So you wanna know about APIs, AAPIs, APIAs, APAs?
by Gem P. Daus, Director of Policy
June 7, 2005
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is over--and I'm glad. Not because I don't appreciate my heritage, but because there are so many events you don't have time for anything else. I don't if it's true elsewhere, but everyone in DC has an event and we get invited to alot of them. Not just community-based organizations, but the national ones too. Congress and the White House have events. Government agencies, local, state and federal have one or more events each. Some agencies get schooled by their speakers, unintentionally of course. Passive? Acquiescent? Surprise, it's just a stereotype.
So here is what my month was like. I spent as much time outside of DC as in it for various meetings and events around the country. But when I was in DC, I was given an extraordinary number of opportunities to educate people about the health and healthcare needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and not just to the choir. If the purpose of the month is to raise awareness about our communities and our places in America, then mission accomplished. Below is a list of the key advocacy events in May.
IOM (Institute of Medicine) - The IOM has been tasked with reviewing the NIH (National Institutes for Health) plan for "reducing and ultimately eliminating" health disparities. NIH is key in this endeavor because of their prestige and purse. I was invited to share the perspective of APIAHF and since one of our policy platforms is to increase and improve research and data collection, I jumped at the chance. The plan is updated regularly and coordinated by the NCMHD (National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities--which we helped create, see #1 below) at NIH. Ideally, the plan should help NIH prioritize research and allocate funds.
The IOM is a private nonprofit that often gets tasked by Congress to review government programs. They are not a watchdog group, nor do they lobby to implement their recommendations. That is our job as advocates. An IOM report can be a valuable tool in making a case for your particular policy focus. This report is due sometime this summer. My presentation is available elsewhere on this website (see #2 link below) in the form of powerpoint slides. Feel free to download them and incorporate them into your work. Contact me if you need explanations.
NAPAWF <FIRST EVER> Congressional Briefing on Reproductive Health - The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum is the only national multi-issue APA women's organization in the US. Their various platforms are spelled out on their website (#3). I was invited to share the latest Census data on the LEP (limited English proficient) and how language affects the provision of services (#4). This is very basic, but important advocacy. The audience included Congressional staff who may have never heard this data before, or if they had, they needed words that they could craft into briefs, memos, press releases and the like. It was also important to communicate that APIAHF is an ally, since we don't have our own platform or program on reproductive health. Finally, AAPI women talking about sex on Capitol Hill--what a historic event. Demure? Compliant? Surprise, it's just a stereotype. Thanks to Representative Doris Matsui for making sure there was a space for this dialogue in the halls of Congress.
CAPAC/APAICS/NCAPA APIA Summit (see #5 below for what these letters stand for) - I moderated the panel on Medicaid and Social Security that included Representatives Abercrombie and Becerra, Charmaine Manansala (Special Assistant to the Leader, The Honorable Nancy Pelosi), Jeff Caballero (Executive Director of AAPCHO) and Clayton Fong (Board Chair of APAICS). For any event on the hill, protocol says that no matter what you are doing, when a Member of Congress comes in the room, you stop everything and let the Member of Congress speak. So in a crowded reception, or in the middle of a panel, you get everyone's attention and announce that so and so has joined us and invite her to say a few words. Politicians are always campaigning so they rarely say no. The same is done for high-ranking government officials. The only person I've seen demur is Tommy Thompson in his first month as Secretary of HHS.
My panel was the first, but so many Members of Congress showed up at the beginning and spoke that we were immediately thrown off the agenda. When so many actual Members show up, an event is deemed a success. Well, this event was a success. Within the first hour, Representatives Honda (who chairs CAPAC), Bordallo (Guam, and CAPAC Health Committee Chair), Abercrombie (HI), Becerra (CA), McDermott (WA), Solis (CA), and Schakowski (IL) spoke (my apologies if I forgot anyone). Some actually stayed in the audience for a bit. Congressmen and women are normally booked so tightly that all they can do if drop in and say hello. That they stayed a little bit shows you how important they think you are. It communicates to their staff too how important we are. To an outsider, it seems like the least a Member can do. But when you know how many distractions a Member has, you learn to appreciate any amount of face time.
So that was my month. This month I'm presenting at the South Asian American Health Conference (I think the first) and to the Kaiser Family Foundation Barbara Jordan Minority Health Fellows and Health Media Fellows on political activism for AAPI health. On June 20th, I'll be on a videoconference that you can watch on your computer. That will be a first. I'm on a response panel so I won't have a formal presentation, but I'm sure I'll have a teachable moment.
Resources
- APIAHF testimony on the NCMHD - Health Care Fairness Act and our policy brief
- APIAHF presentation to the IOM
- National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
- APIAHF Census publications at our resources page.
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies; National Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans
- For more information on the videoconference go to www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2005/. To register for the internet broadcast go to www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2005/webcast/
For comments, suggestions, feedback, email Gem P. Daus at gdaus@apiahf.org
