Here is a comprehensive report of CAPAA Commissioners’ activities between the months of March 2016 and June 2016:

Commissioner Cabusao
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
Filipino American Community of Yakima Valley Anniversary Celebration 3/19/2016

 

 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal.

 

 
  1. Attendees of this event were able to verify their ethnicity on the ballot list provided by the APIC Civic Engagement group. There will be follow-up meetings by the APIC Civic Engagement group
  2. Vietnam Veterans of Filipino ancestry were invited to participate in a national project by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) to share their story and be honored for their valuable contribution to our country.
APIC Roundtable Leadership Discussion 5/18/2016

 

 

 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. Filipino voters were identified as Latinos due to their last names.  There will be future meetings to address this issue.
Dispute Resolution Center Dinner Auction 4/29/2016

 

 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. N/A
Commissioner Dickinson
  • Attended Minority and Justice Commission Meeting (April 1)
  • Attended Culture and Ethics Symposium at Gonzaga University School of Law (April 1)
  • Attended Gonzaga University Law Minority Student Graduation BBQ (April 15)
  • Attended the Supreme Court Symposium and meeting regarding sentencing and the effect of fines on defendants and minorities (May 25)
  • Attended ABAW monthly Board meetings and events (April 14, May 19, June 9)
  • Continued work in ABA GP Solo Diversity Committee and ABA TIPS Ethics and Professionalism in recruitment of diverse speakers for CLE and membership events
  • Participation on listserv for APIC Spokane’s new group formation
  • Participation on the Commission’s Nomination Committee to review Commissioner applications and submit nominations to the Governor’s office.
  • Participation on a conference call to discuss the Commission’s budget.
Commissioner Dinh
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
BRFSS meeting 4/14/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Identifying health disparity issues; Supporting APA business owners BRFSS team will look into exploring options to expand data collection to reflect API community.
Vietnamese Leadership Meeting 5/22/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Identifying health disparity issues; Supporting APA business owners Will provide a summary of meeting to Vietnamese community and follow up with strategies to increase civic engagement.
Meeting with concerned Vietnamese community member 5/31/2016 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. Listened to concerns, provided information about commissioner’s role
Meeting with Monica Ng from ACRS 6/3/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Identifying health disparity issues; Supporting APA business owners Discussed ways for Vietnamese community to be more engaged in the civic process.  Will connect interested community leader to Monica.
Meeting with Cherry Cayabyab from King County Elections 6/6/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Identifying health disparity issues; Supporting APA business owners Learn more about the election process and how Vietnamese community can participate more.
Commissioner Finau
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
Interview with  Rhea Panela for University of Washington News Lab 4/13/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps Interview was to promote cultural representation in the classroom to ensure all students are receiving the full promise of a quality education.
University of Washington Polynesian Day – Hosted by UW’s Pacific Student Alliance (PSA) 4/29/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps As part of PSA’s outreach to recruit Pacific Islander students to UW, they should promote and implement connecting PSA and high school students to perform on stage.
Burke Museum: Discussion & Planning meeting with Dr. Holly Barker 5/18/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps Planning stage for creating a curriculum for Tongan artifacts housed at the Burke Museum.
Correspondence with Lexi Potter: International Examiner 6/13/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Supporting APA business owners While Pacific Islander communities are incorporated into the International Examiner (IE) newspaper, IE needs to be more inclusive and committed to increasing the diversity of readership to better capture the diversity of the API community. The IE needs to provide more coverage on Pacific Islander topics, issues and events going on in local communities.
Commissioner Gaur
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
APA Heritage Month Celebration at Seattle Center 5/1/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Identifying health disparity issues I took back the information to the Asian Indian community.
Meeting with community leaders 6/3/2016 Identifying health disparity issues Discussed at length how to promote a community conversation regarding mental health issues that IAWW had done very well in recent months. Spoke to the members of IAWW community program to identify speakers for mental health month presentation in July.
Meeting with community leaders 6/11/2016 Identifying health disparity issues Discussed various possibilities to identify a speaker for July event on mental health. Still trying to address if we can find a speaker without having to pay an honorarium.
Commissioner Gurung
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
Nepalese Community 4/24/2016 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. It was out-of-state issues.
Distributed informational flyers about the World Language Credit Program 6/5/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps Need more information about Nepali Language K-12 School. Asking for classrooms.
Economic Development 6/14/2016 Supporting APA business owners How do we get help from the government to run our small businesses? Can the government help us to build our community hall?
Commissioner Khamshitsang

No activities to report.

