2014 annual report - SEARAC

2014 ANNUAL REPORT

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)

Washington, DC Office 1628 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 T 202 601 2960 F 202 667 6449

California Office 1225 8th Street, Suite 590 Sacramento, CA 95814 T 916 428 7444 F 916 428 7293

[email protected] www.searac.org

2


Table of Contents

Executive Director’s Message 4 Mission and Values 6 Strategies and Program/Policy Areas 7 Staff and Interns 8 Board of Directors 9 Our History 10 Our Community Partners 13 Our Impact on Education 16 Our Impact on Immigration 17 Our Impact on Health 22 Our Impact on Leadership 23 Financials26 Funders & Supporters 27

2014 Annual Repor t

3

Dear friends,

Executive Director’s Message

Thirteen short months ago, I stepped into my role as Executive Director to further SEARAC’s legacy as a national advocacy organization. On my first day, I received dozens of letters of support, hope, and solidarity from our partners and communities for SEARAC’s bright future. Today, I am honored to share SEARAC’s impact in 2014. These accomplishments were made possible by the generous support that our community provides to us – through dedicated staff, board members, volunteers, interns, funders, and social justice peers who continue to invest in our mission-driven work daily. Together, we have built awareness and influence for positive policy change for Southeast Asian American communities nationwide: Introduced national education legislation – SEARAC and our partners worked with Representative Mike Honda (CA-17) to champion and introduce the All Students Count Act, the first national legislation that would improve the quality of the data that schools, school districts, and states collect to measure student performance by disaggregating student data by race categories, including seven Asian American and four Pacific Islander sub-categories. Disaggregating data is crucial for revealing systemic inequities faced by Southeast Asian American students nationwide that continue to be unaddressed. Reunited family faced with deportation – SEARAC successfully advocated with Members of Congress and the Department of Homeland Security to help Touch Hak secure a one-year delay of deportation, allowing him to reunite with his family after several years of incarceration. Touch requested the “stay of removal” so that he could donate his kidney to his brother Puthy, who suffers from kidney failure.

4


Shifted the narrative around “Boys and Men of Color” – SEARAC launched the Southeast Asian American Young Men’s Collaborative together with leaders from Khmer Girls in Action, 1Love Movement, Stone Soup Fresno, and the Vietnamese Youth Development Center. The Collaborative was featured in a short video by Frontline Solutions to show SEARAC’s strategy in working with community-based organizations and their youth to shape and drive local policy solutions to address community needs. Together, we will continue to build on these victories in 2015 as SEARAC and our communities commemorate the 40th year anniversary of our community’s diaspora – asserting our community’s power and voice as Southeast Asian Americans nationwide, and defining our place and space in thriving communities. Thank you for continuing to be part of SEARAC’s journey to advancing our communities. In gratitude and future partnership,

Quyen Dinh

2014 Annual Repor t

5

Mission and Values

SEARAC is a national organization that advances the interests of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans by empowering communities through advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building to create a socially just and equitable society. We believe all people have inherent human rights. We respect, honor, and promote the historical and cultural diversity within our communities. We value the voices of all ages. We stand in solidarity with other communities in pursuit of social equity. We work in partnership, particularly with local communities, as we believe in the exchange of knowledge, expertise, experience, and resources. We act with integrity, transparency, and accountability. We believe everyone is an active agent in creating a just society, regardless of socio-economic or immigration status. We believe the communities most impacted by the issues are the faces and voices leading our work.

6


Policy Advocacy Leadership Development Training and Technical Assistance for Community-based Organizations Research

Our program and policy areas Education Health

Strategies and Program/Policy Areas

Our strategies

Boys and Men of Color Immigration Financial Literacy Aging

2014 Annual Repor t

7

Quyen Dinh Executive Director Rita Pin Ahrens Director of Education Policy Linh Chuong VISTA Health Coordinator Phuong Do Director of Training and Technical Assistance

Souvan Lee Policy Associate Eric Nguyen Development and Operations Coordinator Mari Quenemoen Director of Communications and Development Jonathan Tran California Policy and Programs Manager

