15 Great Asian American Causes
Have you ever burned with the passion to fight injustices produced by racial discrimination? Or to eradicate insulting stereotypes that hinder our acceptance in American society? Or to alleviate the suffering of the disadvantaged? We all have.
No matter how well-intentioned or energetic, few of us have the resources to take on a cause single-handedly. Is the only alternative apathy? Not according to the activists who have committed their full-time energies to establish organizations that channel good impulses into effective action that help those who need it most.
There are hundreds of worthwhile Asian American causes. We present here ten non-profit organizations that have harnessed the contributions of thousands of concerned Asian Americans to make life better for hundreds of thousands more. We encourage you to find one or two that move you and make a real difference by pitching in.
1. New York Asian Women's Center (NYAWC)
Restoring Lives of Abused Women
Most of us will never feel shamed away from seeking basic protection because of cultural gaps and lingual barriers. NYAWC recognizes the social, cultural and economical challenges that immigrant women struggle against, and provides accessible and practical help for those in need.
Every year, NYAWC receives 3,000 calls to its hotline, assisting over 400 battered women and children. With a staggering one-third of the women reporting an increase in their income, and a low 8% of women returning to their batterers, NYAWC not only addresses immediate concerns, but opens doors to new lives.
Starting as a small hotline available for only a few hours a week, NYAWC gained widespread support and grew into a multilingual hotline which now includes 15 different Asian languages and dialects, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In 1988, NYAWC hired its first full-time staff and created a safety shelter for battered women and children, addressing the limited options most battered women face economically. Counseling for battered children and parenting skills services also provide emotional aid and support.
Over the years NYAWC has received many rewards for its achievements, including the President's Volunteer Action Award given in 1991 by President Bush, and the End Domestic Violence Award given in 2002 by Governor George Pataki.
NYAWC continues to expand its reach beyond domestic abuse. In 2005, it launched Project Free, an initiative to end human trafficking and provide services for victims of modern-day slavery.
NYAWC was founded in 1982 as the first domestic violence non-profit organization on the East Coast to serve the Asian communities. Raising public awareness about domestic violence and actively taking steps to empower women, NYAWC acts as a safety net for all women, Asian or Caucasian, immigrant or native-born. For more information on how to help go to http://nyawc.org.
2. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Fighting Suffering Caused by Racial Discrimination
What Asian American hasn't felt the sting of discriminatory treatment or seen the oppressive conditions that mar the lives of the most disadvantaged members of our group? The AALDEF has made its reputation by crusading against precisely those evils.
Its first big victory came in the early 90s when it persuaded New Jersey to stiffen hate-crime penalities. Since then AALDEF has provided legal aid to hundreds of Asian American victims, including South Asians who, after 9/11, became targets for looking "Middle Eastern".
The AALDEF has been a zealous watchdog for the rights of immigrants, low-income tenants and Asian American voters. It won a landmark ruling from the New York Court of Appeals requiring consideration under state environmental laws of the impact of developments on low-income tenants and small businesses.
In 1992 AALDEF secured Chinese-language ballots in New York City elections, allowing more than 54,000 Chinese American voters to participate. AALDEF has also been involved in the fight against sweat shops in Asia and in securing redress for the 120,000 Japanese Americans unjustly interned in during World War II.
AALDEF's staff of ten, including six attorneys, serves more than 10,000 Asian Americans each year through legal counseling and community education programs -- a ratio of 1,666 clients per attorney.
AALDEF is supported wholly by contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations from around the world. Eighty-seven cents of each donated dollar goes directly to legal programs and services, a high ratio among charitable organizations.
AALDEF was founded in 1974 by a group of lawyers, law students and community activitists to provide legal aid to Asian Americans in the New York metropolitan area. Since then it has expanded its reach throughout the U.S. It strives to use the law as a tool to achieve social and economic justice.
3. ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS ALLIANCE (AAAA)
Supporting the Asian American Arts
You won't see these Asians cranking out numbers on their calculator outside of tax season. The Asian American Arts Alliance confronts the prejudices hindering Asian American artists by supporting Asian American arts and cultural groups in NYC through funding, visibility initiatives, and access to more resources.
The Asian American Arts Alliance is a group of artists, organizations and individual supporters who understand the importance and influence of art in society. By encouraging growth within the Asian American arts community, it hopes to strengthen the political and social voice of Asian Americans.
