DEAR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF JUSTICE:
WELCOME
Welcome to our 40th Anniversary Celebration of Justice! CAA was founded in early 1969 during the height of the civil rights movement to advocate for systemic change within San Francisco Chinatown. Forty years later, while our local work with low-income, limited-English proficient immigrants remains at the core of our mission, we have become a leading voice for the broader progressive Asian Pacific Islander community. Tonight’s event is to remember how CAA’s historic advocacy has not only shaped public policy, but also touched people’s everyday lives. We hope to share with you the broad range of our campaigns—from within local neighborhoods to the federal government—while reflecting on the progress we have made and the obstacles we continue to overcome. Tonight’s occasion is also to explore how CAA will grow within the changing landscape of civil rights. We will showcase our exciting current work while looking to a future that we will build together. Most importantly, tonight’s celebration is to honor the CAA family who has made our “40 Years of Progressive Change” possible. For the volunteers, staff, supporters, and board members past and present, this event celebrates how a community can come together for equity and justice. Our keynote speaker and honorees are among these groundbreaking leaders whose impact has shaped both our organization and the broader community. Thank you for sharing this landmark anniversary with us. CAA is possible only with your support, and we look forward to our ongoing work together to create a more equal and just society. With warm regards,
Vincent Pan Executive Director
Germaine Q Wong Chair, Board of Trustees
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PROGRAM SCHEDULE
WELCOME Aimee Allison and Jeff Chang Emcees
REMARKS and SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS Germaine Q Wong Chair, Board of Trustees Vincent Pan Executive Director
DINNER SERVICE KEYNOTE ADDRESS The Honorable John Chiang
VIDEO PRESENTATION PRESENTATION OF AWARDS Center for Asian American Media Presented by Katheryn M. Fong John Trasvi単a Presented by Henry Der Chief Heather J. Fong Presented by Diane T. Chin Sinclair and May Louie Presented by Vincent Pan
CLOSING
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Supporters
SPONSORS Champion of Justice $10,000 Southern California Edison
Defender of Justice $6,000 FHLBank San Francisco
Advocates of Justice $4,000 AECOM Bingham McCutchen LLP California Teachers Association EHDD Architecture / Barcelon and Jang Architects Laura Lai Kaiser Permanente Rolland and Kathy Lowe Northern California Carpenters Regional Council
Guardians of Justice $2,500 Bank of the Orient Bill Wong Carpenters Local Union #22
Central Subway Chinatown Station Team Chevron Comcast Emily Lee Equality California Institute Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund Frances and Frankie Lee Germaine Q Wong Henry and Priscilla Der Ironworkers Local 377 Jackson Consultancy Jones Day Keker and Van Nest LLP Larry and May Jew Levi Strauss Foundation Minami Tamaki LLP Mock/Wallace Architects Portsmouth Plaza Parking Corporation SEIU United Healthcare Workers Stella and Dick Wong Steven C. Owyang and Onilda Cheung United Commercial Bank Wells Fargo
HOST COMMITTEE Co-chairs: Laura Lai Hyphen magazine Diane T. Chin Henry and Priscilla Der Katheryn M. Fong and Andrew MacInnis Kevin M. Fong Paul and Maxine Fong Ricky Ho and Emily Leung Larry and May Jew Kate Kendell, Esq. Geoff Kors Fred Lau
Mary D. Lau Emily Lee Jack W. Lee and Debbie Ching Darlene and Raymond Lim Joanne Low Kathy Lowe Larry Mock Steven C. Owyang and Onilda Cheung Eva Paterson Donna M. Ryu Ted H. Wang Kou-ping and Connie Y.Yu Helen Zia and Lia Shigemura
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The Honorable
John Chiang
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
California State Controller California State Controller John Chiang is among a new generation of leaders within the progressive Asian Pacific Islander (API) community. He actively promotes civic engagement among minority voters and is a steadfast advocate for civil and workers’ rights. As California’s chief fiscal officer, John plays a critical role in ensuring our state government continues to serve low-income and marginalized communities during hard economic times. John’s formal responsibility as Controller is to oversee more than $100 billion in public funds. He also serves as the state’s independent fiscal watchdog, using his audit authority to uncover fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. John serves on 76 state boards and commissions with diverse responsibilities ranging from protecting the coastline to helping build new hospitals. He also chairs the Franchise Tax Board. Through the Controller’s responsibility to disburse the paychecks of hundreds of thousands of state employees, John consistently demonstrates his strong commitment to workers’ rights. In July 2008, with the budget negotiations deteriorating, John refused to carry out an executive order by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to reduce over 200,000 state workers’ wages to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour in order to close the state’s deficit. His public stance in support of workers against the Governor has brought him to court many times. Today, John continues to work within our state government to ensure our institutions safeguard the rights of California’s diverse constituents. John has also actively promoted civic engagement among minority voters. In February 2008, he joined CAA