Staff and Interns (Upper left clockwise) Souvan Lee, Quyen Dinh, Eric Nguyen, Rita Pin Ahrens, Mari Quenemoen, Steven Chow, Phuong Do, Chaoya Yang, Linh Chuong, Jonathan Tran, Kong Vang

Stephen Chow Immigration Intern Zaya Nyamaa Communications Intern Giao Tran Health Intern

8

Kong Vang Leadership and Advocacy Intern Chaoya Yang Immigration Intern


Board of Directors

Cynthia Brothers Four Freedoms Fund at NEO Philanthropy Nerou Cheng N. Cheng and Co., P.C. Vichet Chhuon University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Chay Duongphouxay Target Corporation Sophal Ear Occidental College Kevin Fong (Secretary) Elemental Partners Bill Ong Hing University of San Francisco/University of California, Davis Linda Kim OneJustice Sarah R. Kith (Treasurer) American Red Cross, Corporate Ombudsman Office Cat Bao Le Southeast Asian Coalition Vayong Moua Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Catherina Nou (Vice Chair) California State Assemblymember Mariko Yamada Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Rattana Yeang (Chair) Oakland Unified School District

2014 Annual Repor t

9

Our History

SEARAC was formed in 1979 in the aftermath of U.S. war in Vietnam, the Secret War and bombings of Laos and Cambodia, and the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s. Formed by a group of American volunteers initially to respond to the genocide in Cambodia, they created the “Indochina Refugee Action Center” (IRAC) to ensure humanitarian oversight for the processing of refugees overseas and their resettlement in the U.S. This effort resulted in the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980 and the establishment of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, helping to develop the country’s first formal refugee resettlement program.

President Gerald Ford with refugee children, Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, circa 1970-1980.

Since 1975, over a million refugees fled the three countries and were resettled in the U.S., the largest reception of refugees in U.S. history. This refugee legacy remains a backdrop to the lives of over 2.5 million Southeast Asian Americans who make their homes across this country.

10


Our History

Phanat Nikhom Camp in Chonburi Province Thailand, 1983. UNHCR.

SEAA Refugee Arrivals, 1975 - 2013 Country of Origin

1975-1982 1

1983-2013 2

Vietnam

474,448

Laos

129,223

Cambodia

71,580

Southeast Asia (unspecified) Total

659,001 659,001

675,251

Total SEAA Refugee Arrivals from 1975-2013: 1,334,252

Office of Refugee Resettlement Report to Congress on the Refugee Resettlement (1983), Table 1. 2 Ibid; 2014 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Department of Homeland Security. 1

2014 Annual Repor t

11

Arrival at the airport in Minneapolis/ St. Paul, 1993. Photo credit: Vorada Savengseuksa.

Our History

Today, SEARAC continues to advance Southeast Asian American communities by firmly asserting our policy positions at the national and California state level, producing original research, supporting and strengthening communitybased organizations, and training hundreds of Southeast Asian American leaders to advocate for their communities.

Top SEAA Populations 1

Data from 2011 – 2013 American Community Survey, 3-year estimates for Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese “alone or in any combination.” 1

12

Hmong family in resettled in Stockton, 1980s. Photo credit: Lao Khmu Association.

Rank

State

Total

01

California

979,356

02

Texas

277,234

03

Washington

128,535

04

Minnesota

123,186

05

Florida

92,821

06

Massachusetts

91,074

07

Virginia

79,090

08

Pennsylvania

71,892

09

Georgia

69,166

10

Wisconsin

63,713


Our Community Partners

Strengthening Our Voices from the Ground Up One of SEARAC’s primary strategies is to support the development of resilient community-based organizations (CBOs) as institutions that provide both essential social services and community-driven advocacy. To this end, SEARAC engages with local CBOs in leadership and organizational development through training and technical assistance. SEARAC also works in partnership with CBOs to implement local and national advocacy campaigns to raise awareness about needs and solutions in SEARAC’s key policy areas: education equity, health access, immigrant justice, aging, and economic development. We devote an average of 11% of our annual budget to provide sub-grant support to partner CBOs.

