SoCal Pacific Islander Community Response Team

Honoring the artists, cultural practitioners, storytellers, choreographers, educators, and creatives who continue to move our Pasifika communities forward. 🌺✨ Through dance, music, art, storytelling, and cultural preservation, your work creates spaces where our people feel seen, represented, and connected. This Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re proud to highlight and nominate these incredible individuals for the impact they continue to make across our communities. 🌊 Your creativity is more than art — it’s legacy.

So many beautiful things happening for our Pasifika community! From artists on tour to storytellers, musicians, filmmakers, athletes, and entertainers shaping narratives for us, by us. We see you. We uplift you. This Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we celebrate the powerful work you’ve carried through the past year and your commitment to representing our communities with care and grace. 🌊✨ We’re honored to nominate and highlight you all, thank you for continuing to show up and shine for our people. 🫶🏽

So grateful to @socalpicrt for this opportunity. If you know me, you know that Love and my Mum will always be a no brainer for me. Special thanks to @manava.o.moana and @punkyaloha for always having my back, and my faves @benjaminpola , @amiriabutler and @sophs_chill for their talents and face cards. Fa'afetai lava mo le avanoa. ❤️ Link in bio.

🌱 ROOTS OF RESILIENCE 🌱 Have you met the CEO of Team No Choice🤣😭? We are so honored to have Kelani Silk, the leader who does it all, join us for Episode 28✨. Kelani is the owner of Ja'Nei Island Goods & Services which brings the beauty created by the sacred hands of Marshallese women to our homes. 🌺🌴 In her day job, Kelani leads the community in her dual roles as the Executive Director of Mashallese Youth of Orange County @marshalleseyouth and the National Marshallese Community Coalition. However, she is joining #RoR to share about the small business she runs alongside her family. 🌊🇲🇭 You won’t want to miss this powerful and FUN 🎉 conversation! 🗓️ Friday, May 15, 2026 ⏰ 6PM 📍 YouTube Channel @socalpicrt #RootsOfResilience #PasifikaBusinesses #SmallBusiness #SmallBusinessEmpowerment

The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has worked alongside NHPI communities to address gaps within data and research and to ensure that communities are visible in the data, and that they have the access and training to use it. Join us Thursday, May 28, when the @UCLAchpr Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Data Policy Lab unveils a new and improved NHPI Social Determinants of Health dashboard, which features county-level data on health and factors that influence health. Using data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), American Community Survey, and U.S. Census, the dashboard covers seven key topic areas: demographics, disability, economic indicators, education, health, housing, and veteran status. Select topics are available by NHPI subgroup, including CHamorro, Fijian, Native Hawaiian, Samoan, and Tongan populations. This webinar will also feature 'Alisi Tulua, executive director of the Southern California Pacific Islander Community Response Team (@socalpicrt ), and Luci Latu, assistant director of Taulama for Tongans, who will both share how accessible, culturally grounded data strengthens their advocacy, planning, and storytelling — and how they’ve used the Lab’s tools to support the communities they serve. Register: https://ucla.in/4nkzNvf. #AANHPIHeritageMonth #NativeHawaiian #PacificIslander #NHPI

In times like these, community is how we move forward. 🤝✨ We traveled to Sacramento alongside the CA AANHPI Health Equity Coalition to advocate for policies that protect and support our communities because we know we can always count on each other. From language access to health equity and continued Stop the Hate funding, every conversation reminded us that collective care and collective action matter. Together, we advocated for: • AB 1242 • AB 1878 • Stop the Hate budget advocacy Grateful to stand with organizers, advocates, and community leaders who continue to show up, speak up, and fight for a future where all of our communities are seen, heard, and protected. 🌺

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re choosing honesty, healing, and checking in on one another. Our community deserves excellence, and that includes care for our minds💡

The #LACountyARDI & @socalpicrt teams returned to #kodomonohi (Children’s Day) with the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo this weekend. We want everyone to know about our upcoming State of AANHPI LA County report. Sign up to follow the report’s progress by going to the link in our bio.

🇬🇺 🇼🇸 🇫🇯 🇦🇸 🇲🇭 🇵🇫 🇹🇴 The algorithm isn't built for us. The DATA? That's OURS to claim. Come learn how to access NHPI Census data before someone misrepresents us, AGAIN! 2 FREE Trainings. REAL data. 🗓 May 6th & May 13th ⏰️ 11am - 12pm PST 🔗 Register at LINK IN BIO This Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian American heritage month, we are partnering with the NHPI Data Policy Lab at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the U.S. Census Bureau to provide this ✨️2-PART FREE TRAINING✨️ on how to get your hands on our own data from the best source of our data - the Census. In this age of AI and misrepresentations of our community, learn our community's numbers so nobody can gaslight you with misinformation. That's the energy we are bringing this heritage month. 🌴🌊 JOIN US! #AANHPIHeritageMonth #AAPIHeritageMonth #AAPI #NHPI #Pasifika

Goodbye April, Hello May ✨ A full month of showing up for community 🤍 Staff retreat 🏅, food distribution with @yupprogram , advocacy and legislative visits, and time spent in spaces that center our people. From Reclaiming Our Voices to AA & NHPI Health Equity Coalition Advocacy Day, and storytelling at the LA API Film Festival 🎬 Ending the month with Roots of Resilience featuring Sapasui Bowl 🍲 On to May 🌿 #SoCalPICRT #NHPICommunity #CommunityCare

Håfa adai family 🤍 Super Typhoon Sinlaku has devastated the Mariåna Islands: Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Guam, and Chuuk, with lives lost and communities impacted. Our brothers and sisters need our support now more than ever. If you’re able, please consider donating or sharing.🫂 Kutturan CHamoru Foundation is collecting donations (SoCal drop-offs open until May 6) + sending a container directly to Saipan. You can also donate or shop the Amazon wishlist (links in bio). Scan the QR code for direct access as well! Relief efforts are growing nationwide, with a benefit concert in the works for long-term support. Saina ma’åse for your prayers, support, and love for our islands. Taiguenao mohon ✨

🤝 Feeling truly grateful to have gathered together with such incredible partners and community leaders Thank you to everyone who showed up, shared your time, and offered your knowledge so generously. These conversations around opioid prevention and community education are so important, and it means so much to learn alongside one another in a space rooted in care and connection. We’re honored to be in community with you all and look forward to continuing this work together ✨