $40K to small businesses).   Phil Ting: add significant help to small businesses, moving people from different offices to provide a "concierge service" to every single business.  Mentions the incredible economic development in China and refers to the sister city relationship that could be used to create a similar model.  He supports the Go-Solar program, that goes from 5 to 2200 solar panels (450 green-collar jobs). 

4:19 pm: Well that wraps it up here...the candidates were all very well-informed and substantive.  Hope this gave you a good taste for today's forum!

 

10th Annual Voters Education & Candidates Forum
 
Event Info:
Sunday, October 23, 2011
1:30PM-6:30PM
Academy of Art University, Morgan Auditorium
491 Post Street (at the corner of Mason Street)
San Francisco, CA 94102

 

 

 On Saturday, August 13, 2011, over 1,000 people participated in the 11^th Annual Healthy Kids Day event at Inderkum High School in Sacramento. The annual event was presented by Cover the Kids and Assemblymember Dr. Richard Pan with support from community leaders Councilmember Angelique Ashby and County Supervisor Phil Serna. Approximately 600 children and families were in attendance and arrived bright and early Saturday morning to receive free whooping cough (Tdap) shots, just in time for back-to-school season. In addition to hosting free Tdap shots, the event also provided the attendees with health information, helpful resources, and free dental screenings for children and blood pressure screenings for kids and adults.

Photos Courtesy of Vicki Beaton

Dear All,

 

I am writing to you personally to congratulate and thank all of you for a successful APAPA 10th Anniversary Celebration Gala. The success of this huge and historical event is a result of all your hard work through the leadership of Amy Tong as Gala Chair, Maeley Tom as Director and Emcee, Lucy & John Oback for the beautiful storybook, Bernadette Chiang, Vicki Beaton, Ron Tom, Liz Gaitan, Honey Lum, Sokie Hul, and our "Celebrities" for the wonderful program. Also, special thanks to Lorena Hernandez of Comcast and FireStar Productions for the outstanding 10th Anniversary video; Tom Bhe, Linda Ng, Lance Fang, and Edgar Calderon for the tribute to the late Christopher Lo, and all the Committee Members and volunteers for pulling off this memorable celebration.

I would also like to thank the APAPA Chapter leaders who travelled all the way to Sacramento from all over California to support and share in our celebration. We also had three wonderful speakers that I would like to recognize: State Controller John Chiang, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, and APAPA Judicial Appointments Chair Dale Minami. Thank you to all the event sponsors, elected officials, businesses, community leaders and all of the 720 guests who made this event exciting and memorable.  

What a way to celebrate APAPA's 10 years of community service, and a new beginning for the future of APAPA. The best is yet to come, and I look forward to ongoing success as I continue on this journey with each and every one of you.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

C.C. Yin

 

 

 

Christopher Lo 1966-2011

 

Dear families, friends, and partners of APAPA:  

Our organization recently lost a member of our Board of Directors, Christopher Lo, due to a drowning accident on June 26, 2011. Christopher was a community activist and served tirelessly on several non-profit boards. His dedication to the improvement of our community and his passion for change is an inspiration to us all. He is survived by his loving wife and five beloved children.

One of our proudest traditions, both in times of joy and sorrow, is helping others in our community. APAPA would like to sincerely request to our families, friends, and partners a show of support for the Lo family by financially donating towards the funeral expenses. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated.  

Please make your donations to:

In Memory of Christopher Lo

                        Wells Fargo Bank

                        Acct# 8353815643

 

A traditional Hmong memorial service will be held at: 

 

Location: Sacramento Funeral Chapel  
                  6500 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95822

                  (916) 391-8060

 

The 4-day memorial service for Christopher is as follows:

July 15, Friday evening, service and meal

July 16, Saturday morning and evening, service, breakfast and meal

July 17, Sunday morning and evening, service, breakfast and meal

July 18, Monday morning, service and breakfast

Burial thereafter

 

Final Resting Place:

East Lawn Sierra Hills Cemetery

5757 Greenback Lane, Sacramento, CA 95841
 

 

The Lo family has created a memorial website dedicated to Christopher and has kindly offered to share the site with everyone. To visit the site, please click on the following link: http://www.ilasting.com/christopherlo.php.