and partner groups as a visible ally to encourage limited-English proficient (LEP) voters to learn about their rights and vote in the primary elections. His support also helped CAA advocate the San Francisco Department of Elections to serve our community’s language needs by providing translated materials and hiring bilingual poll workers. In August 2008, John gained national prominence in addressing the Democratic National Convention in Denver, along with other prominent APIs such as Maya Soetoro-Ng, Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth, and Representative Mike Honda. During the 2008 general elections, John took a strong stand as an API leader against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to eliminate the right of same-sex partners to marry. His public role helped educate APIs on the importance of marriage equality and represented API voices within the mainstream community’s understanding of the issue. His innovative progressive leadership is critical and fitting, since as one of California’s twelve constitutional officers, John is also the highest ranking API elected official in the state. John was first elected to the Board of Equalization in 1998 where he served two terms, including three years as chair. He began his career as a tax law specialist with the Internal Revenue Service and previously worked as an attorney in the State Controller’s Office. The son of immigrant parents, Chiang has a BA with honors from the University of South Florida and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. John and his wife, Terry Chi, live in Torrance, California.
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HONOREES
Founded by Asian American activists at a UC Berkeley conference in 1980, the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) has since grown into the largest organization in the country dedicated to advancing Asian American media. At the time of its founding, CAA was fortunate to support what was then known as the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA) as a fiscal agent until the new organization became a formal nonprofit in receiving 501(c)(3) status. CAAM has a leading role in public television programming. During the 1980s, they helped produce the groundbreaking Asian American anthology “Silk Screen” for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Today, CAAM continues to develop diverse award-winning PBS programming, especially during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May. CAAM also
distributes hundreds of media works each year to educators and communities nationwide, as well as make grants through its Media Fund for independent artists working on Asian American-related projects for cinema and television. Since 1982, CAAM has hosted the annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the largest of its kind in the country. Each year the festival screens over a hundred films across three cities of San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Jose. It is a creative showcase for the diversity of the Asian and Asian American communities, while providing a vital launching point for independent filmmakers. The event traditionally takes place in March and triggers a cycle of Asian American film festivals around the country, including those in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Diego, Washington DC, and others.
John Trasviña John is civil rights leader at both the local and national levels on issues ranging from affirmative action to immigration reform. In spring 2009, he was nominated by President Obama to be Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and unanimously confirmed by the US Senate on May 1, 2009. As the Assistant Secretary, he helps administer and enforce federal laws and establish policies to make sure all Americans have equal access to the housing of their choice. John previously served as President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), where he led the “law firm for the Latino community” by advancing litigation and policy on issues including civil rights and immigration. He has also worked for Senator Paul Simon as General Counsel and Staff Director for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. From 1997-2001, John was appointed by President Clinton to serve as special counsel for the only federal government
office devoted to immigrant workplace rights and was the highest ranking Latino attorney in the Department of Justice. John first learned about CAA in 1975 as a student member of the Superintendent’s Affirmative Action Review Committee for San Francisco Unified School District, where he began working closely with former CAA Executive Director Henry Der. John has since become a leading expert on bilingual voting and played a major role as Senator Simon’s counsel to save the fifth immigration preference for siblings of US citizens—the visa most often used by Asian Americans to be reunited with close family members. He has also led congressional oversight and federal investigation of university admissions policies and was the lead staff counsel for the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in 1992. He became a member of CAA in 1979. A native of San Francisco, John holds a BA from Harvard University and JD from Stanford Law School.
