The Advancing Justice Conference is a national civil rights and social justice conference that works to bring together AAPI leaders from across the country to address a broad range of issues facing the AAPI community. The Advancing Justice Conference is a joint project by the Asian American Institute (Chicago), Asian American Justice Center (Washington, D.C.), Asian Law Caucus (San Fransisco) and Asian Pacific American Legal Center (Los Angeles).

The conference serves as a unique forum where community advocates, researchers, and other leaders can meet face-to-face to talk about common challenges and possible solutions. This year, the conference covered a variety of issues including: immigration reform, human rights, civil rights and national security, health care, Census 2010, redistricting, hate-crimes, low-wage workers and LGBT rights. There was also a AAPI Advocacy Day where participants had the chance to meet with members of Congress in the Senate and the House to advocate for reform on immigration enforcement, family reunification, E-Verify and the DREAM Act.

I had the privilege of helping plan the conference this year with APA community advocate Christine Chen. It was truly inspiring to meet the many APA leaders and advocates who all work to benefit and create change in the community. Several prominent APA leaders who attended include:
Harold Koh (Legal Advisor for the U.S Department of State), Kiran Ahuja (Executive Director of the White House Initiatives on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders), Judge Denny Chin (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit), Norman Mineta (Vice Chairman of Hill & Knowlton), Tina M. Tchen (Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls), Faaluaina Pritchard (Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Cultural Center), and many more that can be found at: http://advancingjustice.org/2010/speaker-biographies.

Make sure to check out next year’s Advancing Justice Conference on October 27 – 28 in the San Fransisco Bay Area!