API Council | Advocates of Asian Pacific Islanders

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Uniting the Voices of San Francisco’s API Community

For years, policy advocates and individual organizations have looked to local government for support, but their voices weren’t enough to leverage funding. API Council is a 40-member citywide coalition that advocates for equitable policies and resources on behalf of API communities. Our 40-members serve over 250,000 API residents in San Francisco. The API Council has advocated for funding to sustain and expand core services in housing, and health and human services.

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Asian Pacific Islander Council

4 days ago

This morning, we received troubling news that the US Census Bureau quietly changed its policies to end census counting efforts one full month earlier than expected. The October 31st deadline allowed census enumerators to begin their field efforts here in San Francisco on August 11th to knock on doors. Now with a month less time to produce an accurate count that includes so many hard to count, at-risk populations, we are in a dire situation. Rushing the census staff threatens a full and precise picture of all of our communities and will affect us for years to come. This is not acceptable.

People of color, undocumented residents, low-income individuals, and those experiencing homelessness are at great risk of being completely missed. This threatens not only the $675B in funding states receive from the federal government for vital services like Medicaid/MediCal, SNAP, infrastructure, education, the National School Lunch Program, and Headstart, but also skews congressional representation and redistricting for a decade. Locally, a quarter of the City’s population is vulnerable to an undercount translating into more than $4B in federal funding. Effectively, this development eliminates our access to resources, critical funding for our kids and families, and takes away our fair shot at representation.

API Council, which represents a strong coalition of 56 non-profit organizations in San Francisco urges our congressional, state, and local representatives to fight for us. We need more time to produce a more fair and accurate count, especially in light of this global pandemic that has challenged our ability to reach out to those in our community who are most in need.

#APICounts #SFCounts #Census2020 #APICouncil

SF Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs ... See MoreSee Less

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Asian Pacific Islander Council

6 days ago

"The president’s policy memo requires the Secretary of Commerce, after the census is complete, “to somehow remove from the counts of every state a certain number of persons believed to be undocumented immigrants,”

The upshot of such an action could result in California and Texas losing three seats in Congress, and Florida not gaining what they were projected to gain despite the rise in that state’s census count, said John Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice: “Then it would be a question of a one-seat or two-seat gain — or so-called gains,” for states that remain status quo, or don’t have any big changes to their census count, explained Yang."

#census2020 #apicounts

https://sfexaminer.com/news-columnists/… ... See MoreSee Less

In Brown Type: 2020 census count must include undocumented immigrants - The San Francisco Examiner

sfexaminer.com

Reliable reporting from nonpartisan source is essential to democracy

Asian Pacific Islander Council

2 months ago

Chinese Progressive AssociationToday, CPA along with Chinese for Affirmative Action, Community Youth Center, Chinatown Community Development Center, and New Breath Foundation, Rose Pak Democratic Club and Chinese Culture Center came together to stand up for Black communities and Racial Justice.

“We must stand in solidarity with the Black community because it is the same racism that dehumanizes us, treats us like we are diseased, and we don’t belong. Solidarity means we recognize the pain and suffering of the Black community and to recognize that when we defend Black lives, we are creating a safer world for everyone. We all want to be free and to live without fear and violence, says Cynthia Choi 崔貞文, Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. ... See MoreSee Less

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Asian Pacific Islander Council

2 months ago

As we enter the last day of API Heritage Month, API Council would like to uplift the work of the civil rights movement who paved the way for the Immigration Act of 1965 which abolished race-based immigration quotas. It was through the work of Black activists that paved the way for so many APIs. We stand with you against racism, injustice, and prejudice. And we thank you for what you have done for us.

https://www.facingsouth.org/2017/02/how-civil-rights-movement-opened-door-immigrants-color ... See MoreSee Less

How the civil rights movement opened the door to immigrants of color

facingsouth.org

U.S. civil rights activists didn't only address the oppression of people of color at home — they also helped strike down the country's race-based immigrant quota system that privileged Europeans. Th...

Asian Pacific Islander Council

2 months ago

Even factoring in age, Asian, African American and Latinx seniors are dying at disproportionately higher rates than their populations reflect. Fifty-seven percent of seniors over 60 are people of color – yet 70% of deaths are persons of color. Age alone is not a sufficient explanation for disproportionate deaths.

Rather than deflecting questions on racial disparities those leading San Francisco’s COVID-19 response should acknowledge and work with impacted communities to address the problem. Instead we have seen bureaucratic resistance to community based solutions.

https://sfexaminer.com/opinion/… ... See MoreSee Less

San Francisco needs to change to reverse racial disparities in COVID-19 deaths - The San Francisco Examiner

sfexaminer.com

By Rev. Norman Fong, Antonio Diaz, and Kevine Boggess

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