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Help Mark Takano Make DCCC’s Red to Blue

January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You can help make history* – please give and encourage others to give to Mark Takano‘s campaign by Monday, and help him make DCCC Red to Blue status. red to Blue is one of the signature programs of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and provides top tier candidates wit matched funds and technical support.

The can be donations of any size. We, of course, want to exceed the 100 person goal and prove to the DCCC that we have the will to win.

What is at stake is earning Red to Blue status. We are very much in contention for being considered for this designation. By helping his campaign make Red to Blue, you will ensure that every dollar raised now will be matched when the DCCC makes the campaign a top target.

*Takano would be the first openly gay minority member of Congress. A Japanese American high school teacher for over two decades, he was born and raised in Riverside, where he has been a public servant since 1990.

–Caroline

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, California, Caroline, Congress, Democratic Party, Running for Office

Please support the following candidates by Dec 31

December 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Happy holidays to you and yours.  The clock’s ticking down on 2012 but there’s still time to give to a deserving candidate!

The AAA Fund has had a stellar year that included electing the 1st Asian American city councilor in Chicago, who ran a shoestring campaign of $10,000 against a machine candidate, and re-electing Virginia State Rep. Mark Keam (a former AAAF board member turned elected!) We also supported grassroots citywide candidates in Boston and Philadelphia who pushed the boundaries (as a matter of fact the incumbent Boston city councilor who only won by 80 votes is trying to redistrict Chinatown in half so that he can’t lose the primary again!)

We are looking forward to a highly active and exciting 2012, and hope you will contribute to us so that we can endorse and work for stellar AAPI candidates (and candidates who care about AAPI issues) and develop young AAPI political leaders. You can also support us by donating to one of our endorsed candidates.

A number of AAA Fund candidates are in highly competitive races and need a quick boost before Jan 1st. Please consider giving to our candidates so that they can have even better showings this quarter:

-Mark Takano, Congressional candidate for Riverside, CA: would be first openly gay Congressman of color. By giving to Mark, you can help him meet his 4th quarter goals and help him make the DCCC’s Red to Blue program. This race certainly qualifies, as the district shifted from a +7 Republican registration advantage to a +7 Dem adv.

-Mazie  Hirono, Senate candidate and current US Rep from Hawaii: she was already endorsed by the DSCC as a woman leader to watch.This could be the seat that keeps the Senate in Democratic hands.

-Mike Honda, incumbent congressman from the Bay who was redistricted into Alameda County and will now represent even more APIs. AAA Fund Honorary Chair and Chair Emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, as well as Vice Chair of the DNC.

-Ami Bera, a public health physician in Sacramento and previous AAAF endorsee, Bera also has one of the most closely watched races in the country.As a physician and educator, Bera has in depth and firsthand knowledge about two of our nation’s most important issues.

-William Tong, a candidate for Senate in Connecticut and 1st Asian Am State Rep in CT: Tong’s historic run and meteoric rise sets the path for other APAs.

I’m looking forward to developing a number of progressive AAPI candidates and political leaders in 2012, and hope that this is our best year yet.

-Caroline

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, AAA Fund, Caroline

How the rightwing gets progressive money to tear down teachers

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Former AAA Fund blogger Lee Fang has a great investigative article up in the Nation (“How Online Learning Companies Bought America’s Schools) on how the Gates Foundation is giving conservative think tank American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) nearly half a million – $400,000 – to sponsor education reform bills at the state level. ALEC is not a friendly organization – it doesn’t promote the health and welfare of underserved communities, or anything that you might associate with the good that the Gates Foundation does. It is the main policy organizing arm of the right wing that pushes the most heinous anti-immigrant (SB 1070 clones), anti-civil rights (they push all the restrictive voter bills), anti-worker, anti-health care reform bills at the state level, and they try to do it across all the states. Basically, if a large corporation like Blue Cross Blue Shield has a bill they want to promote, they give money to ALEC to help them get state legislators to sponsor and move their bills along. 85% of their funding comes from corporations.

I can say this from first hand experience – I spent more than a year fighting anti-immigrant, anti-worker policies across the states that ALEC was pushing. And now everyone knows the terrible impact that they can have, from Arizona to Alabama.</rant>

Going back to Gates funding an anti-teacher agenda. Crooks and Liars has additional analysis:

Education for profit is lucrative and alluring, especially to people with large sums of money parked and waiting for investment in big-profit items. So when Bill Gates claims to stand for education reform in this country, I place him squarely in the category of those who stand to profit from privatized education.

