Asian American Commission to Assess Statewide Needs

Mass. Asian American Commission to Assess Needs of Community

AAC's Ambitious Goals Hampered by Lack of Funding

By Michael Kim

On January 15, 2008, the Mass. Asian American Commission (AAC) held its "2008 Kickoff Announcement" at the State House to unveil its ambitious plan for a first-of-its-kind statewide needs assessment of the Asian American community.

"We are excited at what the new year will bring for the Commission and the Asian American community in general," said Neelam Wali, chairwoman of the Commission. "This type of needs assessment has never been done on a statewide level, and we're going to try to be as thorough and inclusive as possible."

The Commission announced that the assessment will have three components:

(1) Town meetings which will focus on geographic areas with the highest concentration of Asian American population;

(2) Sector focus groups which will explore issues in more depth, concentrating on individual sectors such as health care, economic development and education;

(3) A statewide survey of Asian Americans that will provide statistical data to supplement the anecdotal data.

AAC executive director Leverett Wing stated that the goal is for the needs assessment to be presented in a comprehensive report that will be used as a resource for elected officials and others in decision making.

Wing added that it is AAC's goal to complete the report by the end of the 2008. Passed by the Mass. Legislature in 2006, the Asian American Commission was created to be a resource to the Commonwealth on issues affecting Asian American communities in Massachusetts. The Commission was created without any state funding, but is permitted to seek monies from private sources in order to accomplish its mission.

Despite lacking adequate funding and other resources, the AAC proclaimed some accomplishments this past year. In May 2007, the Asian American Unity Dinner - as the Commission's primary fundraising event - raised about $20,000 for the Commission. The AAC announced that this year's Unity Dinner is scheduled for May 10th at Boston Sheraton Hotel.

In August 2007, the AAC hosted a historic, first-ever candidates forum on Asian American issues with the candidates for the open 5th Congressional District seat. All candidates from both parties, including eventual winner Niki Tsongas, attended the forum.

In the fall of 2007, the AAC launched the first of a statewide series of town meetings in Lowell, addressing the needs of the Asian American community. At this meeting, the Commission members learned of a potential healthcare crisis in the Cambodian American community with the loss of federal funding at its community health center. Wing stated that one of its commission members who is familiar with the funding process provided recommendations to the Cambodian community on how to deal with the issue.

A town meeting at Quincy was held next. The AAC is planning to continue other town meetings through April 2008, beginning with Boston Chinatown and Dorchester in January, Newton-Brookline in February, followed by Worcester and Springfield this spring.

Wing stated that since being appointed as the executive director of AAC, he has been concentrating on building internal infrastructure of the Commission. In announcing its ambitious objectives, Wing stressed the need for broad-based support from Asian American communities.

Commission member Tina Matsuoka announced that the Boston Foundation gave a generous grant of $25,000. "This despite the Foundation's long-standing policy of not funding unfunded mandates because they saw a ‘compelling needs' of the Commission," said Wing.

In assessing the overall state of Asian American community, Wing stated that Asian Americans need to be more active in local communities and need to learn how to better access state and federal programs. Citing extremely low participation rate in the Lowell District school events, Commission member Kija Kim echoed the need for Asian Americans to be more engaged in mainstream society.

Chairwoman Wali concluded the meeting by reminding everyone that the AAC is focused on issues at statewide level and is not geared toward addressing individual local needs. Although it seems that the AAC has a clear purpose and mission, whether it can actually accomplish any substantive results remain to be seen.

Without major infusion of resources, public and private, its ambitious goals may never be fulfilled. Then, it will become just another perfunctory governmental commission long on titles but short on real accomplishments for the people of Massachusetts.

The commitment and leadership skills of the Commission members will be solely tested in the upcoming months as they try to persuade various elements of diverse Asian American community to work together for a common goal, as well as convincing those in decision making positions to pay attention to and act on the Commission's findings and recommendations.

Source: NEKorean.com

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