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HONOREES
Chief Heather J. Fong For over three decades, Heather has broken glass ceilings within the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and helped it become more inclusive of immigrant and limited-English proficient (LEP) communities. Since she first joined the SFPD in 1977, Heather has worked through the ranks of inspector, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, commander, deputy chief, assistant chief, acting chief—and, in April 2004, when Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed her the permanent police chief, she became the first Asian American woman to head a major metropolitan police force nationwide, as well as the first woman chief in SFPD history. Her familiarity with immigrants and LEP individuals has made her an effective voice for the community. In February 2008, under her leadership, SFPD formally
announced the adoption of Department General Order 5.20, a new comprehensive language access policy that ranks among the most progressive in the country. It raises standards for police officers to provide free language assistance and interpretation services for LEP individuals contacting SFPD. Developed over two years with the input of many civil rights advocates including CAA, the Department General Order marked an important community victory and is a benchmark for police departments nationwide who wish to engage their local LEP communities. Born and raised in San Francisco, Heather holds a BA from the University of San Francisco, where she was a member of the Air Force ROTC, and a MA in Social Work from San Francisco State University.
Sinclair and May Louie Sinclair Louie immigrated to the US at a young age and grew up with his father in a tiny one-bedroom Chinatown apartment with no shower and often went hungry. After graduating from high school, he served in World War II, where he met May’s cousin, who later introduced the young couple to each other. They soon married and returned to San Francisco, starting several souvenir shops in Chinatown. Through their business acumen, at one point Sinclair and May Louie owned seven shops throughout the neighborhood. They hired many local residents and students and became known for both their entrepreneurial skills and generosity as employers. Through the Louies’ support, many of these employees became successes in their own right, who now include lawyers, accountants, and physicians. After the Loma Prieta earthquake weakened Chinatown businesses, the Louies founded the Chinatown Merchants Association and
organized North America’s first Autumn Moon Festival in 1990, both of which strengthened the community’s economic vitality. Today, the festival draws over 100,000 visitors to Chinatown each year. Due to their understanding of how racial and language discrimination impact Chinese Americans, the Louies are leading philanthropists for many causes. They are known throughout San Francisco as tremendous supporters of youth, women, and civil rights organizations, including CAA, the Chinatown YMCA, St. Mary’s Chinese School, and many more. The Louies have now been retired for several years. Their daughter Betty runs the remaining two stores on Grant Avenue. The other daughter Eva is a schoolteacher. Asked about their legacy, May says, “We feel very lucky to be where we are today. We are alive and able to get around on our own. We want other people to have the same opportunities for success.”
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EMCEES
Aimee Allison KPFA Radio Host Aimee Allison hosts and produces the daily KPFA Morning Show. She formerly hosted Comcast Newsmakers and In Good Company on CNN Headline News’ regional broadcasts. Her talk show covers a wide range of issues from the domestic economy to conflict abroad, while featuring unlikely heroes who bring new ideas and connections. Recently, Aimee has hosted national live specials for Pacifica Radio, Link TV, and Clear Channel’s Green 960. She has been profiled in many publications including Yes Magazine, Alternet.org, The Nation, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her multicultural background and unique experiences, ranging from being a soldier to community activist to corporate manager, provide her discussions with diverse insight. She is the co-author of Army of None and holds a BA and MA from Stanford University.
Jeff Chang Author and Journalist Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. He is a 2008 USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the 2008 North Star News Prize. His first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, garnered honors including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. A founding editor of ColorLines magazine and a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons’ 360hiphop.com, he has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, The Nation, and Mother Jones, among others. In 2007, he interviewed Barack Obama for the cover of Vibe. Jeff has worked as a community, labor, and student organizer, and as a lobbyist for the students of the California State University system. Born of Chinese and Native Hawaiian ancestry, Jeff was raised in Hawai’i where he attended ‘Iolani School. He received his BA from UC Berkeley and MA in Asian American Studies from UCLA, having published scholarly articles on culture and race relations in Hawai’i and Los Angeles. Jeff is a current member of CAA’s Board of Trustees.