Teachers are up against a wide range and nexus of for-profit education corporations, companies that make money by performing measurements of No Child Left Behind (SchoolNet is one), venture capital firms (led by KleinerPerkins), hedge funds and finance types, elected officials, and foundations (Gates, Eli Broad, Dell, etc.) which are seeking to push anti-union and anti-teacher proposals. These groups hire high-priced lobbyists to promote their agenda:

Levesque noted that reform efforts had failed because the opposition had time to organize. Next year, Levesque advised, reformers should “spread” the unions thin “by playing offense” with decoy legislation. Levesque said she planned to sponsor a series of statewide reforms, like allowing taxpayer dollars to go to religious schools by overturning the so-called Blaine Amendment, “even if it doesn’t pass…to keep them busy on that front.” She also advised paycheck protection, a unionbusting scheme, as well as a state-provided insurance program to encourage teachers to leave the union and a transparency law to force teachers unions to show additional information to the public. Needling the labor unions with all these bills, Levesque said, allows certain charter bills to fly “under the radar.”

Public sector workers have been under attack this cycle, and there’s no doubt that teachers don’t have the clout to combat these bills on their own. 

Lobbyists like Levesque have made 2011 the year of virtual education reform, at last achieving sweeping legislative success by combining the financial firepower of their corporate clients with the seeming legitimacy of privatization-minded school-reform think tanks and foundations. Thanks to this synergistic pairing, policies designed to boost the bottom lines of education-technology companies are cast as mere attempts to improve education through technological enhancements, prompting little public debate or opposition. In addition to Florida, twelve states have expanded virtual school programs or online course requirements this year. This legislative juggernaut has coincided with a gold rush of investors clamoring to get a piece of the K-12 education market. It’s big business, and getting bigger: One study estimated that revenues from the K-12 online learning industry will grow by 43 percent between 2010 and 2015, with revenues reaching $24.4 billion.

Needless to say, I don’t think online education is the main solution to our education crisis. And I’m definitely opposed to companies profiting from replacing real live teachers with video teachers. That’s not a substitute teacher, that’s a virtual teacher, as in virtually no education.

Thirteen other states have enacted laws to expand or initiate so-called school choice programs this year.

Meanwhile, ALEC has continued to slip laws written by education-tech lobbyists onto the books. In Tennessee, Republican State Representative Harry Brooks didn’t even bother changing the name of ALEC’s Virtual Public Schools Act before introducing it as his own legislation. Asked by the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Tom Humphrey where he got the idea for the bill, Brooks readily admitted that a K12 Inc. lobbyist helped him draft it. Governor Bill Haslam signed Brooks’s bill into law in May. The statute allows parents to apply nearly every dollar the state typically spends per pupil, almost $6,000 in most areas, to virtual charter schools, as long as they are authorized by the state.

It’s worse than charter schools – it’s video schools. The onslaught is coming, be forewarned and arm yourself with knowledge.

– Caroline

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, Caroline, Civil Rights/Liberties, Demographics, Education, Jobs/Employment Issues, Republican Party, Social Justice, Voting Rights

Herman Cain biased against non-Christian doctors

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Herman Cain has some real problems with foreign doctors, and doctors with funny last names.

He did have a slight worry at one point during the chemotherapy process when he discovered that one of the surgeon’s name was “Dr. Abdallah.”

“I said to his physician assistant, I said, ‘That sounds foreign — not that I had anything against foreign doctors — but it sounded too foreign,” Cain tells the audience. “She said, ‘He’s from Lebanon.’ Oh, Lebanon! My mind immediately started thinking, wait a minute, maybe his religious persuasion is different than mine! She could see the look on my face and she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mr. Cain, he’s a Christian from Lebanon.’”

“Hallelujah!” Cain says. “Thank God!”

The crowd laughs uneasily.

N Magazine writer Dan Amira writes, “We’re almost shell-shocked by how unbelievably bigoted that story is. Apparently, in addition to being terrorist sympathizers who want to replace the Constitution with Sharia, Muslim-Americans are supposed to be pro-cancer now, too.”

That whole anecdote is just so loaded. Allow me to unpack and vent here:

1) What constitutes too foreign, and how do you know when your name has crossed the line? Is it determined by radius – like Dr. Tavarez has a foreign name but that name sounds like it comes from somewhere close to the equator in Southern Hemisphere. But Dr. Abdallah – that name sounds like it comes from somewhere further than the International DateLine, that’s too much?!?

