History

The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) was founded over 20 years ago as the nation's only pan-Asian children's advocacy organization.

CACF was established in 1986 and incorporated in 1992 by a group of proactive social service providers who were concerned that New York City private and public health, education, and human service institutions could not adequately serve the growing number of Asian Pacific American and immigrant families. In 1995, CACF hired its first executive director, after being successfully volunteer-run for almost ten years. Today, CACF is still the only organization of its kind in the nation to advocate for the rights of children of all Asian Pacific American backgrounds.

Accomplishments

2008	Received a four-year, $600,000 grant from Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum and W.K. Kellogg to implement Project CHARGE, a collaborative capacity building and policy advocacy initiative aiming to improve health access for Asian Pacific American families
2007	Worked with advocates, practitioners, and researchers to get $1.3 million in the New York State budget for a community awareness campaign to address the high rates of suicide and depression among Asian Pacific American women Released "Connecting the Dots: Improving Neighborhood-Based Child Welfare Services for Asian Pacific American Families" our second report on the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), New York City's child welfare system. The report critically analyzes the needs of Asian Pacific American families, the barriers to accessing child welfare services, and the opportunities to develop collaboration with the Asian Pacific American community. Launched the ACT (Asian Communities Together) Now! Campaign, working with over 30 organizations throughout New York City to improve the quality of life for the Asian Pacific American community.
2006	Worked with advocates to allocate $4.2 million to community-based preventive service programs to bring on 240 more staff to keep caseloads to the national standard of 12 and to keep children safe Increased funding for the DOE Translation and Interpretation Unit from $10 million to $12 million Released landmark policy brief, "Building Bridges: Increasing Language Access for the Asian Pacific American Community of New York City", on language access to the education, child welfare, and mental health systems for the Asian Pacific American community of New York City Received a three-year, $750,000 grant to build the capacity of Asian Pacific American community based organizations
2005	Launched youth leadership program, Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP) Worked with advocates to get the NYC Department of Education to create a Translation & Interpretation Unit Developed a collaboration with the Partnership for After School Education (PASE) to provide cultural competence training to approximately 550 Out-of-School Time Programs
2004	Released the first-ever policy report on Asian Pacific American students in the city's public schools Advocated for the New York City Council in successfully passing the Dignity in All Schools Act (DASA) Organized the Asian Pacific American track of the first-ever national conference by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on child health and child welfare
2002	Released "Crossing the Divide: Asian American Families and the Child Welfare System" Concerned Mothers testified at two hearings, attended a rally, participated in two letter writing campaigns, met with their City Councilmember, and participated in administering a community health survey Advocated successfully for the NYS Department of Social Services to change its ethnicity data category from the derogatory term "Oriental" to the acceptable term "Asian"
2001	Trained/presented before over 600 professionals and service providers Held South Asian, Korean, Chinese, and Filipino Community Dialogues Organized the Concerned Mothers to speak at two public hearings and participate in two letter campaigns
2000	Published summary of proceedings of CDF event, "A Seat at the Table: Toward a National Agenda for Asian Pacific American Children" Trained/presented before over 600 professionals and service providers
1999	Published "Half-Full or Half-Empty? Health Care, Child Care, and Youth Programs for Asian American Children in New York City" Published "Opening the Door, A Survey of the Cultural Competence of Preventive Services to Asian and Latino Families in New York City" Held conference "Speaking Out: Addressing the Unmet Needs of Asian American Children"
1998	Supported Client Organizing Project in conducting letter campaign and meeting with ACS
1997	Initiated Asian Cultural Diversity Roundtable Series Launched Asian Client Organizing Project Organized Asian American parents to attend CDF's Albany advocacy day
1996	Published "Newcomer's Resource Directory" and "Parenting in Your New Environment" in Chinese Organized parents to attend Children Defense Fund's (CDF) Washington advocacy day
1995	Hired first executive director with a seed grant from the New York Foundation
1992	Incorporated CACF
1990	Presented series of community education discussions on Chinese radio
1988	Published "Asian American Social Service Directory"
1986	Held a social service conference on Asian American families
1986	Founded as the nation's only pan-Asian children's advocacy organization