The 18% And Growing Campaign Kicks Off Its 14th Annual Asian American Pacific Islander City Advocacy Week

NEW YORK (March 30, 2022) -- On Monday, March 28th, the 18% and Growing Campaign successfully kicked off its 14th Annual Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) City Advocacy Week. Led by the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), the 18% and Growing Campaign brings together over 60 AAPI-led and -serving community-based organizations across all five boroughs of New York City to fight for a fair and equitable City Budget that protects the needs of our most vulnerable AAPI community members.

During this week of advocacy, over 100 community leaders, service providers, advocates and elected allies will virtually gather to discuss the growing needs of New York City’s AAPI community in preparation for the upcoming City Budget.

“With the severe rise in anti-Asian violence and the traumatic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, AAPI community-based organizations have had to step in to provide critical resources, in-language information, and culturally informed support to our most marginalized community members who are often siloed from mainstream sources of public support,” said CACF’s Co-Executive Directors Anita Gundanna and Vanessa Leung. “Even in the face of increasingly limited resources and rapidly growing needs, our AAPI organizations have continued to work to support our most vulnerable community members; however, we need equitable support from the City to sustain these life affirming services. We are calling on NYC Council to support the discretionary asks of AAPI community-based organizations that are outlined in our FY 2023 Budget Priorities:

1) Enhance the AAPI Community Support Initiative to $6 million to expand social services by AAPI-led and -serving community-based organizations to address the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our communities, while laying the groundwork for long-term healing for AAPI New Yorkers.

2) Enhance the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund (CCNSF) to $7 million to provide capacity building support to Black, Latinx, and AAPI-led community-based organizations.

3) Enhance the Access Health Initiative to $4 million to support community-based organizations (CBOs) who provide education, outreach, and assistance to marginalized New Yorkers on how to access health care and coverage.”

Since 2009, when our Campaign started out as the 10% and Growing Campaign, organizational members and allies have utilized AAPI City Advocacy Week as an opportunity to come together to speak directly to New York City Council about the diverse and complex needs of AAPI New Yorkers. The name of the 18% and Growing Campaign hails from the fact that AAPI New Yorkers comprise more than 18% of the City’s population, and are the fastest growing racial community in New York City, State, and the country at large. Despite the AAPI community’s expansive growth and development, funding for AAPI communities in New York City has historically lagged behind. In FY 2022, AAPI organizations received only 4.64% of City Council discretionary dollars and less than 1.5% of social service contract dollars.

But despite that stark lack of proportionate funding, AAPI community-based organizations that make up the 18% and Growing Campaign continue to provide life affirming services to their surrounding neighborhoods.

“This funding is extremely critical to support the work of AAPI community-based organizations to help address hate, lift up data and stories about the impact of multiple crises, and offer tangible access points to report hate incidents and ways to help victims and communities recover,” said Ansen Tang, Executive Director of United Chinese Association of Brooklyn. “Recognizing this tremendous growth and the unique needs within AAPI communities, it is imperative to recognize that all our efforts to support our AAPI community goes hand in hand with supporting all who are impacted by these imperfect systems.”

The 14th Annual City Advocacy Week comes at a time when the AAPI community is still reeling from the pandemic. Asian Americans have experienced the largest increase in joblessness of all major racial groups in New York, with unemployment rates spiking by over 4,000% as of May 2020. Amid the pandemic, Asian Americans New Yorkers were also 2x more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than their white counterparts, yet less likely to be tested at all. In 2021, there were over 9,000 reported incidents of anti-Asian violence across the nation and a 361% increase in Anti-Asian related hate crimes in NYC alone, the highest rate of incidents of all U.S. cities.

Alongside these rising challenges, AAPIs are facing increasing barriers to healthcare, education, employment, housing, food security, violence prevention, and civic participation that are critical to their health and well-being. These issues vary across communities and rely heavily upon AAPI community based-organizations to fill in the gaps of services through culturally inclusive and language accessible services that have the most impact on addressing the needs of AAPI New Yorkers.

“At Sapna NYC, we knew mental health was an issue we had to prioritize because the pandemic has ravaged our working-class immigrant community. Most have faced significant financial stress. Every single person knows someone who died from COVID,” said Diya Basu-Sen, Executive Director of Sapna NYC. “A lack of culturally competent linguistically accessible mental health services means that even for those community members who have managed to overcome the stigma surrounding seeking help, it is nearly impossible to find affordable, accessible, and appropriate care. We need to invest in community-based organizations that are entrenched in these communities.”

“As a trusted organization within NYC, community members seek us out for guidance and support especially during uncertain times. CMP is able to assist and pivot as needed to help community members find services that meets their needs,” said Stephanie Lau, Assistant Executive Director of CMP. “During the height of the pandemic when many were isolated and now during this time when many community members are afraid to step foot outside their homes, they have been able to turn to CMP and other CBOs to assist them with needs and services. Helping individuals return to work or small businesses re-open will lend to the vitality of our neighborhoods, communities, and the city as a whole.”