Ten Years After: Second Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Summit

By ANGE HWANG
Asian Media Access

MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 15, 2013) — It has been ten years since the first Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Summit hosted by the City of Minneapolis on Oct. 23, 2003. A second AAPI Community Summit will be held Oct. 29, 2013, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at UROC, 2001 Plymouth Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55411

The landmark 2003 session brought together more than 250 AAPI community members present to map out a detailed plan to make strong requests for support. The plan focused on “How to improve the AAPIs’ Well-Being for the City of Minneapolis” and became a blue-print of progressive action for immigrant communities.

This 2013 effort is led by Twin Cities Regional Center and collaborated with Asian Media Access; Hawman and Company; Project Sweetie Pie; Strategies; and University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC). It will examine the progress made over the past decade, with a special focus on Transit Oriented Development, disparities in health and education, the proposed Minneapolis Public Schools 5-year Plan.

Ten years ago, The City of Minneapolis had initiated outreach to its four major minority groups – African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino American and Native American. The AAPI Community Summit consisted of youth, the elders, business owners, community-based organizations, private and public organizations serving AAPI citizens, and the Community at large.

A special session – Community Speaks Out! was designed to present diverse AAPI communities with various topics: Burmese American community highlighted health (domestic violence, gambling, addiction, cultural heritage) issues; Cambodian American community highlighted  youth / education / arts; Chinese American community highlighted  business development; Hmong American community highlighted  and housing / business issues; Japanese American community highlighted on Racism; Korean American community highlighted  elders issues; Lao American community highlighted  police issues; Pacific Islander American community highlighted language and cultural competency; Taiwanese American community highlighted intergenerational gap issues; and Vietnamese American community highlighted job training/employment issues.

All were important issues and they will be revisited at the October 23rd Summit. In addition Transit Oriented Development economic disparities and health disproprotionalities will be addressed.

Minneapolis has actively developed transit options, including: the public bike sharing program, Central Corridor Light Rail, Bottineau Light Rail, the Hiawatha Rapid Buss Corridor, MidTown Corridor, the Penn Ave Rapid Bus Transit, etc. These diverse Transit Options link to future economic development and health/ environmental impacts at neighborhoods.

The Oct. 29, 2013, the AAPI Community Summit will re-create the AAPI vision and dreams to bring the city officials and AAPI communities together to have the face-to-face discussion and share resources, with a special emphasis on the Transit Oriented Developments (TOD). Besides the TOD resources, the Summit will also feature the most updated info for Health Disproportionalities and Educational Disparities. Discussions will be around studies among AAPIs, MNSure, and Minneapolis School Board’s newest 5-year plan.

The summit is also a time for AAPI communities to recognize progress, identify areas in need, and craft tactics to improve work with the City of Minneapolis that allows the AAPI community to become a part of the Transit Oriented Developments (TOD). These and other regional plans grow the economy, add jobs, and create opportunities for quality housing and walkable neighborhoods. We AAPI need to be engaged in these plans.

Twin Cities Regional Center, a new community development based non-profit agency in MN, will present findings on the economic development for people of color at both North Minneapolis and Frogtown neighborhoods. Through a special immigration program called – EB5, TCRC will bring in a minimum $500,000 in foreign capital that creates 10-sustained jobs to support the neighborhoods. The TCRC Venture Capital representatives will be on site to listen to AAPI business development ideas.

Registration is free and open to the public. Those who Preregister will receive a half-hour FREE consultation with the Venture Capital Team.  For more information and registration for the event, please call 612-376-7715, [email protected], or visiting the website at www.tcrc-mn.org (NOTE: The Event Address in EventbRight.

Twin Cities Regional Center (TCRC) Supported by two top community-based organizations – Asian Media Access and Project Sweetie Pie, TCRC is preparing to acquire and oversee foreign capital investments into local ethnic community development. – to create economic clusters that support a Global Cultural and Technology District in MN.   For more information, please check the website at www.tcrc-mn.org.