Lao Assistance Center staff traveled recently to Oakland to attend a gathering convened by Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders In Philanthropy. This travel was part of the National Gender & Equity Campaign, which celebrated an important milestone February 18, 2009, with a $2.7 million investment in twelve Asian American organizations in both California and Minnesota. This was a major undertaking organized as part of the prestigious NGEC Organizational Fellowship Program.

For Minnesota, the organizations selected were the Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota, Center for Hmong Arts and Talent, Centre for Asian Pacific Islanders, Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, Shades of Yellow and Mu Performing Arts, who were each identified as being in a key stage in their growth and services to the community to benefit from the program.

The NGEC believes Asian American and Pacific Islander grassroots leadership is a vital part of building a more inclusive, effective, and lasting social justice movement.  There will be many changes ahead for all of these groups and those from California, and the Lao Assistance Center looks forward to growing in the coming years ahead to meet those changes.

“NGEC and the Organizational Fellowship Program really represent the core of AAPIP’s commitment to a vision of philanthropy that views community leaders and organizations as critical partners in determining how best to invest in their communities,” Peggy Saika, AAPIP Executive Director said in a statement. “This commitment could not be more important than now – when the need to invest in all communities in the face of a struggling economy is even more important, and valuable gains might be lost without continued support. Philanthropy has a responsibility to step up. And now is that time.”

Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy’s National Gender & Equity Campaign is a demonstration project created by Asian American women to support, engage and strengthen the infrastructure for social justice movement building.

During this time, the staff of the Lao Assistance Center also took time to visit with members of the Center for Lao Studies and community activists in Richmond to discuss current directions the Lao in
California are taking.