OCA - Orange County Chapter

Hello Everyone, Hope your week is starting off well. I would like to encourage everyone to call or write a letter to your representative in support of the Filipino World War II Veterans Act. Below, we’ve provided a phone script for those who can make a quick phone call during the day time as well as a pre-written letter in which you can easily send to your representative. Every phone call counts. Every letter counts. I thank you in advance for helping to advance equality for the Asian Pacific American community.
OCA-OC has many exciting events coming up such as the Asian Pacific Film Festival where we are co-presenting a film, the APIA Vote Presidential Town Hall where OCA-OC is a community partner and our Friends and Family Day at the Huntington Library Chinese Garden. We are truly looking forward to having you join us at any or all of these events. Please scroll down for more info on all of our events as well as community events, volunteer opportunities,..etc.

As a kind reminder to our members, OCA-OC officers are here to help you so feel free to contact us anytime. I am easily accessible through e-mail at yaolee@gmail.com. I am open to hearing from you regarding any topic: from our website and newsletters to suggestions you may have for our organization to how you can get more involved with OCA-OC. We are always looking for energetic individuals to help achieve our mission in empowering the Asian American voice in the Orange County and national community. The information found on this newsletter can also be found on our website here.

OCA National Call to Action
Contact members of the Senate to support the Filipino Veterans Equity Act

The Filipino World War II Veterans Act seeks to support Filipino veterans who served under US command during World War II. This bill is currently going through the US Senate and may come to the floor as early as this week.
Over 200,000 Filipinos were drafted into US service, but have been denied full veteran status and have been stripped of the honor and recognition of their service that they deserve. Currently, Filipino veterans do no received disability pension, death pension, educational benefits, homebuying assistance and many other veteran benefits.
Barbara Boxer is one of the Senators we want to target for their support of this bill. Please help us contact them and express our support for justice for all veterans. You can find an action alert with a letter form and a phone script here. Please forward this to your contacts and friends.
More information can be found at: http://nafve.org/.

Upcoming OCA-OC Events

Registration

For more information, email contact@oca-oc.org

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OCA-OC Co-Sponsors

APIA Vote Presidential Town Hall

When: May 17th, 2008
Where: Bren Events Center
University of California, Irvine
100 Bren Event Ctr Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
(W Peltason Dr & Mesa Rd)

With the support of various national Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, we will be expecting 2000 community leaders, elected officials, voters, and students representing this diverse community from across the country to participate at the first National Presidential Town Hall hosted by our Asian American and Pacific Islander community
Join us for this historic event and learn about the candidates before voting in the general election in November, 2008.
Invitations to each campaign were received and APIA Vote is working with the campaigns to schedule each candidate’s appearance.

Visit the Presidential Town Hall Website for updates and all the information you need to know to prepare for your trip to Irvine, CA. Registration is live - be sure to sign up today!.

Registration Live Register online to enter the lottery to receive a ticket for Town Hall. Media registration is also available online.
Town Hall Agenda on Website Visit our newly updated website to view a complete agenda of events including the National CAPACD conference, Voicing Our Votes forum, Power of Our Vote Luncheon and more.
Flights Through Southwest Southwest Airlines is proud to be the Official Airline of the APIAVote Presidential Town Hall. Remember to book your airline tickets soon!
Hotel Deals for Town Hall Radisson Newport Beach - Mention APIAVote and get a special rate of $119 a night for Doubles/Single Queen rooms if you book by May 9th. This includes free breakfast, free internet, a shuttle to John Wayne Airport and UC Irvine. 4545 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach, CA Tel: 949-833-0570
Can’t Make It to Irvine? Host your own watch party! Live streaming available to a computer near you. Simply e-mail us at RSVP@apiavote.org and we will help you set up your living room Town Hall.
Ask Before You Vote Ask the presidential candidates your question via video. To submit your question for the candidates, send a link to your video to rsvp@apiavote.org.

