NEW YORK (November 6, 2023) -- The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) and its Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP) kicked off the second straight year of the ASAP Community Network in October with a record 140 Asian American and Pacific Islander youth from high schools and colleges from across the United States. 

Founded in September 2022, the ASAP Community Network virtually brings young people together for discussions on the major issues affecting AAPI youth and their communities. The 2023-24 ASAP Community Network cohort kicked off on Saturday, October 7 with a presentation and discussion on data disaggregation. Like all ASAP Community Network sessions, the session was led by CACF’s ASAP Youth Leaders, making the ASAP Community Network a program designed for and by AAPI youth. 

Future sessions will focus on topics such as AAPI representation in American history, AAPI history and the history of our communities, the meaning of intersectionality and more. In addition to representing all five boroughs of New York City, this year’s ASAP Community Network participants also hail from Long Island, Westchester, California, New Jersey, and North Carolina. 

This year’s ASAP Community Network programming is also unique because participants also have the option of participating in a service learning project right in their own schools thanks to a gift from Colgate-Palmolive and the Colgate Asian Action Network. Guided by an ASAP Community Network coach, ASAP Community Network participants can choose to work on a survey assessing the needs of their fellow AAPI students or work on developing a toolkit for their school on either mental health or inclusivity in schools. 

“One of CACF’s core beliefs is that our young people have the knowledge and skills to create lasting change in their schools and communities,” said CACF’s Co-Executive Directors Anita Gundanna and Vanessa Leung. “The tremendous interest in the ASAP Community Network from teens across the country reflects the demand for culturally-affirming youth programs that give youth the tools they need to advocate for themselves and their peers. We are particularly excited to launch the collaborative service learning component of the ASAP Community Network and send our gratitude to our supporters at Colgate-Palmolive and the Colgate Asian Action Network, without whom this expansion would not have been possible.” 

"Colgate-Palmolive is a caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people. We aspire to be an ally and driver ofpositive change in our communities, and one of the ways we do that is by supporting the work of organizations like CACF," said Rekha Rao, Senior Vice President & General Manager, hello products and Colgate's Asian Action Network Executive Co-Sponsor. "We are proud to partner with CACF to empower the next generation of changemakers." 

Several participants in last year’s ASAP Community Network cohort have gone on to become members of CACF’s Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP) and are eager to lead Community Network discussions as Youth Leaders. 

“The ASAP Community Network helped me realize that there were other AAPI high schoolers who understood the breadth of our community's issues and who knew they wanted to do something to help,” said ASAP Community Network alum and current ASAP Youth Leader Casey Wu. “Being a part of the community network made me want to take more action. Joining ASAP is one way that I'm trying to learn more about advocacy and use it to better my community." 

“Having been part of last year's ASAP Community Network, I'm so excited to now be on the facilitating side of the program as it is a way for me to give back to a space that I found valuable because of the discussions it allowed me to have,” said current ASAP Youth Leader and ASAP Community Network alum Minesh Sumair. “A space like the ASAP Community Network is so important for AAPI youth, as it gives them an outlet to have discussions on many different issues that affect our identity. It is especially important because many of us might not have the chance to learn about these issues or have these discussions otherwise.” 

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