2) Foreign born doctors (and let’s remember not all doctors with funny names are foreign-born. Plenty of them grew up and were born here.)  Cain’s bias isn’t just unfortunate, it’s also wrong. Too bad for him, the face of medicine is changing and foreign born doctors make up a increasing percentage of the doctor population, and more importantly, studies show that they are just as competent as US-trained doctors, and more competent than US born doctors who went to international medical schools.

3) This whole distrust of medical professionals who have a different religion than him is odd to me. I’ve never questioned if my doctor is Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist, fundamentalist or anything. I don’t believe it factors into how doctors practice modern medicine today, and my friends who are doctors don’t judge patients by their beliefs.

To close, Cain’s bias against “foreign” doctors is about as understandable as his rationale for running for president.

-Caroline

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, Caroline, Culture, Republican Party, Social Justice

OWS is an opt-out movement

November 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I have been struggling with how to define and explain Occupy Wall Street to people who ask. Is it the sunny park in front of Los Angeles City Hall where Tom Morrello played for an enthusiastic and diverse crowd of people willing to share food, materials, ideals? Is it the drum circle at Zuccotti Park (not really a park but just a patch of concrete as many such NYC parks are defined) in the shadow of 4 skyscrapers? Is it the hapa family with kids camping out at McPherson Square? Is it millions of Americans who are seeking work, from the recent college grad who has tends of thousands in loans but no way of paying them off, to the almost 60 year old small businessman who has to declare bankruptcy right before he was supposed to retire? I see Occupy Wall Street in the Asian American faces of the 99 percent, in my friends and family who have been looking for work for so long, ashamed of not being able to contribute to their families in a striving immigrant culture that doesn’t want to talk about unemployment.

Even friends who are likely to be sympathetic are frustrated by the lack of a cohesive message and goals. Broadly I think of OWS as being about addressing financial inequality. Matt Taibbi in “How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests” has a whole article about how he sees OWS as being essentially opt-out, seeking an exit from the grind: “We’re all born wanting the freedom to imagine a better and more beautiful future. But modern America has become a place so drearily confining and predictable that it chokes the life out of that built-in desire.”

He admits that he didn’t get it at first, “But now, I get it. People want to go someplace for at least five minutes where no one is trying to bleed you or sell you something. It may not be a real model for anything, but it’s at least a place where people are free to dream of some other way for human beings to get along, beyond auctioned “democracy,” tyrannical commerce and the bottom line.”

He addresses his ambivalence about the cops, who are a part of the 99% (and some cops do recognize this) as a target of the OWS movement, because they are working class too.But ultimately it’s not about the cops doing their job, it’s about the decisionmakers who prioritize what crimes get prosecuted:

This is a profound statement about who law enforcement works for in this country. What happened on Wall Street over the past decade was an unparalleled crime wave. Yet at most, maybe 1,500 federal agents were policing that beat – and that little group of financial cops barely made any cases at all.

. . . People want out of this fiendish system, rigged to inexorably circumvent every hope we have for a more balanced world. They want major changes. I think I understand now that this is what the Occupy movement is all about. It’s about dropping out, if only for a moment, and trying something new, the same way that the civil rights movement of the 1960s strived to create a “beloved community” free of racial segregation. Eventually the Occupy movement will need to be specific about how it wants to change the world. But for right now, it just needs to grow. And if it wants to sleep on the streets for a while and not structure itself into a traditional campaign of grassroots organizing, it should. It doesn’t need to tell the world what it wants. It is succeeding, for now, just by being something different.

This is what is moving about Occupy Wall Street – people want change, and they are taking the time to deliberate about what changes they want to see during General Assembly. Folks are participating in the dialogue of the commons again, and they are reclaiming the commons space. People are questioning again. I actually don’t know if OWS is permanently an opt-out movement, or if the whole can even be described as such – Occupy the Polls and caucuses is happening in Iowa and New Hampshire because people till see the importance of electoral participation. Not as a be all, end all, not as a “once we elect this woman or man, s/he will create the changes that we want” but as a longer term discourse about what kind of society we want to be. Communities across America are coming back together, picking up the pieces, and strengthening our neighborhoods. We see it in upstate New York, where a community decided to build their own department store and sold shares to local residents. We see it in the tent cities across America, where people are congregating because they care again, and they care enough to join others. So in a sense, I feel that OWS is not as much opt-out as it is the pause before these disillusioned Americans opt back in, and how.

