Dear AdvOCAtes,

One of OCA's biggest program areas is our Youth Development and Internship program. The Internship program celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019, and we are excited to see the ways it will continue to grow in 2021 and beyond.

This year has brought many changes, both good and bad, for our young leaders. Everybody was fully virtual for their internship, changing the way we build relationships with each other. All of our interns helped pitch-in during our inaugural Virtual Summit, testing the limits of everyone's internet bandwidth. In the fall, we hired Civic Engagement interns to conduct targeted outreach and focus on ensuring AAPIs were included in the efforts to achieve a complete count and strong voter turn out. We worked across time-zones and regions, allowing interns to join us without being in DC for the first time.

We must continue to build a pipeline of leaders that will bring AAPIs to the table spanning all geographical regions in the United States.

We ask for your continued support and commitment. OCA has launched its end-of-year campaign, “Leading Our Change”, which will help fund our national internships and policy & advocacy work. This will provide college students and recent graduates with the life-changing opportunity to live and work in Washington, D.C. alongside members of nonprofits, nationally renowned thought leaders, and influential Congress members.