The 2019 American Courage Awards are fast approaching!

Every year, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC celebrates leaders who strengthen civil and human rights within the AAPI community at our American Courage Awards.

We are thrilled to honor true pioneers in the community, including former Advancing Justice | AAJC president and executive director Karen Narasaki; former long-time Goodwin Procter LLP Partner Paul Lee; and Fred T. Korematsu Institute founder and executive director Karen Korematsu. We will also be honoring Harvard students supporting affirmative action, represented by Sally Chen and Jang Lee.

This year’s ceremony will be this Thursday, October 3 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. G et your tickets here if you have not already. We can't wait to see you there!

EYE ON THE NEWS

In ZORA, our senior director of census and voting programs Terry Ao Minnis commented on the concern that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders are among the least likely racial groups to fill out the census.

Our director of strategic initiatives Marita Etcubañez was quoted in the Manila Bulletin about the Trump administration inhumanely ending the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program. Read our statement.

Value Our Families director Grace Pai wrote a piece about the importance of our family-based immigration system.

OPPORTUNITIES & EVENTS

Join our next census webinar on engaging college students in the 2020 Census on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

Legal Advocacy and Policy Updates

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC Sues Trump Administration over Citizenship Data Collection
We joined the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and filed suit on behalf of plaintiffs in Arizona and Texas who say they would be harmed by the Trump administration’s plan to collect and provide incomplete citizenship data to the states for purposes of redistricting because it seeks to dilute minority voting strength while increasing white representation. Read more.

Protecting Immigrant Families by Fighting Public Charge
Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), along with pro bono counsel Crowell Moring, filed amicus briefs in four public charge cases. The amicus briefs address the fact that this public charge rule is based on racial hatred and targeting of specific segments of the population — specifically immigrants, women, and children from communities of color.

Improving Broadband Access for Low-Income, Communities of Color
We submitted an amicus brief illustrating that low-income, communities of color have a disproportional disadvantage in accessing broadband internet service. The brief highlighted that this limited broadband access can impact communities' educational and economic mobility. We recommend that regulations minimize the economic burden for these communities.

Tech and Telecom

Future of Work
In partnernship with Spectrum, we launched a new webinar series focused on the telecommunications and technology ecosystem. In our first webinar, we learned more about how the future of work will impact the Asian American community and other underserved communities. We were joined by two experts: Harin Contractor, Director of Workforce Policy at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and Alejandra Montoya-Boyer, Associate Program Director of Community & Economic Development at the National Association of Counties If you missed the webinar, you can watch the recording here.

Facial Recognition Technology: The Need for Robust Civil Rights Protections
As the facial recognition technology market dramatically increases, so does the need to protect people of color from its harmful implications. Read more in our blog.

Spotlights

Welcoming our NAPABA Law Foundation Community Law Fellow

We warmly welcome our new National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation (NLF) Community Law Fellow, Gisela Perez Kusakawa. Kusakawa’s work will play an essential role in protecting the rights of Asian American immigrant communities in the face of increasing attacks from the current administration. Learn more about her here.

2019 Youth Leadership Summit Cohort
We were thrilled to welcome our Youth Leadership Summit cohort in late September, which brought together young leaders from across the country for a three-day leadership development program focused on advocacy, communications, and civic engagement around policy issues impacting AAPI communities. Learn more about this year's cohort. The Youth Leadership Summit is made possible through the generous support of State Farm.

Count On Your Census Podcast

The Advancing Justice affiliation will be launching a podcast called “Count On Your Census” to explain the importance of the 2020 Census, especially for historically undercounted communities. Be ready to tune in to our first three episodes very soon!

On the Blog

Where Words Lead
Mika Rao Kalapatapu wrote a guest commentary about the power of words and what it means to be an American, following the president's "go back" xenophobic rhetoric and the white supremacist killings in El Paso.

Hard-to-Count Mapping for an Accurate Census
We held a census webinar with Steve Romalewski, who directs the CUNY Mapping Service. Romalewski showed us how to use Hard-to-Count maps to better assist with getting out the count in areas and populations that are historically undercounted. Learn more.

Give Today

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