SEARAC Community Partner

2014 Annual Repor t

States with Largest SEAA Populations

13

Our Community Partners

CBO Partners SEARAC Has Worked with over the Past Five Years Asian Pacific Self Development and Residential Association (APSARA), CA • Fresno Center for New Americans, CA • Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, Inc. (FIRM), CA • Health and Life Organization (Southeast Asian Health Clinic), CA • Healthy House, CA • Khmer Youth of Modesto, CA • Lao Family Community of Stockton, CA • Laotian American Community of Fresno, CA • Merced Lao Family Community, Inc., CA • Project Prevention/ Project Kev Tiv Thaiv, CA • Southeast Asian American Community Resources (SAACR), CA • Stone Soup-Fresno, CA • The Bridge Community Center (Sierra Vista), CA • Hmong Women’s Heritage Association (HWHA), CA • International Children Assistance Network (ICAN), CA • National Lao American Community & Economic Development, CA • Southeast Asian Assistance Center, CA • Vietnamese Community Center of the East Bay (VACCEB), CA • Vietnamese Youth Development Corporation (VYDC), CA • Cambodian Association of America (CAA), CA • Families in Good Health (FIGH), CA • Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), CA • Khmer Parent Association (KPA), CA • United Cambodian Community (UCC), CA • Hmong National Development (HND), DC • Karen American Community Foundation (KACF), DC • Newcomer Community Service Center (NCSC), DC • Bhutanese Association of GA (BAG), GA • Bhutanese Community of GA (BCG), GA • Burmese American Community Institute (BACI), IN • Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA-NO), LA • Chin American Community Development (CACD), MD • Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, MD • CAPI, MN • Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, MN • United Cambodian Association of Minnesota, MN • Vietnamese Community of Minnesota, MN • Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota, MN • Southeast Asian Coalition, NC • 1Love Movement, PA • Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia (CAGP), PA • Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), RI • Bhutanese American Association of Houston (BAAH), TX • Bhutanese Nepali Community of Houston (BNC), TX • Chin American Community Development (CACD), TX • Chin Development Association (CDA), TX • Karen Community of Dallas, TX • Vietnamese Science and Culture Association (VCSA), TX • Southeast Asian American Access in Education Coalition (SEAeD), WA • Vietnamese Friendship Association (VFA), WA.

14


Data about student achievement has the power to reveal – and the power to conceal. For too long, data on Southeast Asian American student achievement has been invisible, hidden within the deceptively broad and diverse category of “Asian” students. Among immigrant populations, Asian Americans have been held up as the “model minority” in educational attainment, obscuring great variance across Asian subgroups. Further breakdown of data reveals that Southeast Asian American youth have unique challenges and assets, graduating from high school at rates dramatically below many other Asian subgroups and the general population.

Our Impact on Education

Introducing National Legislation to Make Sure All Students Count

Students from the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia at SEARAC’s All Students Count community rally in Washington, DC.

2014 Annual Repor t

15

In 2014, SEARAC and our partners worked with Representative Mike Honda (CA-17) to champion and introduce the All Students Count Act, a bill that will improve the quality of the data that schools, school districts, and states collect to measure student performance by disaggregating student data by race categories, including seven Asian American and four Pacific Islander sub-categories.

Population over age 25 with a high school diploma

Our Impact on Education

100 86%

80

67%

65%

68%

70%

General Population Cambodian

60

Hmong

40

Laotian Vietnamese

20 0

Data from the 2010 American Community Survey, 1-year estimates.

In July, SEARAC hosted a community rally in Washington, DC, in support of the All Students Count Act, attended by 45 community leaders in our Leadership and Advocacy Training and 50 school children from the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia. Our #beyondthebox Tumblr campaign also features photographs from over 1,000 students showing that “Asian” is not a “one size fits all” category.

16


Our Impact on Immigration

Keeping the Hak Family Together In May, 2014, Puthy Hak made a call to SEARAC from his home in Santa Ana, CA. He had been waiting for ten years for his brother, Touch Hak, to be released from state prison because of an old drug charge. Touch had been substance free for years, was ready for a second chance, and wanted to return home to support Puthy, who suffered from kidney failure. The brothers planned for Touch to start the process to donate one of his kidneys so that Puthy could return to a normal life. Unfortunately, as soon as Touch was released from prison, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him and told him he would soon be deported to Cambodia. Once deported from the U.S., Touch would be banned from the U.S. indefinitely.