 

If you should have any questions, feel free to contact APAPA National Headquarters at (916) 928-9988.

 

 

Christopher Lo

1966-2011

It is with deep regret to inform you that APAPA has lost one of its board members over the weekend. Christopher Lo, a member of APAPA's Board of Directors in Sacramento and a rising community leader, passed away on June 26, 2011, in a drowning accident at Colusa-Sacramento River SRA.

Chris had been tirelessly serving the community and was ready to run and serve as an elected official. In addition to APAPA, Chris was actively involved in many community organizations, including: Sacramento Boulevard Partnership, Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Hmong Alliance Church, and Hmong National Development, Inc. His passing is a great loss not only to the Hmong community, but to APIA and general communities.

APAPA extends its sincere condolences to the families and friends of Chris Lo. Our organization mourns the loss of an individual with many talents, a big heart, and so much potential. He will be missed.>

Funeral arrangements will be shared once APAPA obtains details.

Greetings!

The Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA) has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2001 from a local community group to a statewide organization representing thousands of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans across California.

 

This year, APAPA will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary and wants you to help mark this occasion in a very special way.

 

Please join us for dinner, dancing, and so much more at APAPA's 10th Anniversary Black Tie Gala on Saturday, July 30, 2011.

Highlighting this special occasion will be:

• California State Controller John Chiang as the Keynote Speaker
• Ms. Maeley Tom as the Mistress of Ceremonies

Also featuring:

• Surprise guests
• One of the best DJs in town spinning an assortment of music all night long!

 

Special thanks to our Community Organization Sponsors (partial list):

 

API Legislative Caucus Institute

California Chinese Engineers Association (CCEA)

CAPA Community Education Fund 

Citizens For Better Community (CBC)

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Chinese New Year Culture Association (CNYCA)

Culture to Culture Foundation

Friends of Children with Special Needs (FCSN)

Hmong Women's Heritage Association

Indus Valley American Chamber of Commerce

National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association (NAPIPA)

Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA)

Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation

Solano Community College Educational Foundation

Stockton Boulevard Partnership 

TOFA of Sacramento, Inc.

APAPA co-sponsored an event on May 21, 2011 featuring a talk by Christina Yao (Director) on the making of this epic movie. Last Sunday, we rented a theater in Cupertino and treated APAPA members to a viewing of this film. Here is the trailer:

On Sunday, March 20, 2011 the APAPA-BAC (Bay Area Chapter) and the Asian Business Alliance (ABA) jointly presented a Town Hall entitled "Business-Community-School-Government: How Are They Related?". It was a casual, informational and net-working event presented at the beautiful Senior Center/Japanese Gardens, a facility of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District.

The theme of this event was created by the joint efforts of APAPA-BAC and the ABA. It is the brain child of Anna May, Marita Cheng and the Executive Committee of APAPA-BAC.  APAPA’smission is to promote the advancement of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans through active participation and leadership in civic and public affairs. ABA is a supportive organization addressing the needs and challenges of Asian business owners and professionals in Southern Alameda County. This event was an excellent showcase merging and highlighting the missions and objectives of both organizations.

           

The event was very well attended by a diverse East Bay community representing Business-Community-School-Government.

State, County and local officials who appeared include California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, State Board of Equalization Board Member Betty T. Yee, State Senator Ellen Corbett, State Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, Fremont Vice-Mayor Sue Chan, Ohlone College Board Member Garrett Yee, Fremont School Board VP and Member Lily Mei, Cabot College Board Member Hal Gin and many others......

                      

APAPA and ABA Board Member David Sheen arranged for entertainment by the Academy of Chinese Performing Arts and the delicious food was catered by Marita and Francis Cheng. As in most APAPA events, we thank Andrew Ly and the Sugar Bowl Bakery for their delicious cookies!

  

Performers from the Academy of Chinese Performing Arts

 

The event also raised money for the Earthquake and Tsunami victims of Japan.

Money was raised for the Japanese Earthquake victims

Traditional Chinese Medicine lecture at APAPA National Headquarters

On Sunday, February 27, 2011, about 80 persons gathered at APAPA headquarters to hear Dr. Gang Zhao Dong, L.Ac., OMD, talk about Health Therapy in Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Dr. Dong currently practices acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in San Francisco and Sacramento.  His talk was sponsored by Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation. 