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40 YEARS OF PROGRESSIVE CHANGE
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n 1969, CAA was founded by young activists who were grounded in both the civil rights and Third World organizing movements. Their work was part of a broader generational and political upheaval to challenge the status quo and achieve social change. Having known one another from working with Chinatown gang members, they saw how their clients’ troubling life circumstances were products of decades of public policies that denied equal opportunities. In founding CAA, they pursued systemic solutions to systemic problems.
DEFENDING CIVIL RIGHTS
CAA’s early efforts used the power of civil rights law to advance change. Working with community partners such as Public Advocates, the Asian Law Caucus, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, CAA helped bring class action and impact litigation on diverse issues. Our work in this arena, for instance, reaffirmed regulations to prevent schools from denying access to educational programs based on a student’s limited-English proficiency (Lau v. Nichols); increased the hiring of women
and minorities in the San Francisco Police Department (Officers for Justice v. Civil Service Commission); and expanded access to job opportunities within the civil service (Hampton v. Wong). In 1978, CAA also worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) to file a lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco for violating language access rights of minority voters guaranteed by the Voting Rights Act (Chinese for Affirmative Action v. Leguennec). While the suit did not prevail, it later set the stage for CAA’s work with the Justice Department to secure a consent decree with the City to provide multilingual materials and ballots for limited-English proficient (LEP) voters.
PROMOTING SOCIAL CHANGE Evolving with the times, CAA has helped many allied efforts to build a stronger progressive community. Since our earliest days, the CAA Board and staff have committed resources to incubating groups who soon became leaders in their own right, such as the Latino Issues Forum, Kearny Street Workshop, and Center for Asian American Media. CAA always has bold aspirations for a better world, and we strive to work across issues and communities in pursuit of this vision.
Because CAA’s success is grounded in the community, the impact of legal action became stronger when joined with our ongoing work in direct services and community organizing. Our active involvement in the grassroots also gave CAA the credibility and power to be a leading voice for the community, while ensuring our campaigns had real relevance in people’s lives. These on-the-ground campaigns won victories to secure jobs for Chinese workers with the high-rise Holiday Inn construction project and dispelled racial stereotypes through cuttingedge public education campaigns with the media. CAA’s understanding of community concerns also shaped our policy advocacy to make government and city agencies more inclusive of racial and language minorities. Over the years, CAA has helped LEP residents access public services despite language barriers and supported immigrants to reunify with their families and win a fair shot to succeed both professionally and personally.
Today, CAA’s work includes core social change projects, including API Equality, which works for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) members of our community, including marriage equality; and Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE), a joint partnership based in Sacramento that advocates at the state level on issues facing Asian Pacific Islanders (API) across California. We also continue to support innovative organizations including Hyphen magazine, a not-for-profit volunteer-run magazine whose goals are to be a catalyst for our community, educate and increase political and social awareness, and provide coverage and analysis of issues affecting APIs. ADVANCING PROGRESSIVE VALUES Unafraid to take controversial and challenging positions, CAA has built a reputation for staying true to our progressive values, especially when political winds have not been favorable. CAA continues to be a critical Continued on next page
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(Photos, starting on page 17) Proposition 209 attacked the merits of affirmative action in California. CAA led coordinated opposition to the measure through petitions and public education campaigns. Media stereotypes like Fu Manchu perpetuated discrimination against APIs. CAA formed the Chinese Media Committee in 1970 to combat these negative images. Voter registration was one of many strategies CAA used to increase political participation among APIs. CAA Executive Director Vincent Pan and Supervisor David Chiu discuss the need for better language access in San Francisco. CAA addresses local issues during the 2008 general elections by bringing together residents and candidates at multilingual candidate forums.
