CACF’s Asian American Student Advocacy Project Youth Leaders to Host Community Briefing Highlighting Current Advocacy Campaigns

NEW YORK (June 1, 2023) -- Youth Leaders at CACF’s renowned Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP) will come together to present the results of their 2022-23 advocacy campaigns to the public at a Community Briefing on June 9 at 5pm at Teach for America’s offices at 25 Broadway. 

First founded in 2004 by CACF, ASAP is a youth leadership program for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth in New York City’s public schools. ASAP educates, trains, and equips its Youth Leaders to be self-aware and informed advocates for their communities. ASAP seeks to build a community of AAPI youth whose voices are heard and incorporated, and with the collective power to create positive change, particularly in education.

“Our ASAP Youth Leaders have shown time and again that it is never too early to advocate for your community,” said CACF’s Co-Executive Directors Anita Gundanna and Vanessa Leung. “AAPI young people have gone through so much in recent years as they’ve come of age during the pandemic and it is so inspiring to see our ASAPers draw on their own experiences to create policy solutions that will serve themselves and their peers.”

Over the course of the school year, ASAP’s 29 Youth Leaders worked on three major campaigns – mental health, language access, and anti-bullying and microaggressions — that they determined were most relevant to AAPI youth in New York City public schools today. Through both research and advocacy, they hope to change the current landscape for AAPI high schoolers across the city, particularly those from immigrant and limited English proficient families.

The June 9th Community Briefing will mark ASAP’s first community briefing in five years. Since then, much has changed for AAPI young people, particularly as they and their families have weathered the economic downturns related to the pandemic and have faced an increase in bullying and microaggressions related to anti-Asian hate.

In addition to presenting their advocacy campaigns and resulting recommendations, the Youth Leaders will also lead breakout sessions on the importance of disaggregated data on the AAPI community and the impact of microaggressions on young people. 

“This past year, my team and I researched and collected stories regarding bullying and schools, and we are excited to present our findings and collective experiences at the community briefing,” says ASAP Youth Leader Sandra Lu, a current student at Brooklyn Technical High School. “The briefing will give us the chance to amplify the voices of AAPI youth attending public schools and initiate changes that will hopefully create a more inclusive environment for all.”

The ASAPers decided to have one of their campaigns focused on language access because many have seen firsthand how the lack of translation, interpretation, and in-language support has isolated families as they navigate the school system or try to access essential services like medical care.

Says Youth Leader Ningxi Pan, a current student at Brooklyn College, “ASAP created a space for me to learn about and speak on different issues affecting our AAPI community. I am excited to share my experiences as an AAPI English Language Learner and I hope by the end of the briefing when people hear the word, language access, they can think beyond translation!”

“I am excited to share my journey as an ASAP youth leader this year and how being a part of the mental health campaign team has helped me learn more about AAPI youth and my own needs,” says Youth Leader Soha Mursalien, a student at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education. “All of us at ASAP have worked passionately to research and contribute to the change that our communities need, and the community briefing allows us to showcase the work we have put in.”

Media members interested in covering the briefing should RSVP by filling out this form. For more information, please contact Lakshmi Gandhi, CACF’s Senior Communications Coordinator, at lgandhi@cacf.org.