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For Immediate Release Contact: Bill Imada, IW Group www.apiasf.org (213) 622-6513, ext. 288
Community-Corporate Partnership Establishes National Scholarship Program for Asian & Pacific Islander Americans Leading Asian Pacific American Organizations Are Joined by Corporate and Civic Leaders to Create a New National Organization Washington—(Feb. 12, 2004)—National Asian and Pacific Islander American leaders are celebrating the inauguration of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), a new national scholarship organization devoted to students of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. Representatives from the Asian McDonald’s Owner-Operators Association (AMOA), Gates Millennium Scholars and other corporations and associations are joining national and regional civic and community leaders to commemorate the founding of the Fund. For more than a year, national Asian and Pacific Islander American leaders have worked towards establishing a national scholarship organization offering financial support to Asian and Pacific Islander students who otherwise could not afford to attend a post-secondary institution of their choice. APIASF offers hope for thousands of students who have been unable to attend college due to financial need. “Creating APIASF is a major milestone for all Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in this country,” announced Christine Chen, executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans, whose group manages several pan-Asian scholarship programs including the Gates Millennium Scholars program. “More than 12 percent of Asian Americans and nearly 18 percent of Pacific Islanders still live below the official poverty line, meaning thousands of students require financial aid to secure a college education. APIASF will allow us to help more of these students.” Although national scholarship programs exist for African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics and American Indians, corporate and community leaders have discovered that an independent organization devoted solely to the scholarship needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders does not exist. “AMOA made a commitment long ago to support the educational needs of students from all backgrounds and cultures,” said Eddie Yuen, president of AMOA, whose organization worked with Ronald McDonald House Charities to create the ASIA (Asian Students Increasing Achievement) scholarship program—an organization that will become a part of APIASF in the future. “Creating APIASF in tandem with corporate and national Asian and Pacific Islander American leaders is truly a dream come true for us.” In order to create a managing structure for APIASF, a working group was formed that includes representatives from OCA, the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, the University of Hawai’i Native Hawaiian Community-Based Learning Education Centers, the Gate Millennium Scholars program, the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, leading educators, and former U.S. Congressman Robert Underwood of Guam. Representatives from McDonald’s Corporation and The Coca-Cola Company serve in an advisory capacity. “Despite the economic, educational and political progress we have made as Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, there is still a great need in this country for a scholarship program devoted to our diverse communities,” said Congressman Underwood, who served as chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “Thousands of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans from the Pacific region and from countries throughout Southeast and South Asia, are unable to afford even a basic education. Finally, we will have an organization that is devoted to their needs and the needs of so many Asian and Pacific Islander families.” In addition to supporting the financial needs of college and vocational students, APIASF leaders hope to enable scholarship recipients in pursuing careers where Asians and Pacific Islanders have been traditionally underrepresented, including but not limited to higher education, television and film, corporate management and government. “Asian and Pacific Islander Americans truly value the educational opportunities that are available to them in this country,” noted KaYing Yang, former executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. “But even with rising Asian and Pacific Islander enrollment, we still do not have a sufficient number of tenured college and university administrators and professors. This issue is even more critical for the Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities, where there are only a handful of tenured, full-time faculty of Hawaiian, Samoan, Vietnamese, Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Thai descent.” APIASF anticipates that it will take approximately two years to build a national scholarship organization that can address the growing financial needs of Asian and Pacific Islander American students. Currently, APIASF leaders are working to establish a national board and building infrastructure to support the organization’s programs and initiatives. ##### |
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