Tomorrow, May 18, is the birthday of Vincent Chin, an Asian American who was murdered in a hate crime in 1982. Four decades later, AAPIs are still facing staggering amounts of hate and discrimination. AAPI youth face bullying in their schools and online, and our community fears for our safety in public spaces.
We must move toward a future where this is no longer tolerated. It is why Teach For America’s AAPI Alliance is incredibly proud to partner with @ActToChange . We are joining 40+ jurisdictions & 100+ organizations in proclaiming May 18 as the #AAPI #DayAgainstBullying+Hate, in honor of #VincentChin’s legacy and in celebration of the resilience, power and creativity of #AAPIYouth. 🌼
We stand strongly against all forms of hate, and invite you to join the movement and firmly affirm to #AAPIyouth everywhere and every day that they deserve to thrive and that we all belong here. Our differences make us shine.
Let’s come together to #SayNoToBullying: acttochange.org/2023dayagainstbullying
(If you’re joining in DC, make sure to say hello to our fearless Alliance leaders, @isarahha and @soukprida 🧡)
Join us tonight at 7 pm as we kick off Pride Month with our @tfa_prism community. The call will consist of fun Pride Breakouts, an inspiring message from @braveeducator , Head of the Prism Alliances, a celebration of our external partners and their resources, gratitude for National Prism Board members who are exiting to make space for new members, and a celebratory feature of more than a dozen Prism regions and their work.
Link in bio to join the call!
Repost from @teachforamerica "It's very important to learn your own history, and learn others history because that is the first step to sort of working against racism."
Mina Fedor, a middle school student and activist, founded AAPI Youth Rising to amplify the voices of AAPI youth and fight anti-Asian racism and xenophobia.
Since the group’s start in 2021, AAPI Youth Rising has grown to 20 members, most of whom are middle school student activists.
Mina and her peers at AAPI Youth Rising have set their sights on education. The group hopes to fight anti-Asian hate and xenophobia by advocating for the inclusion of AAPI history in K-12 curricula. They want all students to know about the sweeping history of the AAPI community and their many contributions to American society—a history that is seldom taught in schools, including Mina's.
Mina felt “failed” by the education she received about the AAPI community in school, which was limited to one “very traumatic” lesson about the wrongful incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s. “There wasn't any sort of celebratory things about the accomplishments of AAPI or anything like that,” she said.
Read and watch at the link in our stories.
On this #FridayFeature, we’d like to celebrate Patricia “Trisha” Leon-Guerrero (She/Her/Hers), Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Experiences On Demand.
“As a daughter of Guamanian and Colombian parents, my parents shared many of their cultural traditions that have stayed with me and have inspired the work I do on a daily basis. Curating experiences with purpose, compassion, and joy thatcan inspire our families, our friends, our team members, and our lives,” says Leon-Guerrero. “When I think of planning your events, your family reunions, your conferences, your holidays, I’m reminded that our time together is limited and tomorrow isn’t promised. My mission and my work at Experiences On Demand (EOD) is to make every moment—every experience—joyful, memorable and impactful.”
EOD has curated impactful and memorable events across the country from small intimate gatherings to large-scale summits with over 1,000 attendees. In response to the global pandemic, Trisha evolved EOD’s services to include virtual event planning and has successfully curated over 50+ in-person and virtual experiences that include fundraising, volunteer engagement, graduation and multi day virtual conferences.
Prior to founding EOD, Trisha served as a Vice President and Senior Managing Director at two national education non-profit organizations and was a TFA teacher in the Las Vegas Valley. She currently resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband Kwame, and her two dogs, Valentina and Teddy.
Read more about her using the link in our bio.
REMINDER: AANHPI Heritage Month x Mental Health Awareness Month event happening tomorrow! Join us tomorrow night at 7 pm for a conversation about mental health in immigrant communities with Muzna Abbas! Upasna Barath & Anita Mathias (Chicago-NWI '19) will be facilitating!
Register at link in bio!
✨ FRIDAY PARTNER FEATURE ✨
For this week's #FridayPartnerFeature we are spotlighting the work of @ocanational who has been dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for almost 50 years.
As part of their work, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates is leading a push for our nation’s schools to teach Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history through the @k12aanhpi_project . On May 31st, OCA is hosting a launch for the K-12 AANHPI Curriculum Project Workshop to cap the end of AANHPI Heritage Month and @soukprida head of our AAPI Alliances will be joining!
Check out the link in our bio to learn more about OCA's work & register for the event!
Isang Bagsak! Solidarity in Hope conversation with @tonyrosaspeaks
Hear his thoughts about hope, accountability and getting in the mud as we celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month and think about what it means to lead together with hope.
#leadingwithhope #apahm #aapiheritagemonth
We're back with our next #FRIDAYPARTNERFEATURE! Today we are taking the time to spotlight @ActtoChange , an organization working to address bullying, including in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
We're looking forward to spend next Wednesday, May 18th with Act to Change taking a stance against bullying as a part of their #DayAgainstBullying+Hate. We hope you can join us!
Links in bio to learn more about Act To Change's work and to register for next week's event!
Join us for an AANHPI Heritage Month x Mental Health Awareness Month event! On Tuesday 5/24 we're hosting a conversation with Muzna Abbas (Buffalo '16) about mental health in immigrant communities.
Muzna Abbas wrote Letters to My Brown Mother to start conversations about mental health in the South Asian diaspora, and to encourage open, authentic communication in South Asian communities. As a first-generation Pakistani-American herself, Abbas understands the relationship between mental health and culture first-hand; her interviewees affirming their shared experiences.
Link in bio to register!
We are proudly sponsoring @ActToChange 's #UNITEDWEHEAL.
Join us on May 18 to mark the 4th Annual National AAPI #DayAgainstBullying+Hate, a day of action to highlight the importance of mental health & wellness in breaking barriers for #AAPIYouth.
Link in our bio to register!
It’s week 2 of AANHPI Heritage Month! Did you catch our kickoff video last week? Check out this reel to hear @chingchagram and @upasnabarath full reflections on what is bringing them hope right now.
#leadingtogetherwithhope #aanhpiheritagemonth #aapiheritagemonth #apahm #aanhpileaders