TCM started over 5000 years ago with barefoot doctors in villages of China who used herbs to treat common ailments and diseases.  TCM is a common part of medical care throughout East Asia, but is considered a complementary and alternative medical system (CAM) in much of the Western world. TCM therapy largely consists of Chinese herbal medicine (use of plants, human and animal parts, and minerals to make medicines), acupuncture (insertion of needles in the body), tuī-nǎ massage, and dietary therapy.  It is built on the concepts of Tao, Yin, Yang and the Five Elements.  The objective of treatment is to restore the balance of Yin and Yang.  Four methods are used to make a diagnosis:  the doctor looks, listens, inquires and feels the patient’s pulse.  The ancient Chinese described Qi as "life-force". They believed Qi permeated everything and was linked to their surroundings. They likened it to the flow of energy around and through the body, forming a cohesive and functioning unit. By understanding its rhythm and flow they believed they could guide exercises and treatments to provide stability and longevity.

One highlight of the program was an inspiring testimonial by Cathy Liu, who was seriously injured in an auto accident soon after she completed 4 years of medical school at UC Davis.  In addition to using Western medicine and physical therapy, her road to recovery included complementary acupuncture treatments by Dr. Dong. She has learned to drive an automobile and returned to working for the UC Davis Medical Center.  Her talk attested to the remarkable resilience of the human spirit and tireless devotion from her parents; she received a standing ovation from the audience.

Dr. Dong annotated his Power Point presentation with valuable historical perspective and practical applications; he chatted at length with the audience who had individual questions.

SCCF extends its deepest gratitude to APAPA for providing the venue and complimentary beverages, to Panda Express for the refreshments and all SCCF board members who coordinated this program.

Reflections submitted by: Eileen Leung/Photo by: Vicki Beaton

SACRAMENTO ASIAN PACIFIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

18th Annual Installation & Awards Dinner
Thursday, February 24, 2011
5:30pm – 9:00pm
Hyatt Regency Sacramento, 1209 L Street

APAPA was one of the Sponsors for this special event. To support Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce in building and inspiring leadership, to education, workforce development, recognizing and promoting small businesses of the Asian and Pacific Islander community for brighter future.  Board of Director members representing APAPA at the event was Dr. Tom Bhe, Susie Low, David Low, Michael Lose, Ed Unutoa, and ‘Ofa Mann.

Event Honorees were Laura and Lisa Ling, presented by Congresswoman Doris Matsui who wrote. “Laura and Lisa Ling have made Sacramento proud by calling attention to the plight of the world’s most vulnerable citizens." Both are wonderful role models for Asian Pacific Islander community as their efforts have changed countless lives. Laura and Lisa received the highest honor that the Chamber Bestows!

VIP guests and presenters: Mona Pasquil - Appointments Secretary, Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., CA Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, Councilmember Rob Fong, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and Mayor- Kevin Johnson were all in attendance.

http://www.calasiancc.org/

Reflections submitted by: 'Ofa Mann, APAPA Board of Director/VP Media

 

 

APAPA National Headquarters

1. Annual Capitol Internship/Scholarship Award, Fundraising & Installation Program
2. Annual Governors Reception for API Leadership (In celebration of API Heritage Month)
3. Annual API Voters Education & Candidates Forum
4. National Headquarters Grand Opening & Holiday Mixer
5. Meet & Greet Dinner Program
6. Bi-Monthly Community Civic Meetings
7. Appointment Committee (Judicial & General)
8. Verizon Internet Literacy Program (Awarded, Program Development 2011)
9. Comcast Computer Communications Program (Awarded, Program Development 2011)
10. E2 Education Equality for UC Admissions Policy

APAPA-Southern California Chapter (SCC)

1. Youth Leadership Conference in partnership with UCLA
2. Tri-County (Los Angeles*Orange*Inland Empire) Community Town Hall Meeting
3. Summer Internship/Scholarship Award and Fundraising Program
4. Future Leaders of America Summer Internship Program
5. Leadership Workshops & Capitol Study Tour
6. Voter Registration Drive
7. San Diego Civic Town Hall Meeting
8. Holiday Mixer
9. Bi-Monthly Community Civic Meeting