–Caroline

 

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, Caroline, Civil Rights/Liberties, Culture, Economy, Grassroots Activism, Jobs/Employment Issues

the 15 apa women leader spotlights: caroline fan

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Our very own Caroline Fan was recently featured by Hyphen Magazine, NAPAF, and Angry Asian Man as an Asian Pacific American Woman Leader. Here at the AAAF, we truly appreciate Caroline and unwavering dedication to empowering AAPIs. She’s a real inspiration to the community and a great leader.
Caroline Fan
Nominated by Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.

Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian Pacific American (APA) union members. Since its founding, APALA has played a unique role in addressing the civil, immigrant, and workers’ rights of
660,000 APA union members. Serving as a bridge between labor and community groups, APALA has 13 chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C.

Describe your name.
My parents named me for the state I was born in.

How do you identify?
Proud daughter of immigrants and loyal friend. Activist, political geek and foodie.

Your passion issues?
I’ve always been for the underdog. Immigration, labor, health care, environmental justice, transportation, voting rights, women’s rights, LGBT, civil rights & liberties – you name a hot button wedge issue and I’ve worked on it. I’m inspired by the DREAM Activists, Occupy Wall Street movement, and frontline health care providers who still give patients their all despite reduced staffing and hospital budgets. I’m revved up by our members!

Best advice someone has ever given you?
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Props to Gloria Caoile, who is one of the best askers I know.

Who’s your hero?
My mom, who works as a dietitian to educate patients about how to take care of themselves, and still serves as president of our local Chinese school, more than a decade after I graduated.

Biggest lesson you’ve learned as an APA Woman?
It’s ok to be a troublemaker. Without instigators, change doesn’t happen.

What advice would you give to other Asian Pacific American women?
Find mentors and be a mentor to others. I have been lucky to have folks invest in me, and I try to pay it forward.

Why support NAPAWF?
NAPAWF brings a gender analysis to the work that we do and creates strong networks of fierce sisters.

Favorite guilty pleasure?
Angry Birds.

APALA says:
As a communications maven and organizer, she works tirelessly to advance immigrant and worker rights. In 2008-2009, her work ensured that no significant anti-immigrant bills passed in the states, passing anti-child labor law in Iowa and defeating regressive legislation in
states like Arizona, Georgia and Kansas. A prolific writer and feminist, at the age of 19 she was published in Yell-Oh Girls, an Asian American women’s anthology.

Caroline firmly believes that leadership includes bringing others up and mentors other young women through CAPAL and the National Urban Fellows. She serves as Endorsements Chair of the Asian American Action Fund, where she has increased the numbers of endorsed women candidates and helped 10 APA women get elected. She established its Campaign Fellows program which puts young APAs on hot campaigns to develop a new generation of political leaders, and started the award winning AAAFund blog.

Donate in honor of Team Caroline and APALA:
Sustain the work of fierce APA sisters like Caroline by donating to their team here.

Filed Under: Caroline, Hyphen Magazine

Elections results

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here are the races I’m following and the sites I’m checking tonight:

1) AAA Fund-endorsed educator Suzanne Lee for City Council
Boston Unofficial Elections results

Update 1: With 52% in, Suzanne Lee is LEADING incumbent Bill Linehan 55%-45%. Very exciting!

Update 2: 70% of vote in, an Lee’s lead has shrunk to 51-49. It would be quite a feat to defeat a sitting councilman.

Update 3: Lee’s lead is now 10 votes. Who says local elections aren’t exciting?

Update 4: 85% in ans Suzanne is maintaining a narrow lead by 1%.

Update 5: Final results in for Boston district 2:

DISTRICT 2 COUNCILLOR
Total
Number of Precincts 27
Precincts Reporting 27 100.0 %
Vote For 1
Times Counted 10538/48182 21.9 %
Total Votes 10084
Number of Uncast Votes 454
BILL LINEHAN 5065 50.23%
SUZANNE LEE 4978 49.37%
Write-in Votes 41 0.41%

 

2) Ohio’s No on 2 initiative against SB 5, a heinously anti-worker bill that strips public employees like teachers, firefighters, and EMT workers of their right to bargain collectively.
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Update: Issue 2 looks like it is headed for solid defeat, a good day for unions and working families. GOP legislatures and Governors should read this as voters telling them that they have gone too far.