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Friends and Family Day at the Huntington Library’s Chinese Garden

June 21, 2008
1:00pm
1151 Oxford Rd
San Marino, CA 91108

Please join OCA’s Greater Los Angeles Chapter and Orange County Chapter at our Friends and Family Day at the Huntington Library’s Chinese Garden.

Visit the Huntington Library and Chinese Garden at your own pace and join us for some tea and light fare at the Freshwater Pavilion. Given the discounted Admission Fee offered to our group, space is limited. Click here for additional information or to RSVP.

Admission
Adult $15
Children (ages 6-11) $6
Children under 5 Free

For question, please contact us at: contact@oca-oc.org

Upcoming Community Events
South Coast Chinese Cultural Association 2008 Annual Banquet

When: April 27th, 2008
4PM-6PM (seminar & exhibit), 6PM - 12AM (banquet & dance party)
Where: Hyatt Regency Irvine
17900 Jamboree Blvd
Irvine, CA 92614

Come join the South Coast Chinese Cultural Association, South Coast Chinese Cultural Center, and Irvine Chinese School celebrate another year of achievements at their annual banquet. Enjoy an evening of great food and entertainment. Every admission includes one free raffle ticket.

Contact: Simon Tung - (818) 987-5999 for VIP invitation, Ann Hwu - (949) 230-2478 for regular tickets
Ticket Info: Premium - $120, Regular - $65

Program: Dinner Show with Taiwan folk singer, Mr. Huang Da Cheng
Main Performance: Kingston Technology 30 people live band, JT & California Dreamin’
Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder Impersonators

VIP Table Sponsorships are available for $2,000 which entails one VIP table for up to 10 persons and a 1/2 page ad.

(Note: Baby sitting available with food, games and movies for kids in the baby-sitting room)

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Looking Through the Spectrum of Love

When: April 29th, 2008; 6PM - 8PM
Where: Monterey Park Library, Friends Room
318 S Ramona Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Cost: Free

Join the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center for a night of guest speakers, performances, workshops and group dialogue that will help us better understand issues of hate towards the API LGBT community through the scope and lens of love and challenges faced in raising awareness about and combating hate crimes against members of the community..

For more information, please contact Charles Chang or Ing Phansavath at (213) 250-8190

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Refugee Day 2008

When: May 3rd, 2008; 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Where: Le-Jao Center
14120 All American Way
Westminster, CA 92683
Cost: Free

Refugee Forum of Orange County would like to extend an invitation to join them at the Refugee Day celebration. This year’s event will be co-sponsored and hosted by Coastline Community College. The event is free and open to all.

The Refugee Forum is a membership organization composed of representatives from agencies and groups that work with refugees in Orange County. The purpose of the Refugee Forum of Orange County is to assist in the successful resettlement of refugees in Orange County, and to enable them to obtain the resources necessary to become self-supporting and contributing members of society. Through coordination, planning, advocacy and outreach, the Refugee Forum works to assure the most efficient use of available resources to accomplish the purpose of the organization.

The tentative agenda for Refugee Day consists of recognitions of individuals and organizations that have contributed to the county’s refugee community, speakers, entertainment, and, of course, sumptuous ethnic foods. Also included in the day’s event is a “resource fair,” allowing organizations to provide service-related information to the attendees.

The Refugee Forum of Orange County hopes you will attend this special event and support the activities of the Forum through your participation. Thank you!

If you or your organization would like to take part in the resource fair, please contact nnguyen@apalc.org, or 714-530-9155, on or before April 18, 2008.

Members of the Refugee Forum of Orange County include the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the Red Sea Social Services, Inc., CSP Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, Catholic Charities of Orange County, the Cambodian Family, Saint Anselm’s Cross-Cultural Community Center, UCI Library Southeast Asian Archive, American Red Cross, CalOptima,World Relief, Orange County Social Services Agency, Orange County Health Care Agency, East African Community of Orange County, California State University, Fullerton, and the State of California Employment Development Department, as well as representation from local elected officials.