To empower community members to speak for themselves, CAA organized leaders from the Visitacion Valley Parents Association to meet with San Francisco supervisors at the 2009 Immigrant Family Day. Visitacion Valley parents organize a cross-cultural dialogue in their neighborhood to promote understanding between different communities of color. To ensure immigrants and limitedEnglish residents are not left out of the 2010 Census, CAA holds job fairs to recruit bilingual Census workers. API Equality marches for marriage equality in the 2009 Chinese New Year Parade.
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voice for and among APIs on issues such as workers’ rights, affirmative action, school integration, reproductive rights, and rights of LGBT individuals. In advancing a vision of civil rights that is inclusive of all communities, CAA values diversity and difference as critical parts of our work in addressing the intersection of various forms of oppression to achieve positive social impact. THE WORK CONTINUES After 40 years, CAA carries on its vision to defend civil rights and promote social change. We continue to have big aspirations for our work, connecting multiple strategies on both public policy and grassroots levels to win fairness and justice for the community. Today, CAA continues to stand up for immigrants and limited-English speakers. While the character of our campaigns may shift over time, CAA remains grounded in our core progressive values, established history, and a strong vision for the future. CAA has also committed new efforts to anchor and grow the progressive API community, and we are driven by the principles that have served us since 1969: embracing risk, challenging the status quo, and fighting for systemic change A CAA milestone project, which we began since our founding, is our effort to achieve a complete and accurate count on every decennial US Census. We strive to maintain our community’s equitable access to the resources and political representation that follow demographic changes recorded by the Census. For
the 2010 Census, CAA is providing critical leadership by advocating for diversity in Census hiring, targeted advertising in ethnic media, and Census outreach that is multilingual and culturally competent. We have already successfully advocated for City funding to support grassroots outreach and are now convening a coalition of community groups to hold the Census accountable for an accurate count of San Francisco’s low-income, minority, immigrant, and LEP residents. After decades of advocacy, officials broke ground for construction of the permanent City College Chinatown Campus last November. CAA was a leader in the historic coalition to secure this project for educational justice and equity for immigrants in Chinatown. Today, we remain focused on this campaign by helping local workers access the jobs and job training opportunities created by campus construction. In the tradition of our advocacy for jobs with Holiday Inn’s construction years ago, CAA is now working with the City College Board of Trustees to ensure that the Chinatown Campus opens opportunities for local residents. CAA continues to fulfill the promise of access to a quality education without regard to English proficiency, as affirmed by Lau v. Nichols decades ago. CAA’s Visitacion Valley Parents Association (VVPA) is a strong advocate for immigrant parents whose children attend public schools in San Francisco. Through multiple organizing and outreach campaigns each year, VVPA holds the school district accountable to meet the needs of LEP and
English-learner students. Our leadership development trainings and peer-led mentorship model give parents the opportunities to become effective voices for not only their children and families, but the community at large. Because differences in language prevent limited-English speakers from participating in their communities, CAA advances policies to ensure LEP residents can access city agencies and government services despite language barriers. Most recently, CAA helped strengthen the Equal Access to Services (EAS) ordinance, a San Francisco policy that requires public agencies to provide services to LEP residents in their native languages. The EAS ordinance, which was first created with CAA’s advocacy in 2001, not only strengthens institutions in becoming more inclusive of the City’s diverse population, it also makes our communities safer by allowing more individuals to report crimes or fires without barriers of language. Another achievement of CAA’s longstanding advocacy is giving minority voters access to the polling place. In 2008, CAA organized multilingual candidate forums for the general elections and distributed multilingual voter guides and materials on critical races and ballot initiatives. Shortly after the election, CAA held a town hall with newly elected Supervisors David Chiu, Carmen Chu, and Eric Mar at our annual membership meeting to discuss immigrant rights, marriage equality, and government access for language minorities. CAA’s success has always been based on