3) New Jersey state legislative races in LD 14 and LD 38. These districts should have a high APA turnout.
NJ Board of ElectionsNJ.com for news coverage

Update 1: In LD 38, Democratic incumbent Gordon is edging Driscoll. Can’t wait to see exit polls!

Update 2: in the tightest race in NJ, GOP state sen candidate Driscoll concedes to Gordon.

Update 3: Democratic incumbent Linda Greenstein keeps her state sen seat in SD 14.

4) Virginia state legislative races. APAs are a big part of the voter universe here, and can play a key role as the swing vote in several elections including that of Sen. Dave Marsden (SD 37) which covers APA dense areas like Centreville and AAAFund’s very own Mark Keam.
VA Board of Elections

Update 1: Early returns seem close in VA Sen 37 with Marsden just trailing Flannery by 211 votes and 12% reporting.

Update 2: Marsden within 5 votes with 14% in.

Update 3: Marsden takes lead, 52-48 with 28% reporting.

Update 4: Marsden widening lead to almost 700 votes.

Update 5: Mark Keam had no opposition, and thus over 99% of votes.

Update 6: Marsden up by 1300 votes.

Update 7: With 67% in, Marsden is at 54-46.

Update 8: All votes in and Mardsen has won by 2705 votes.

And if you haven’t gone to vote yet, it’s not too late – polls in most places close at 8pm. If you don’t know where your poll site is, go here to find out.

Overall, a good night for Dems and progressives, as Mississippi votes against personhood, and voters find the GOP has overreached. Republicans in Michigan and New Jersey should listen the way Ohio Gov. Kasich claims he is listening to the will of the voters.

A bonus two races: SF Mayoral & recall of AZ state senator Russell Pearce. thankfully, infamous anti-immigrant Republican Russell Pearce is trailing political novice Jerry Lewis in a recall election.

SF mayoral: With 14% of votes cast, Ed Lee holds a 40% advantage, not quite yet 50% + 1 which would avoid the ranked choice voting scenario. Now with 59% in, Ed Lee’s count has fallen to 33%.

-Caroline

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, AAA Fund, Caroline, Virginia

Join William Tong in New York

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Please join

Asian American Action Fund * Al Benninghoff * John Castiglione
Dave Dawson * Lee Dugger * Caroline Fan * Michael Horwitz
Faina Ibragimova * Jared Kalina * PJ Kim * Leah Kozak
Jeff Kurzon * Muwu Alex Li * Kevin Macleod * Anupama Naidu
Steve Newmark * Peter Sayer * Matt Shepatin * Phil Walotsky
Jeanne Wilcke * Ben Yee

For a Grassroots Professional Networking Event
Supporting
HON. WILLIAM TONG
Candidate for U.S. Senate (D-CT)

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
At Mug Lounge
448 E. 13th St (Between 1st Ave and Ave A)
New York, NY 10009

Suggested Contribution:
Friend: $100 * Patron: $50 * Guest: $20

Click Here to Contribute Online
Please make contributions payable to:
Team Tong 2012, P.O. Box 107, Stamford, CT, 06904

For more information on this event or to RSVP, please contact:
Jeff Kurzon at 646-416-0382 or by e-mail at Jeff@Kurzon.com
Contributions or gifts to Team Tong 2012 are not tax-deductible.

The maximum contribution allowable for this campaign is $7,500 per person. By submitting your contribution, you agree that the first $2,500 is designated for the primary and the second $2,500 is designated for the state convention. Any additional amount up to $2,500 is designated for the general election.

Federal law prohibits contributions to the campaign from corporations, labor organizations and national banks; from any person contributing another person’s funds; from foreign nationals who lack permanent resident status; and from federal government contractors.

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, AAA Fund, Caroline

Suzanne Lee Sprinting to the Finish Line in Boston

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Political newcomer Suzanne Lee came out of the primary for Boston City Council District 2 roaring with a first place finish over incumbent Bill Linehan. Now she and Linehan are locked in a race for the general election on November 8. As the Boston Globe writes, “If Suzanne Lee didn’t shock the Boston political establishment last week, she certainly surprised it by placing first in the District 2 preliminary election.”

Lee, 61, launched her campaign in January and has spent almost a year knocking on doors, handing out fliers, and attending community meetings. People across the district now recognize Lee when she arrives on their doorstep, a testament to the determination of an immigrant who worked in a factory as a 13-year-old.