Members of the Hak family after being reunited with Touch (bottom right, next to Puthy, center).

2014 Annual Repor t

17

Our Impact on Immigration

Working with the Hak family, SEARAC launched a campaign to keep Touch together with his family, at least as long as it took to undergo the kidney transplant. SEARAC led a sign-on letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asking for a delay (or “stay”) of deportation, and secured the support of four members of Congress. Community members across the country made calls to DHS, and participants at our annual Leadership and Advocacy Training advocated on behalf of the family on Capitol Hill. Just as Touch was scheduled to board a plane for Cambodia, DHS granted him a one-year stay of deportation, allowing him to be reunited with his family.

Percentage of deportation orders based on criminal convictions (2013) 100 80

90% 81%

Laos

69%

Vietnam

60

Cambodia General Population

40 20

23%

0 Data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, “U.S. Deportation Outcomes by Charge,” http://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/court_ backlog/deport_outcome_charge.php

18


National conversations about the challenges facing boys and men of color often focus exclusively on the country’s Black/White divide. The experiences of Southeast Asian American young men are obscured by the myth that Asian Americans do not face significant socio-economic challenges or racism. To the contrary, Southeast Asian American students finish high school at some of the lowest rates in the country, and in some cities they are arrested at rates equal or greater than African American or Latino youth1.

Our Impact on Boys & Men of Color

Building Community Power through the Southeast Asian American Young Men’s Collaborative

Photo credit: Karen Cher, Frontline Solutions. See Isami Arifuku, Delores D. Peacock, and Caroline Glesmann. (2006). “Profiling Incarcerated Asian and Pacific Islander Youth: Statistics Derived from California Youth Authority Administrative Data,” AAPI Nexus, 4(2):69-93; Thao Le, Isami Arifuku et al. (2001). Not Invisible: Asian Pacific Islander Juvenile Arrests in Alameda County. Oakland: National Council on Crime and Delinquency. 1

2014 Annual Repor t

19

Our Impact on Boys and Men of Color

SEARAC formed the Southeast Asian American Young Men’s (SEAAYM) Collaborative to harness the power of Southeast Asian American youth leaders to voice their experiences and bring their unique perspectives into policy conversations on boys and men of color. SEAAYM brings together youth engaged with four of SEARAC’s partners: Khmer Girls in Action, 1Love Movement – San Diego, Stone Soup Fresno, and the Vietnamese Youth Development Center. Through SEAAYM, these young men engage in organizing and strategic advocacy to improve social, educational, and economic conditions to help Southeast Asian American boys and men realize their full potential.

Photo credit: Karen Cher, Frontline Solutions.

In June, SEAAYM Collaborative leaders testified at the California State Assembly’s Select Committee on Boys and Men of Color’s historic hearing entitled, “Widening the Lens on Boys and Men of Color: Assets, Opportunities & Challenges in California’s Asian & Pacific American Communities.” This hearing was the first time that the Assembly Select Committee focused on a specific population, giving the Asian American & Pacific Islander community a unique opportunity to highlight the challenges and disparities that impact our boys and young men.

20


Our Impact on Health Strengthening Community Partnerships to Ensure Health Care Access for All In the first year of Covered California, the California version of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, Southeast Asian American community-based organizations (CBOs) worked tirelessly to educate community members about new health insurance options to make sure families enrolled. On November 13, as these CBOs geared up for the second year of enrollment, SEARAC held the Southeast Asian Enrollment Summit in Sacramento with staff from nine CBOs serving families throughout California who face significant linguistic and cultural barriers to accessing health care. CBO staff had the opportunity to share best practices, discuss common challenges, and brainstorm solutions.

SEARAC and CBO staff at the Southeast Asian Enrollment Summit.