It serves nearly 60 Asian American art groups and individuals in NYC, consisting of a diversified bunch: from new immigrants to fourth generation Asian Americans, from traditional performance art to modern film.
"When our work is often behind the scenes, it's meaningful to be here to showcase how far we've come", comments Executive Director Lillian Cho. The Asian American Arts Alliance regularly holds events that give artists an opportunity to showcase their work. Soundfest is a free, public event held in NYC Chinatown, featuring local Asian American artists breaking into the music world from the hip-hop to the jazz to the traditional perspective. Its Annual Asian American Arts Alliance Gala engineered for more highbrow audiences, includes cocktails, dinner, art performances, and a silent auction.
Some of its programs include SOAR (Small Organization Arts Regrant), providing grants to help small organizations get an extra push; eVOICE, a free online service for artists to promote their work; Culture Pass, offering discount coupons for art exhibitions to further expand the audiences, and regular member meetings, a networking tool for artists to discuss issues and share work. For more information, go to http://aaartsalliance.org.
4. Asia Society
Educating Americans about Asia and Asians
Every Asian American has wished for an end to American ignorance about Asia and Asians. There's no magic pill, but Asia Society has been working to fill the void. Its tireless program of exhibitions, films, performances, lectures and conferences have added a classy, highbrow luster to the richness, complexity and beauty of the peoples and cultures of the over thirty nations that make up the Asia region. It's a badly needed counterpoint to the masses of Asian stereotypes born of hysteria and low-minded sensationalism.
Recognizing the importance of opening American minds while they're young, the Asia Society's K-12 initiatives push for adding more Asian culture into the American educational system and public life. Those in international business will appreciate Asia Society's policy and business programs as well as its longstanding dedication to more dialogue and exchanges among political and cultural leaders on both sides of the Pacific.
The new Asia Society and Museum building at 725 Park Avenue (at 70th St) offers total immersion in Asian culture among likeminded others. The Asian-accented Garden Court Café provides a congenial ambience for discussing the Society's offerings. Regional centers in Northern and Southern California, Washington D.C. and Texas also provide exhibitions, lectures, films and other cultural opportunities. The Society's media offerings now include sites like askasia.org and asiafood.org in addition to various publications.
Asia Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational institution founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III to promote better understanding between Asians and Americans. It is supported by donations from patrons as well as by contributions from foundations and corporations.
5. CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICAN MEDIA (CAAM)
Bringing Asian faces into American Media
What Asian American hasn't felt disgruntled about the absence of Asian faces in the media? As the largest distributor of Asian American videos to over 2,000 colleges and universities, libraries, museums, government agencies, and broadcast stations, CAAM takes it into its own hands to support and propagate Asian American media nationwide.
Distributing over 3,500 films each year and reaching more than ten million viewers by public television broadcast, CAAM's reach is widespread and on the upswing. CAAM not only supports the Asian American media through exposure and distribution, but funding as well. Since 1984, CAAM has given over three million towards independent Asian American film and video productions for public television broadcast.
CAAM's annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) is the nation's largest showcase of Asian American films in the world. Screening over 130 films and boasting an audience of nearly 30,000, the SFIAAFF is a vital launching point for new Asian American independents and regarded as a primary source for production companies alike.
In the '70s, Asian American filmmakers became restless by their marginalized role in the media and sought to counteract negative stereotyping of Asians in the mainstream media so utterly embodied in the 1961 "Breakfast at Tiffany's" film's Mickey Rooney.
In 1980, the independent filmmaker Loni Ding organized a national conference of Asian American producers and media activists to address and counteract the negative images and stereotypes of Asian Americans, by providing Asian American programming for broadcast on public television. Starting with a small film festival presenting a mere dozen films, Asian American films quickly gained ground, leading to the SFIAAFF, and eventually the emergence of CAAM.
CAAM is a non-profit organization that helps spread Asian American media through funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media. For more information, go to http://asianamericanmedia.org/rf_cms/index.php.
6. Japanese American National Museum (JANM)
Bringing Japanese American History to Life
See an actual barracks from the Heart Mountain Internment camps. Experience Nakahama Manjiro's daunting shipwreck adventure through his written accounts. Get a taste of Hawaii at the Kona Coffee story exhibit. These exhibits and many more make up a fascinating visual record of 130 years of Japanese American History presented by the JANM, located in an atmospheric section of Little Tokyo.