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UC Irvine Symphony Orchestra:
Violin Spectacular!
presented by UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts

When: May 3rd, 2008; 8:00 PM
Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre
4242 Campus Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
Cost: $12 general; $10 senior; $8 student

The University of California, Irvine is holding its’ first annual benefit for UC Irvine Symphony Orchestra. The purpose of this benefit is to provide scholarship support for the student members of UC Irvine Orchestra. Jean Aldrich, the founding First Lady of UC Irvine will be attending as the honorary chair.

The program will include the following:

- Dimitry Shostakovich - Festive Overture

- Tan Dun - Violin Concerto - Cho-Liang Lin, soloist

- Pietro Mascagni - Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

- Mozart - Violin Concerto No. 4 in G Major - Cho-Liang Lin, soloist

Opportunities available for sponsorship:

Principal Sponsor: $10,000

Sponsors: $1,000 - $5,000

Special VIP ticket: $100

Sponsors are invited to the following private events:

Master Class with Cho-Liang Lin

Reception after the Master Class

Post Concert Reception in Jade Room

For information on becoming a sponsor, please contact Melissa Hernandez at melissh@uci.edu

For more information on this event, please visit the Irvine Barclay Theatre website.
For more information on the UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts, please visit their website at http://www.arts.uci.edu/

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“The Paradoxes Of Race, Law And Inequality In The United States”
A Conference To Be Held At The University Of California, Irvine

Dates: May 2-3, 2008
Friday: 9:30a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9:30a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Location: Humanities Instructional Building, Room 135

Topics:
- How Do Legal Discourses About Race Reproduce Racial Inequality?
- How have racialized inequalities in the United States been reinforced or exacerbated in recent decades?
- How do discursive shifts in crime policy and the unprecedented expansion of imprisonment since the 1960s affect investments in racialized forms of governance?
- How have institutionalized inequalities been sharpened even as few admit to being racist?
- What are the global impacts of American racial policies and practices?

Organized by the Law & Society Review and the UCI Center in Law, Society and Culture
Co-sponsored by the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, the Department of Sociology, the School of Humanities, the School of Social Ecology, the School of Social Sciences, the UCI Office of Research, and the Law and Society Association

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND A LIST OF SPEAKERS GO TO
http://socialecology.uci.edu/node/1831

Volunteer Opportunity
Baubles, Bangles & Bags High Tea Fundraising Event

Working Wardrobes invites all OCA-OC members to join them for their Baubles, Bangles, & Bags High Tea Fundraising event. They would love to have OCA-OC members be a part of their volunteer group and help them raise funds to continue their mission of helping men and women in crises re-enter the workforce through wardrobing and career development. It is a very exciting event filled with shopping, silent and live auctions and a heartwarming program.

They have several volunteer opportunities for this event which includes, auction operations, registration, greeters, set up and tear down. If you or anyone you know are interested, please visit their website at http://www.workingwardrobes.org/index.html.

Also, they have another rewarding experience on June 14. They are holding a special event for Veterans returning from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. During this event, Veterans will receive a new working wardrobe, haircuts, messages and career development workshops. Volunteers are needed to help their guests choose their wardrobes, in registration, to be greeters and for so much more. If you or anyone you know are interested, please contact Mary Lou Torres at her office by email or at 714-210-2460.

Additional Information
Asian Business Association of Orange County (ABAOC)

Asian Heritage Month Celebration ~ Call for Nominations!

ABAOC celebrates Asian Pacific Heritage Month and honors community leaders and role models. Nominations for community leaders and role models are now being accepted. Click here for nomination form. Please email maria.dumatol@abaoc.org or howard.chan@abaoc.org for information or questions.
Application deadline - April 30th.

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Innovative APIA Youth Vote Grant

Are you an 18-25 year old youth with an innovative idea on how you would mobilize your Asian and Pacific Islander American community to vote? Well here is your chance!

Create a voter education and mobilization project that will get your APIA community to vote for the June 3rd Elections - and receive one of six $1,000 grants from OCAPICA’s Project API Vote to do it.

