New York, NEW YORK (July 31, 2024) --  When CACF founded the Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP) in 2004, none of us could have envisioned the powerhouse of youth advocacy and community building it has since become.

What started as an initial cohort of 15 young people 20 years ago has since become the foundation of CACF’s youth leadership programming, reaching over 1,000 youth from across the New York metro area each year. Since ASAP’s founding, our ASAP Youth Leaders have pushed for inclusive curriculum in our public schools, championed stronger supports for mental health in front of New York City Council, educated their peers and teachers about the importance of anti-bullying and harassment measures, and much, much more.

On July 26, we welcomed ASAP alumni from throughout the program’s history to Chinatown’s House of Joy for ASAP’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. In addition to celebrating ASAP alongside our current and former Youth Leaders, Program Coordinators, supporters, and friends, we also had the honor of welcoming many of the elected and government officials our Youth Leaders have gotten to know well over the years. We are so grateful to NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Grace Lee, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Director of Asian American Affairs Shawn Ma, Councilmember Christopher Marte, and members of Senator Iwen Chu’s and Assemblymember Steven Raga’s teams for joining us. Be sure to check out the beautiful photos from Friday’s event here.

We also want to say thank you to our sponsors — and longtime ASAP supporters — the CJ Huang Foundation and the Ong Family Foundation for helping to make ASAP’s 20th Anniversary Celebration a resounding success.

Additionally, we're thrilled to share the following exciting announcements about ASAP’s future that we made during Friday night’s program:

We’re expanding to Long Island! Next summer, ASAP will launch its very first Long Island AAPI-LEAD, marking the first time we’re taking our beloved youth leadership conference outside of NYC. Stay tuned for more on how you can join us in Summer 2025!

We’re piloting a paid Public Service Internship: CACF is committed to increasing the number of AAPI New Yorkers in public service. This fall, we’re kicking off our new pilot paid Public Service Internship that will place ASAP alumni in internships with elected officials in New York City. Alums should be on the lookout for how to apply in early 2025!

We’re getting ready to welcome our alumni back at a yearly Homecoming celebration: When young people join ASAP, they are joining an incredible community of engaged advocates and leaders. This December, we’re so excited to host our first-ever annual Homecoming celebration for alums to return to ASAP and network and reconnect with one another. We’re looking forward to sharing more details in the coming months!

None of these expansions would be possible without our incredible alumni and sponsors. Can you help ASAP continue to grow this year and beyond? Head here to make your gift in honor of ASAP’s milestone anniversary today!

For more information, please contact Lakshmi Gandhi, CACF’s Senior Communications Coordinator, at lgandhi@cacf.org.

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