empowering our community to speak for itself—an approach that is infused into our every effort today. CAA also proudly continues its history of working across boundaries to promote the rights of women, LGBT, and other minorities, Today, CAA is one of the founding members of the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network, which provides services and education to immigrants in seven languages and comprises 12 groups working in broad Latino and Asian communities. API Equality is also at the core of CAA’s work as we continue to organize, educate, and speak out for marriage equality and the equal treatment of LGBT people in the API community. After 40 years, CAA has built a record of advocacy and commitment to progressive values that prepare us to lead future generations of civil rights work. Like our founders, we continue to make a positive impact through multiple strategies on both policy and grassroots levels. Our successes take diverse forms: new laws to protect minority rights, new jobs and educational opportunities for immigrants, and new civic leaders who care about—and come from—our community. In 1969, when our founders came together to empower marginalized Chinese Americans, they saw their advocacy soon win victories for all communities. After “40 Years of Progressive Change,” we carry on their pioneering vision of building a more equal and just society. 19
40 YEARS OF History and Achievements
1969 Community activists and students establish CAA to advocate on behalf of Chinese Americans who are systematically denied equal opportunities in many sectors of society. 1970 CAA assists in preparing the landmark US Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols, which results in bilingual education provisions for growing numbers of Chinese and Spanish-speaking public school students in San Francisco. 1972 CAA demands bilingual election ballots in San Francisco to comply with new state election code mandating bilingual assistance where needed. 1973 CAA joins Officers for Justice and other minority and women’s groups to challenge discriminatory hiring and promotional practices of the San Francisco Police Department. The lawsuit leads to a dramatic increase in API police officers. 1975 CAA files a complaint against the largest HMO in Northern California for failing to provide equal access and services to Chinese-speaking patients. The settlement reached through the federal government becomes a model for other bilingual health access programs. 1978 CAA mounts a national campaign to oppose clustering all Asian and Pacific Islanders in one racial category in the 1980 Census questionnaire. The Census ultimately lists nine distinct API groups. 1979 CAA files an administrative complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission for not providing bilingual emergency telephone services to LEP residents. The PUC establishes a language assistance bureau to provide interpretation for callers and emergency dispatchers. 1983 CAA joins a nationwide coalition to protest the brutal murder of Vincent Chin and initiates a campaign with the US Department of Justice urging prosecution of the two men involved in the killing. The case is appealed and retried. 1988 The first of a series of Broken Ladder reports, analyzing the lack of API representation in management and promotional opportunities in San Francisco civil service, is published. CAA intervenes in the lawsuit against the San Francisco Fire Department to address the under-representation of APIs in the department. 1989 CAA joins nation-wide efforts to stop the regressive Kennedy-Simpson immigration bill, which would have substantially reduced visas and given preference to (Photos, from top) Alice Barkley, Ling-chi Wang, Lambert Choy, Lillian Sing, and Germaine Q Wong.
independent immigrants with English-speaking skills. 1993 CAA and Latino groups work to intervene in the desegregation lawsuit against the San Francisco Unified School District in order to improve services for educationally disadvantaged minority students, especially low-income and immigrant students. 1995 CAA convinces San Francisco Unified School District to transform Galileo High School into a new magnet school, the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, benefiting its primarily low-income, minority, immigrant, and limited-English proficient students. 1996-1998 CAA plays a lead role in coordinating opposition to California Proposition 209, the antiaffirmative action initiative, and Proposition 227’s attack on bilingual education. Staff develop programs to help local businesses and workers overcome the barriers created by 209. To serve the Chinese American community in the rapidly changing Visitacion Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, CAA opens an office in The Village, home to numerous organizations serving the diverse communities of the Valley. 1969 1999 CAA successfully advocates for tens of millions of dollars in state and local funds to support Census 2000 ethnic media coverage and community outreach, aimed at improving the count of usually dramatically under enumerated APIs and other hard-to-count communities. 