Project ideas:
Tabling at ethnic markets
Class raps/dorm storming w/ Easy Voter Guides
APIA ‘Why I’ll Vote’ community survey
Create a viral video
Develop a TV public service announcement
Create an in-language voter song for ethnic radio play
APIA Voter education forum
Get out the vote door hangers in APIA neighborhoods
In-language posters for ethnic businesses
Guerilla theatre
T-shirt campaign
Bhangra the Vote/Luau the Vote Parties
… and much more! The innovation is up to you!

What Do I Have to Do?

If you are a youth leader, apply for the grant today! Project must be affiliated with a campus or community organization for the funds to be dispersed to. This would be a great fundraising opportunity for your organization!

Project idea must be:

Non-partisan and support no candidate or ballot initiative
Educate and mobilize the Asian and Pacific Islander community of Orange, Riverside, or San Bernardino community
Have a bilingual component, preferably in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Hindi, or Tagalog
INNOVATIVE! Only you know what will best mobilize your peers to vote!
In turn, we ask that you support OCAPICA’s larger Project APIA Vote by:

recruiting bilingual volunteers to our bilingual phone bank
Attending Project APIA Vote press events
Distributing Project APIA Vote education materials into the community

.

To apply, submit the following to Tanzila Ahmed, Policy Manager at tahmed@ocapica.org:

One 500 word proposal

One weekly work plan leading up to June 3rd

One budget of how the $1,000 grant will be spent

Developed by the Orange Country Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA) for Project API Vote. OCAPICA is a non-partisan 501c3 organization. Materials are created with support from The James Irvine Foundation.

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Call for petition

Dear community members,

I would like to bring attention to you on a pressing matter affecting Chinese citizens across the world. The Voice of America (VOA) Cantonese Service is one of the few Cantonese radio stations broadcasted around the world that is free of censorship by the Chinese government. Unfortunately, VOA is facing cancellation this year due to budget cuts by the U.S. government. For decades, the VOA Cantonese Service has been the major news source for audiences in southern China. More than 130 million Cantonese-speakers in mainland China rely heavily upon their access to foreign media to obtain accurate and fair news coverage. In light of recent protests against the Chinese authorities, this could not have come at a more inopportune time.

This is where you can help. We have started a petition urging the U.S. government to continue the Cantonese service of VOA. We are not asking for money, just signatures. Here is the link of the online petition which also provides more details on the situation.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savecantoneseVOA

I hope that you can lend your hand in this matter. Thank you in advance for your help.

Regards,
Ms. Evan Woo
evchau2001@yahoo.com

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From Emma and the City Clerk’s Office

Dear Community Partner:

The City or Irvine would like to introduce you to the Irvine Democracy Project: Vote 2008 campaign that has been implemented by the City Council to encourage all eligible residents to register to vote and to participate in elections at all levels of government. There are two more opportunities for voters to exercise their right to vote in 2008. On June 3rd the City of Irvine will hold a Special Election to present Measure H to Irvine voters. To learn more about Measure H, the “Irvine City Council Ethical Public Service Ordinance” please visit the City’s website at www.cityofirvine.org. The Special Election will be held concurrently with the Statewide Primary election on June 3rd. The next General Election will be held on November 4th. You will have the opportunity to vote on local measures and initiatives, as well as National, State, County and local elected officials. Please note that the deadline to register to vote in the June 3rd election is May 19, 2008.

We encourage you to publish this information in your newsletters and websites or forward this email to your colleagues and members prior to the May 19 voter registration deadline. Also attached is detailed information concerning voter registration and upcoming elections that can be distributed or posted to your website. Your assistance to help encourage greater civic and voter participation is appreciated. In addition, the Orange County Registrar of Voters is always seeking volunteers to staff the polling sites on Election Day. Bi-lingual poll workers are always needed, and poll workers receive a stipend for their service. You can also access election and voter information in several languages by visiting the Orange County Registrar of Voters website at www.ocvote.com or call 714.567.7600.

For additional voter information, registration cards or to learn how you can get involved in the Irvine Democracy Project: Vote 2008 effort, contact the City Clerk’s Office at clerk@cityofirvine.org, 949.724.6205, or visit www.cityofirvine.org.

Thank you,

Emma