Congratulations to Phong La and Catherine Ofa Mann, two of APAPA's most distinguished leaders for their gubernatorial appointments to the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs.

gov.ca.gov Press Release: Governor Brown Announces Appointments

Sincerely,

C.C. Yin, Founder & Chair

Amy Tong, Nationwide Vice Chair

Lucy Oback, Nationwide President

• A pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
• A plan to clear the massive visa backlogs that are separating families
• A faster process for DREAMers (young people who have entered the U.S. before the age of 16) to earn their citizenship
• A new priority for spouses and children of legal permanent residents be petitioned without numerical limitations

Sacramento, CA - Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs (APAPA), a national, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to empowering Asian Americans in civic engagement, is pleased to announce they received $50,000 from AT&T. The funds will be utilized in 2013 to further APAPA's programs in civic engagement, voters participation and youth leadership.

Read more: AT&T Press Release.pdf (152.73 kb)

Contact: Lucy Oback, National President, (916) 928-9988 or lucyoback@apapa.org.

Please see below for the media release on family immigration courtesy of AAJC.

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Asian American Groups Expresses Deep Gratitude to Sen. Hirono for Work on Family Immigration

Sen. Hirono offers amendment that would address family immigration by considering extreme hardships

WASHINGTON--Today, the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice--Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), Asian Law Caucus (ALC), and Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC)--applauds Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) for her work to strengthen our family immigration system. 

As the only immigrant on the Senate Judiciary committee and in the U.S. Senate, Hirono offered an amendment "Hirono 10" that, if adopted, would have alleviated the extreme hardship some immigrants may experience due to the prolonged separation from their brother, sister, son or daughter not in the U.S. This amendment failed on a vote of 7-11. For many U.S. citizens a sibling or adult child abroad may be the only family he or she has.

"We are extremely disappointed that the Senate Judiciary committee refused to accept Sen. Hirono's amendment, which would have provided limited relief for families experiencing extreme hardships," said Mee Moua, president and executive director of AAJC. "We thank Sen. Hirono and the six members who stood with the millions of families awaiting meaningful family reunification. We look forward to working with the Senate on a solution that addresses all families."

"Senator Hirono's commitment to crafting a humane immigration reform plan that preserves families has been crucial to Asian Pacific American communities," said Tuyet Le, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago. "However, we are disappointed to hear that the Senate Gang of 8 isn't taking into account the enormous and incalculable benefit that our families bring to our lives."

"The failure of the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass an amendment that would have strengthened family immigration by considering extreme hardships will have a devastating effect on immigrant communities across the country, including San Francisco's Chinatown, that have served as a gateway community for over 150 years," said Chris Punongbayan, ALC's acting executive director. "We thank Senator Hirono for her work mitigating the damage to our communities caused by this unprecedented shift in our immigration system."

Sen. Hirono also offered an amendment to allow Filipino World War II veterans to reunite with their loved ones here in the U.S., which passed by a voice vote.

"We applaud Sen. Hirono's willingness to stand up for our communities and for leading the efforts to restore justice to Filipino veterans and their families," said Stewart Kwoh, president and executive director of APALC. "We are gravely concerned, however, that the Senate base bill fails to recognize the importance of family unity for all immigrants and their ability to contribute to the social and economic life of the U.S. We will continue to mobilize to ensure that the path to family reunification remains open and does not exclude our brothers, sisters, and adult married children."

The final roll call vote on Hirono 10:

The AYES were Sens. Hirono, Blumenthal, Coons, Franken, Klobuchar, Leahy and Whitehouse.

The NAYS were Sens. Cornyn, Cruz, Durbin, Feinstein, Flake, Graham, Grassley, Hatch, Lee, Sessions and Schumer.

Reuniting Families for a Stronger America www.reunitingfamiliesnow.org

On April 19, 2013, My Sister's House (MSH) announced Maeley Tom, APAPA's Special Advisor, as one of the newest cast members for their 12th Anniversary Gala on May 20, 2013 in Sacramento. Cast members will perform on stage in a Broadway-style show and funds raised from the event will help provide shelter and supportive programs to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women and children who are victims of domestic violence. For more information, please visit http://www.my-sisters-house.org/.

The Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA) in partnership with local community organizations will be having 2 workshops to provide the public an overview of the job opportunities available with Covered California Rancho Cordova Call Center.

Session Dates & Times:

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 from 12:00-1:30pm and Thursday, April 25, 2013 from 5:30-7:00pm

Location: APAPA National Headquarters, 4000 Truxel Rd., Ste. 3, Sacramento, CA 95834

Links:

Hi,

As the new President of the APAPA Sacramento Chapter, I look forward to personally meeting and working with each and every one of you.  I will continue our chapter’s long history of working collaboratively with partner organizations in the community and look for ways to expand upon it. I will also continue to maintain and build upon the close relationships we have built with our area’s elected officials; we greatly appreciate the openness and willingness they have shown to engage with our community and support APAPA events.  Also, as always, all of the work that APAPA does could not take place without the generous support of our sponsors and I will make sure that we continue to show our appreciation and recognize their importance to our organization.

The dedication and commitment of all of our members---all of you---is absolutely amazing and rest assured that I am well aware of the important role you have played and will continue to play in APAPA’s success.  My door is always open for your input and your volunteer efforts are always appreciated!  I look forward to growing APAPA and taking the organization to the next level.  As someone who has worked in sales and business development for the past 20 years, I know that the key to APAPA’s growth lies in its members.  We need your help to spread the word about APAPA by inviting friends, colleagues, and family to APAPA events.  We also ask that you actively engage with us on APAPA’s social media sites---social media is a quick and easy way that you can help us expand our reach exponentially. If each of our members connected with us on social media and shared our content regularly we could literally ‘click our way to the Capitol.’

Information about immigration reform is all over the news recently.  APAPA will be holding a Town Hall  to help educate and mobilize our community members. We need every member actively participating in this because the stakes are very high for us as nearly 40% of all immigrants to the US come from Asia.  There is an urgent need to make sure that API voices are heard and considered as an integral part of this reform because out of the 13.5 million Asian Americans currently living in the United States, 8.7 million immigrated to the US.  Of particular concern to the API community are proposals that would eliminate certain categories of family-based immigration.  To put these proposals in perspective, if they had been implemented 30 years ago neither I nor my parents nor many of my aunts, uncles and cousins…all of whom are now positively contributing to the US as small business owners, pharmacists, doctors, engineers, etc…would have been allowed to immigrate to the US.

On a lighter note, we are having our annual membership drive and BBQ on June 29^th at the Yin Ranch. Over 500 members attended last year and this year’s event will be even better!  This is a great opportunity for our elected officials, donors, and members to bring their family and friends to socialize in a relaxed atmosphere. This year’s event is Hawaiian themed and it’s a gathering that you won’t want to miss! 

Thanks again for all your support!

Henry Chang

APAPA-CVR will be hosting its Stockton Civic Town Hall Forum on Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 6:00-8:30pm at Central United Methodist Church in Stockton.

For more information, please contact Danny Lee, APAPA-CVR President at 209-479-6727 or by email, dannylee@apapa.org.

Link to APAPA-CVR's page: http://www.apapa.org/cvc/tp-apapa-cvc.aspx