Report from the Rochester, NY House Party organized by Lily Lee:

TOP FOUR ISSUES IN OUR COMMUNITY/NATION:

1. Government's inadequate handling of influx of refugees:

From one participant: As discussed with you earlier, my only concern, based upon personal experience, is how, as a world power, the US falls extremely short in putting its best foot forward in helping Asian refugees (Burmese) adapt/transition over to the US/western culture and becoming a contributor as a US citizen, as compared to other countries respectively (Germany and New Zealand). It is rather discouraging to see a poverty cycle introduced to the majority of refugees and right off the boat/plane, they are placed into a very difficult hole to climb out of.

2. Programs to promote business/entrepreneurship -- Particulary in our down economy, what is our government leadership doing to promote business and entrepreneurship, especially among Asian Americans?

Also, "Bamboo ceiling" in career opportunities is an issue.

3. Provide more equal educational opportunities -- Why are Asian Americans not considered "minorities" for scholarship monies and/or admissions to colleges?

4. Promoting a dialogue between Asian Americans across the country with government leadership is a smart move. What can we do to promote interest among Asian Americans and to engage them in affairs that affect them in the country where we live? As a whole, and generally speaking, Asians is too diverse a group and they do not currently work together on agendas that are important in advancing Asians as a strong, cohesive people.

Minimal APA participation in Rochester community (e.g., politics, sports, boards of non-APA related organizations).
Perceived lack of interest among APA community in changing the area of concern #1.

Report from the Rochester, NY party organized by Kseniya Popov Huang:

We had 5 people attend. We had a great time with lots of lively discussion, and our group particularly enjoyed the high level of participation displayed by Tammy Duckworth during the phone conference. Our group consisted of Taiwanese and Chinese-Americans.

The top three issues discussed by our group were:

1) Lack of specifically Chinese-American representation in politics. One attendee pointed out that President Obama had promised to appoint a Chinese-American to his administration, and has not yet done so.

2) The need to encourage Asian-American children to become more involved in civic and social events. This led to a discussion on the need for Asian-American parents to increase their own participation in American civic society in order to model this behavior for their children.

3) Language and social barriers experienced by Asian immigrants. New Asian immigrants find it difficult to engage in politics due to language barriers. Without a model of participation Asian-American children tend to come to politics later, or not at all. Also Asian immigrant parents tend to encourage their children to excel in "single-player" activities, such as playing musical instruments, or participating in spelling bees. These activities isolate Asian-American immigrant children and make it more difficult to become active in American society.

Our group had a great time and enjoyed the conference call. In the future it would be interesting to set up a simultaneous live chat room so that attendees can ask questions of participants while they wait their turn to speak. We have many colleges in our area, but by May 31 most students have returned home or are involved in internships/study abroad, etc. If the conference could be scheduled for earlier in the year this may increase our local attendance.

Gallery Images: 

Wayne Huang, a co-organizer of the event, and Software Test Engineer at Railcomm in Pittsford, NY

Mrs. Jasmine Tang, an ESL teacher from the SUNY-Geneseo and Mrs. Irina Popov, owner of Irina's Music Studio in Utica, NY