OCA sends Holiday Greeting

 

Dear Friends:

It is our pleasure to send you this Holiday greeting as we come to the close of 2011. As we reflect on this past year, it is hard to believe all the wonderful accomplishments achieved in the last 12 months. With your faithful support and involvement, OCA as a national membership driven pan-Asian social justice organization continues to make strides in addressing issues of equity and equality which ranges from economic opportunities, education access, leadership development, and advocacy to strengthen our civil rights.

To this end, in reviewing some of our advocacy mandate, most recently, we are resolved to maintain efforts to champion for fair treatment of women and men in uniform, prompted by such cases as that of Lance Corporal Harry Lew and Private Danny Chen as well as upholding the Voting Rights Act in Texas. We are very grateful and inspired by the collaboration with our ground support of such exceptional Chapters as OCA-New York, OCA Houston, and the 50 others across the country and over 30 College Affiliates that we are proud to claim as our larger movement of APA political empowerment. We applaud the tireless work of our members and allies of all generations to right the wrong whether it is recent or distant. In this vein, we are particularly proud of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter successfully bringing FOX Sports to account for their comedy bit based on stereotypes of Asian college students as well as our victory in the Senate through the 1882 Project to winning support for a formal statement of regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act. These achievements demonstrate not only our collective will but our capacity for change and empowerment when our members, chapters, and allies are engaged.

It is in this spirit of pride and optimism that we also have been able to successfully produce two large-scale public programming: National Convention in New York and the Corporate Achievement Award in Washington DC. These events are platforms for us to connect with other like minded APAs to elevate the achievements of the movers and shakers in a variety of sectors.

We are able to continue to produce not only these special events but our high impact programming such as our APIA-U, B³ Leadership Summit, JACL-OCA National Leadership Conference, Mentoring Asian American Professionals (MAAP), and Scholarship Programs because of the support of individual donors and corporate sponsors. We also would like to take this opportunity to continue our tradition of thanking those who have supported not only our programs but those who have believed in our potential as an organization to support our organizational home in Washington DC…for those who have and continued to support the Building Fund, we are very, very grateful.

As we cast our hopes to the dawning of 2012, we are very excited to embark on another chapter. We certainly look forward to our National Convention in Las Vegas in August along with our Corporate Achievement Award in Washington DC. This year will be critical in paving the way for our 40^th Year Anniversary in 2013. In order to meet the growing demands of our national organization, we will be expanding our team in Washington DC to include a Development Manager and a Fellow for our civic engagement initiative: APA Engage! This reorganization will provide the necessary staffing as we seek to maintain strategic focus and sustainability. Finally, but importantly, our Search Committee has been hard at work on making the hire of our Executive Director. The announcement of the appointment by our leadership will be forth coming in January before our National Board Meeting.

Our final thoughts at year end, is one of ardent gratitude and joy that comes with being a part of the larger family of OCA. It is truly an honor to serve along with you. We look forward to greater fulfillment in 2012.

Warmest regards,
              

Ken Lee                           Tom Hayashi
President                         Interim Executive Director

PS: It’s not too late to contribute to our year-end challenge; with your help we will be able to meet our challenge match to raise a total of $80,000. Every dollar you contributed will be matched until December 28^th. Please contribute by visiting our website at www.ocanational.org.