APAPA-Bay Area Chapter (BAC)

1. SF Voters Education Forum
2. SF “Everyone Vote” Voter Registration Drive
3. SF Civic Town Hall Meeting
4. East/South Bay “Everyone Vote” Voter Registration Drive
5. East/South Bay Civic Town Hall Meeting
6. Summer Internship/Scholarship Award & Fundraiser Program in partnership with Vision New America, Citizens for Better Community & the Chinese American Political Association Education Fund
7. Bi-Monthly Community Civic Meeting
8. Holiday Mixer
9. E2 Education Equality Project
10. Website Organization Committee

APAPA-Central Valley Chapter (CVC)

1. Stockton Civic Town Hall Meeting
2. Fresno Civic Town Hall Meeting
3. Bakersfield Civic Town Hall Meeting
4. Central Valley “Everyone Vote” Voter Registration Drive
5. Bi-Monthly Community Civic Meeting

APAPA-Collegiate Council Chapter (CCC)

1. Collegiate Honor Society (CHS)
2. Community Outreach and Leadership Board (COL)
3. Berkeley Info Night

Happy New Year!

I am very proud and excited in writing this to express my excitement and happiness in the successful grand opening of the APAPA National Headquarters in Sacramento last November 30.  This National Headquarter office belongs to you, me and all of us.  This was a historical day for all of us!  This is a result of 150 years of API Americans hard work in helping us become what we are today.  This will help us to have a home to expand APAPA’s services and organization to more effectively serve the people in California and the rest of the nation.

As a result of over a year of hard work and encouragement by Dr. Ken Fong, Andrew K.C. Wong, and Phong La, we have been able to build a first-class headquarters.  Special thank to my wife, Regina, for her generosity in loaning the money and arranging the finance for the purchase and remodeling of the building.  This beautiful building is a result of the effort and the giving from individuals like: Chief Architect Gordon Chong, Architect Wing Lee, General Manager Robert Carroll of Elk Grove Construction, Jacquelyn Nelson of Creative Surroundings, Margaret Wong and Jesse Huang of McWong International, Inc., Western Signs and about 20 other contractors and suppliers for their generous discounts and contributions.

I would like to thank Comcast Corporation for $75,000 grant for three years for the Comcast Digital Communications Center and Verizon Corporationfor $150,000 grant for 3 years for the Internet Literacy Program in the headquarters.  Both programs are geared towards helping the API communities.

We are launching a $2.5 Million Capital Campaign, and we are very thankful and fortunate to have the following individual commitments:

1. C.C. & Regina Yin - $1 Million
2. Dr. Ken Fong & Family – For 3,000SF Training Center
3. Harris & Mary Yin Liu - $250,000 for Lobby
4. Andrew K.C. Wong - $100,000 for Executive Conference Room
5. Harry & Evelyn Chien - $10,000 for Executive Office A
6. Peter & Eleanor Chiang - $ 10,000 for Executive Office B

Our Grand Opening celebration was had over 500 attendees led by community and business leaders, supporters, sponsors and Government leaders. I would also like to thank the Grand Opening Committee led by Lucy Oback and Amy Tong, supported by Susie Low, Honey Lum, Vicki Beaton, Ming Shyong Yang,Tom Bhe, Mary Yin Liu, Regina Yin, Ken Le, Cecilia & James Lew, Anna Trong Lopez, David Low, James & Jean Chew, Betty Lee, Edgar Calderon, Henry Chang, Ting Sun, Apollo Gucake, Michael Lose, Danny Lee, Cheryl Linardon, Linda Ng, Jacquelyn Nelson, Julie Tcha, ‘Ofa Mann, Duper Tong, Lynn Fu, Diep Doan, Hong Yee, Jane Nakagawa, Lydia Snow, and all the volunteers from the Natomas Charter School.

We had APAPA representatives from Southern California, Central Valley, Bay Area, and Collegiate Council chapters.  It was full of high spirit, pride and celebration of the hard work and continued effort to empower the Asian Americans in the democratic process.

We have much work to do in building a strong statewide and national organization.  I invite you to stop by and visti our headquarters when you are in the area. Thank you for your continued support.

C.C. Yin, APAPA Founder and Chairman