Lee’s pitch always begins with schools. She worked for 35 years as a teacher and principal, leading the turnaround of the Baldwin School in Brighton before running the Josiah Quincy School in Chinatown. Lee tells voters that she has spent her career bringing diverse people together to solve problems, which she says is exactly what the government needs.

“I’ve done great work for parents and children,’’ Lee frequently tells voters. “I want to bring my passion to the City Council.’’

Paul Adams, 57, a construction inspector from South Boston, said he joined Lee’s campaign as a volunteer after she won the preliminary.

“I’m not anti-Bill Linehan, I’m pro-Suzanne Lee,’’ said Adams, who has gone door-to-door with his candidate, encouraging his neighbors to give her their vote. “My argument is, what if the person from Chinatown can do more for South Boston? I don’t think it should be a territorial decision. It should be a prudent decision.’’ (Boston Globe, 10/19/11)

In addition to Asian American Action Fund’s endorsement, and phonebanks, we are bundling additional money for her campaign to provide her with a final push for the last leg of the race. She has some solid endorsements and organizational support on the ground.

Please consider giving to a longtime educator and political reformer here: https://secure.actblue.com/page/aaaforsuzanne

-Caroline

Filed Under: 2011-2012 Campaign, Caroline

APALA hiring a Membership & Chapter Coordinator

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Job Description for Member & Chapter Coordinator

Join a small but dynamic team of organizers in fighting for economic justice and promoting civic engagement in the Asian Pacific American community. Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian Pacific American (APA) union members and allies. APALA unites generations of Asian Pacific Americans and labor activists in advocating for worker, immigrant, and civil rights. Recently, APALA incorporated the APALA Education Fund to educate Asian Pacific Americans and the broader public regarding rights in the workplace; host forums with the goal of educating the public, policy leaders and public officials regarding the working conditions of and challenges for the Asian Pacific American community; and to promote civic engagement and participation among the community.

 

Position Overview

The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO & APALA Education Fund seeks a full-time Member & Chapter Coordinator that will oversee member & chapter expansion & development, including, but not limited to implementing a national membership mobilization campaign, engaging the membership in all APALA programs, the Organizing Institute and other training & leadership development programs. The Member & Chapter Coordinator will serve as a representative of APALA and the APALA Ed Fund and should be comfortable presenting in front of large and small audiences.

This position is based in Washington, DC and reports to the APALA Executive Director.  Nights and weekends may be required with occasional travel. Competitive salary with 2 weeks paid vacation, health and disability insurance, and retirement savings. The primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Member & Chapter Engagement:

1.    Oversee the implementation of a national membership mobilization campaign, in consultation with NEB and chapter leadership;

2.    Act as liaison with chapter leaders and support chapter involvement in national campaigns; and

3.    Participate in the planning and coordination of APALA’s Biennial Convention.

Program Design & Implementation:

1.    Implement national field plan including chapter visits and campaigns through planning, implementation, and evaluation.

2.    Work with the National staff to develop APALA campaign plans and organizing materials.

3.    Oversee planning and execution of APALA’s Organizing Institute and other regional/state trainings and strategy sessions.

Communications:

1.    Enhance APALA’s communications program that includes the following components:

a.    Produce press advisories & releases on an as needed basis; and

b.    Maintain APALA Facebook page and Twitter account.

2.    Produce educational fact sheets, and other relevant materials; and

3.    Produce monthly electronic newsletter, in conjunction with Associate Director.

Internal Operations Support:

1.    Process membership & chapter reimbursements; and

2.    Other duties as outlined by the APALA Executive Director.

Desired Skills & Experience

1.    At least 2 years of experience with social justice organizations;

2.    BA or BS degree in political science, labor relations, or equivalent work or education-related experience;

3.    Knowledge of Asian Pacific American communities and the labor movement;

4.    Strong interpersonal, writing & oral skills, with the ability to communicate effectively and professionally with a diverse range of people;

5.    Strong database skills and experience with Excel and Access, along with a willingness to learn Catalyst and VAN.

6.    Ability to work independently and manage time effectively; and

7.    Strong computer and technical skills.

TO APPLY:

Please send a cover letter, resume, and 3 references to Gregory Cendana at APALAjobs@gmail.com. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Email subject shall state “Member & Chapter Coordinator”. Please no phone calls, faxes or mail in applications.

APALA is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and differently-abled people are strongly encouraged to apply.

Filed Under: Caroline, Job Postings
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