2000 CAA combats the racial profiling and incarceration of Dr. Wen Ho Lee through national organizing, supporting legal actions, and media advocacy, including purchase of a full-page ad in The New York Times entitled “Charged with being ethnic Chinese.” 2001 CAA successfully advocates for the passage of the Equal Access to Services Ordinance in San Francisco, requiring key City agencies to provide services to limited-English proficient communities. 2002 A study published by CAA finds a 22% decrease in total dollars awarded to minority/women-owned businesses in seven government agencies after passage of Proposition 209, resulting in a loss of almost $100 million dollars annually to these businesses. 2003 CAA opens the first statewide policy office for APIs based in Sacramento. Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality works on issues such as language access, voting rights, equal opportunity, and educational equity. AACRE produces the first Asian and Pacific American Legislative Report Card, reporting on how California state
legislators voted on priority issues for APIs. CAA teams up with grassroots API organizations around the state to defeat Proposition 54, which would have banned state and local governments from gathering race and ethnicity data. 2004 CAA launches the Visitacion Valley Parents Association, a community organizing project for limitedEnglish proficient Chinese Americans in Visitacion Valley, focused on parent leadership development to improve public education. CAA releases The Language of Business: Adopting Private Sector Practices to Increase Limited-English Proficient Individuals’ Access to Government Services. 2005 No Parents Left Behind, a CAA report recommending public school improvements in the translation of important written communications into languages parents can understand, leads to new allocations to the California Department of Education to increase resources for translation. CAA and AACRE co-sponsor and get passed the California Hate Crime Civil Remedies Act. 2006 To meet the needs of dislocated garment workers, CAA partners with community groups to expand vocational training and job placement services. CAA publishes Lost Without Translation, a survey report on language barriers faced by LEP parents with children in the San Francisco Unified School District. CAA participates in multiple efforts to combat racist stereotyping and hate speech in the media, as well as to mobilize a progressive API voice on issues ranging from protecting Chinese Hospital to comprehensive immigration reform. 2007 CAA successfully advocates for an Office of Language Services in San Francisco, doubles the funding available to support LEP public school parents in San Francisco, and secures funding for a neighborhood workforce center in Chinatown. CAA leads over 100 community groups in the historic community mobilization to win approval for a permanent City College Campus in San Francisco Chinatown to provide generations of immigrant students with equal access to educational opportunities. 2008 To improve public safety and protect immigrant rights, CAA and allies successfully advocate for a San Francisco Police Department General Order on police interactions with LEP residents. To foster the next generation of API leaders, CAA and API Equality train the first nine Helen Zia Fellows for Social Change to lead social justice campaigns on California college campuses. CAA organizes three multilingual candidate forums for the November local elections to increase political engagement among immigrants and LEP individuals. 21
2009 CAA STAFF AND BOARD
Staff Vincent Pan Executive Director Benita Benavides Community Advocate Ka Yan Cheung Community Organizer Susan Hsieh Communications and Membership Coordinator Victor Hui Finance and Administration Manager
Yorbee Hui Receptionist/Intake Coordinator
Ronnie Rhoe Director of Community Development
Eric Xiyu Li Development Coordinator
Santosh Seeram-Santana AACRE Legislative Advocate
Susan Mooney Associate Director
Michelle Yeung Community Advocate – Immigrant Rights
Elaine Ng Employment Advocate Tawal Panyacosit, Jr. Director of API Equality
Board of Trustees Germaine Q Wong Chair
Jeff Chang
Kent M. Lim
Robert Chen
Rolland C. Lowe
Lester Olmstead-Rose Treasurer
Bernadette Chi
Omar Mencin
Jackson Chin
Raymond Sheen
Stephanie Ong Stillman Secretary
Leon Chow
Anne Tang
Philip Hwang
Kathy Owyang Turner
Bill Jeong
Cecillia Wang
Keith Kamisugi
L. Ling-chi Wang
Deborah Lao
Bill Wong
Celia Lee
Victoria Wong
Frances Lee
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CAA was founded in 1969 to protect the civil and political rights of Chinese Americans and to advance multiracial democracy in the United States. Today, CAA is a progressive voice in and on behalf of the broader Asian and Pacific American community. We advocate for systemic change that protects immigrant rights, promotes language diversity, and remedies racial injustice.
Chinatown The Kuo Building 17 Walter U. Lum Place San Francisco, California 94108 415-274-6750 Visitacion Valley 29 Leland Avenue San Francisco, California 94134 415-287-0228 AACRE | Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality 1225 8th Street, Suite 590 Sacramento, California 95814 916-321-9001
CAA | Chinese for Affirmative Action
www.caasf.org