Commissioner Pen
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
Attended Habitat For Humanity’s Changing Lives luncheon 3/1/2016 Identifying health disparity issues They really appreciated that I was able to attend and support their Building New Homes for low-income needy families in Pierce County.
Attended Tacoma Community House’s Celebration of Lives Transformed luncheon 4/1/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps They really appreciated that I was able to attend and support their Langue Class, GED, Job Searching services for low-income refugee families in Pierce County.
Coordinated with Pierce County Community Liaison Officers to talk about Vehicle Prowl Prevention with over 425 seniors of varying ethnicities (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Samoan) 5/9/2016

5/10/2016

5/11/2016

5/12/2016

5/13/2016

 Closing educational opportunity gaps Residents were thankful that I brought important information and useful tips to them.
Attended the Pierce County Food Bank’s Food for the Hungers Dinner 5/13/2016 Identifying health disparity issues They really appreciated that I was able to attend and support their Hunger Walks Dinner for low-income families in Pierce County.
Coordinated with Prosecutor Lindquist and Deputy Prosecutor Nelson to talk about protecting seniors and reporting abuse with 438 seniors of varying ethnicities (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Samoan) 6/6/2016

6/7/2016

6/8/2016

6/9/2016

6/10/2016

 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Identifying health disparity issues Residents were thankful that I brought important information and useful tips to them.
Pierce County Collaborative Conference on Marijuana Prevention 6/10/2016 Identifying health disparity issues Yes in the future. I have learned a lot about national & state trends on the marijuana industry and visioning prevention practice in an era of legalized marijuana use.
Proofread, revised and translated the brochure on CAPAA’s goals in the Khmer language. 6/14/2016

 

6/15/2016

 Closing educational opportunity gaps If CAPAA needs my assistance again.
Commissioner Sinclair
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
APA Heritage Month at Seattle Center 5/1/2016 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. Lack of disaggregated data for Pacific Islanders.
Pacific Islander Health Conference 5/23/2016 Identifying  health disparity issues Health disparities among Pacific Islanders were highlighted at this conference.
Microsoft APA Heritage Month Celebration 5/27/2016 No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. CAPAA has been invited back to Microsoft for future APA awareness events.
Commissioner Tufono

TBA

Commissioner Vue
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
API day 5/1/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Supporting APA business owners; No, this activity did not fulfill a strategic plan goal. Include Mongolians and other ethnic groups in our work. Partner with Microsoft in their AAPI day and share our goals with the families and community.
HAW Hmong of WA Association meeting 5/15/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps; Supporting APA business owners How can we invite CAPAA to our community meetings and vice versa? How do we ask for support?
UW Burke Museum Groundbreaking Celebration 5/18/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps  To continue to share and educate cultural and historical background in order to preserve generations.
UW Burke Hmong Preservation Project 5/21/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps How can we help support our students into high education, attain funding, and advocate for them in the school system?  How do we involve parents who are not traditionally involved?  How do we get this information from schools?
Commissioner Wada
Activity Date Strategic Plan Goals Issues & Recommendations
Governor’s Race and Equity Submit 4/15/2016 Identifying health disparity issues Leadership needs in minority community to improve the race and equity issues and opportunities in government and business.
Retirement seminar 4/30/2016 Identifying health disparity issues Lack of education and information about government programs
Retirement planning seminar 4/30/2016 Identifying health disparity issues There were 200 people in attendance seeking information on Social Security and Medicare information.  Many expressed concerns about the lack of information due to language and system barriers (not aware of language assistance for LEP population at SSA and CMS).  Representing as a CAPAA member to promote awareness of language assistance and provided contact information for various community-based organizations providing language assistance.
Health Disparities Council 5/11/2016 Identifying health disparity issues The council meeting discussed the following issues/initiatives:
Initiative for Rural Innovation and Stewardship of the City of Wenatchee.
Received information on the timeline, scope, and objectives for its statutorily required performance review by the JLARC.
Approved a recommendation for the Governor to create a statewide policy to promote equity in state government.
OSPI LEP advisory meeting 5/16/2016 Closing educational opportunity gaps This was the committee’s third and last meeting. We met March, April and May and developed policies and procedures on LEP program for k-12 students which to be used by school districts. We assessed the current situation involving students whose primary language of students as well as their parents and developed programs to better service them to avoid any educational gaps due to language and cultural barriers.