2014 Annual Repor t

21

Our Impact on Health As documented in our recent report, “Covering ALL of California: Voices from Southeast Asian American communities in the first year of Covered California,” CBOs expressed that in-person, in-language assistance for Southeast Asian American families is more effective in reaching our communities than mass outreach enrollment strategies. Participants at the summit also strategized on the difficult work of enrolling hard-toreach community members with few resources. SEARAC amplified these concerns and best practices in our recommendations to Covered California on its outreach to Southeast Asian American communities throughout the first year of enrollment. Recognizing SEARAC’s role as a vital stakeholder, SEARAC was invited to sit on Covered California’s Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee to make sure all communities have access to health insurance.

SEARAC California Policy and Programs Manager Jonathan Tran with a representative from Covered California at the kick-off of a statewide outreach tour.

22


SEARAC’s annual Leadership and Advocacy Training (LAT) program has built a powerful pipeline of more than 800 Southeast Asian American leaders over the last 15 years. The LAT focuses on building the capacity of leaders to address resource and service gaps faced in low-income Southeast Asian American communities. Many of our alumni have gone on to pursue careers in advocacy and organizing with youth, parents, and grandparents. This year, LAT ’07 alumna Quyen Dinh became SEARAC’s fourth executive director.

Our Impact on Leadership

Expanding a National Pipeline through Our Annual Leadership and Advocacy Training

Participants at SEARAC’s 2014 LAT in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

2014 Annual Repor t

23

Our Impact on Leadership

“I was really inspired by everyone I met --- hearing all their stories and listening to all their bright ideas on how to better serve their communities. I was really encouraged by the direction of the narrative and feel if we can continue building on the momentum, then the future of our people is in good hands.” - 2014 LAT Immigration Track participant

The 2014 LAT brought 45 leaders representing 12 states and 30 communitybased organizations to Washington, DC, to learn, network, share, and advocate on critical issues impacting Southeast Asian American communities. Participants conducted 34 meetings with Members of Congress and federal agencies to educate them about how health care, education, and immigration policies impact Southeast Asian American communities. Harnessing the power of our LAT cohort, we organized SEARAC’s first community rally on Capitol Hill. The rally included over 50 K-12 students from Philadelphia, coordinated with the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, five national advocacy partners, and staff from Congressman

Mike Honda’s office to prepare for the introduction of the All Students Count Act. The rally called on Congress to require disaggregated educational data that can reveal a clearer picture of Southeast Asian American students’ challenges and achievements.

24


SEARAC Fiscal Year 2014

Grants-Foundation/Nonprofits

866,999

Grants-Corporate/Business

75,000

Individual Contribution

4,675

Other Income

7,713 Total revenue $ 954,387

Financials

Revenue

Expenses Program expenses

822,865

Administrative expenses

45,259

Fundraising expenses

2,079 Total expenses $ 870,203

Net assets at the beginning of year

$ 1,007,224

Total net assets

$ 1,091,408

2014 Annual Repor t

25

2014 Revenue by Funding Source 9.5%

2.5% Individual Contribution & Other Income Grants-Corporate/Business

88%

Grants-Foundation/Non-Profits

Financials

2014 Expenditures 4% 1%

Programs

95%

G&A Fundraising

In 2014, for every dollar raised, 95% of it was invested in programs.

26


Funders & Supporters

Foundations Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Corporations AT&T

The California Endowment

State Farm

The California Wellness Foundation

Southwest

Four Freedoms Fund

Comcast

W.K. Kellogg Foundation The Kresge Foundation Open Society Foundations

Individual Donors Christina Bui Jacqueline Dan Sokho Eath Mary June Flores

Paula Scholtes Richard Tran Lan Van

Dan Huynh

Dena Vang

Edward Lin

Kalia Vang

Sophaline Mao Ivy Ngo Paul Nguyen

2014 Annual Repor t

Malaphone Phommasa

Josephine Villanueva Karissa Yee Henry Yue

27

Washington, DC Office 1628 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 T 202 601 2960 F 202 667 6449 California Office 1225 8th Street, Suite 590 Sacramento, CA 95814 T 916 428 7444 F 916 428 7293 [email protected] www.searac.org