The JANM's core exhibit is entitled "Common Ground: The Heart of the Community". Constantly updated, it presents the history of Japanese Americans from 1876 to today. Generations of personal histories reveal how Americans of Japanese ancestry resettled, forged their identity, and contributed to the redefinition of this country.
The JANM's Museum store also offers uniue gifts like beautiful Okasane earrings or a Japanese music doll or a classic shibuya vintage fan. A collection of Japanese music is also available at their Museum Store Online (janmstore.com). Purchases are a fun way to help fund JANM's exhibits and operation.
The JANM's big annual fundraiser is a spectaclar dinner at the posh Century Plaza Hotel and Spa. This year JANM will recognize the key role that Japanese Americans have played in American progress by celebrating over 70 Japanese American family businesses.
JANM was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1985 by community members with the aim of improving appreciation for America's ethnic and cultural diversity by integrating the Japanese American experience into our nation's heritage. It was initially located in the former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple before moving to its current location. For more info or to contribute, go to http://janm.org.
7. Asian American Donor Program (AADP)
Saving Asian Lives one Donor at a Time
You are someone's one in 30,000, according to AADP's chairman, Jonathan Leong. "If you are someone's match in a minority group, you are probably their only hope" Leong says.
The Asian American Donor Program recruits blood and bone marrow donors from the Asian community, increasing donor matches for other Asian Americans suffering from life-threatening blood diseases.
Every year, the AADP raises awareness with its annual gala, FantAsia. featuring Asian performing artists, a dinner prepared by top Bay Area chefs, silent auctions, and more.
When two leukemia patients were unable to find a match within their own families or among the scarce 123 Asian donors in the National Registry, their family and friends successfully recruited over 2,000 Asians in California to the National Registry, but with no success in finding a match. The deaths of these two people gave birth to the Asian American Donor Program, dedicated to saving lives in the Asian community.
The Asian American Donor Program is a non-profit organization that addresses the desperate need for Asian, Pacific Islander, and Multi-racial blood and marrow donors through recruitment and awareness. For more information on how to contribute, go to http://aadp.org.
8. Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW)
Giving Asians a Place in the Literary World
Six Asian Americans started to meet regularly at a Greek diner in the East Village, sharing one unconventional and important thing in common-they were all writers. In 1992, they published the first issue of The Asian Pacific American Journal, and with the crack of a binding, the Asian American Writers' Workshop was founded.
The AAWW has steadily become one of the most active community arts organizations in the country with 800 members and an event audience of about 11,000. Since 1996, its Small Press Division has published ten anthologies and a collection of poetry by Asian American authors. With an impressive list of award-winning books, it has become known as a national educational resource for Asian American literature.
The Annual Asian American Literary Awards are given out to Asian American writers in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, memoir, stage plays and screenplays. The Foreign Student by Susan Choi and A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee are both examples of many award recipients. Much like the People's Choice Awards for Asian American books, The Members' Choice Awards gives members of the AAWW a chance to vote for their favorite titles.
Based in New York, the AAWW sponsors readings and book parties, offers creative writing workshops, and encourages future Asian American authors with CreateNow, an in-house summer writing institute for youth. Drop by its 6,000 square foot establishment at 16th West 32nd Street and you will also find a bookstore and a cozy reading room open to the public.
The AAWW is a non-profit organization that develops and publishes creative writing by Asian Americans nationwide. For more information, go to http://aaww.org.
9. Bridge to Asia
Books for Asia's Developing Nations
Agonizing over those dusty books spilling out of your shelves? Bridge to Asia foundation would like to send them to help educate millions in Asia. If you're wondering how your English-language books could help students in Asia, remember that English is the international language of science and commerce. Books in English prove very useful when a quarter of China's 1.2 billion is learning the language.
As of 2002 the books donated to BTA made up over half the foreign language books in China's 1000-plus universities during the previous five years. BTA has shipped a total of 6 million books over the past 16 years to grateful educational insitutions in Asia's developing nations. With its vast and relatively youthful population, China has been the leading beneficiary. BTA's educational website is another components of its mission to help facilitate scientific and technical education.
Before you start pulling volumes from your shelves, keep in mind that BTA seeks books that would aid with college, graduate and professional level courses. It also accepts journals and magazines, as well as references like dictionaries and encyclopedias. For more details on what to send and where to send it, log onto http://bridge.org. Bridge to Asia was founded in 1987.
10. Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP)
Helping Troubled Teens Survive the American Nightmare
Thirty-one Asian American youth died of drug overdoses during the sweltering summer of '71. A study of the Asian American community revealed the primary cause: Asian teens often felt alienated from the society around them. Differences in culture, family relations and lifestyle intensified a sense of being apart from society.
A proposal to the federal government sought funding for the first ever drug abuse program for Asian Americans. The request was granted in 1972. To this day AADAP remains the oldest and one of only two programs in America organized to provide services for Asian Americans with drug abuse problems.
The problem identified thirty years ago persists today. A high percentage of Asian Americans see themselves as outsiders in a predominantly white society. Drugs and alcohol seem to offer escape from the struggles with the emotional stresses produced by ethnicity and culture.
The AADAP addresses all factors contributing to drug abuse -- cultural, environmental and emotional -- using tools ranging from group counseling to acupuncture. One intensively regimented program leads to completion of the Drug Court Treatment Program leading to dismissal of all drug charges.
Those in need of more intensive treatment are enrolled into AADAP's Therapeutic Community, a residential program lasting 12 to 18 months. It combines access to medical, dental and legal services with educational seminars high-school diploma courses and a wide range of social and recreational activities. Treatment is individualized to overcome specific obstacles to adjustment to life in the outside world.
Recovered patients aren't abandoned to the streets. AADAP's Employment Access Unit takes them through a series of programs to enhance their employability. From occupational counseling to training in job skills, patients are prepared for success in the workforce.
Being the most vulnerable to the temptations of drug and alcohol abuse, Asian American youth are the AADAP's major focus. In addition to presenting educational programs on drug and alcohol, the AADAP also educates Asian teens about the dangers of AIDS and involvement with gangs. They also provide fun events activities to give teens incentive to continue with the more serious programs. AADAP hosts a number of annual events for the Asian community like celebrations for Chinese Lunar New Year, Philippine Independence Day, and for the younger crowd, Halloween.
AADAP programs are offered throughout Southern California, but the majority are in Los Angeles. For more info or to make donations, log onto http://aadapinc.org.
11. Asian Pacific Women's Center (APWC)
Restoring Victims of Abuse to Full Lives
Despite an enclosed courtyard and special security features, the APWC looks like an ordinary apartment building, not an institution or a dormitory. That's because the APWC's aim is to prepare its residents for life outside after an 18-month recovery period, considerably longer than the 12 months alotted abuse victims in other shelters. APWC uses the time to provide the psychological support needed to rebuild emotional stability. It also provides schooling, job skills training and job placement programs. Its approach has helped it achieved a 100% success rate in helping assisted women reach psychological and financial independence.
APWC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing affordable housing for survivors of domestic violence. APWC is located in the Los Angeles area, but has taken in women and children from as far away as San Francisco and Texas to operate at maximal capacity. It welcomed its first residents in May of 2000. APWC is a multilingual center able to provide language-appropriate services for API women and children. For more info or to donate, log on to http://apwcla.org.
12. Chinatown Committee
Enriching Lives in Boston Chinatown
The bustle of Boston Chinatown is produced by hardworking immigrants who work 12-hour days to support their families. The end of the day leaves them without little time or energy to tend to their kids' needs. To help fill that vaccuum, the Chinatown Committee recruits volunteers from nearby Harvard to help grade-schoolers with their homework and supervise creative activities that nurture other dormant talents.
Through the Big Sibs program first-year Harvard students spend three hours every weekend with immigrant children, filling a void positive role models. The program lasts one year but many volunteers find it so awarding that they carry the relationship through until graduation.
The CC's Chinatown Teen Program is aimed helping kids get off to on the right path during the critical early teen years of ages 12-14. From building social skills and friendships to educating kids about drugs, alcohol, and sex, this program not only keeps impressionable kids from making the wrong choices, it challenges them to recognize their individual potential and encourages them to work toward personal achievement.
CC also offers a variety of tutoring classes for adults. Its Computer Lab gives adult workshops taught in English by the Chinese Economic Development Council. Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking adults are offered classes on basic English and conversational skills.
The Chinatown Elderly Visitation Program takes elderly residents on field trips in and around Boston. Enthusiastic volunteers help participants share pleasant experiences with fellow elders for a sense of connection with the world outside Chinatown.
Chinatown Committee was founded in 1976 under Harvard's Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and has grown to be its largest group. Its 150 volunteers largely comprise Harvard students. To volunteer, visit http://hcs.harvard.edu/~chtn.
