APA Kos boiler plate and Seal of Approval™
APA Kos is a group for exploring issues that affect the Asian/Pacific American community. Themes such as APA history and experiences, APA candidates and politicians, and APA community issues are encouraged.
APA Kos doesn't discriminate - you don't have to be an Asian/Pacific American to contribute - and we won't judge on "asian-ness". Dialogue should remain respectful, even in disagreement.
With the news of Kalpen Modi (better known as actor Kal Penn) returning to the private sector and leaving his job at the White house, now may be as good a time as any to take a look at the White House's outreach programs to Asian/Pacific Americans.
OPE
The office which coordinates outreach programs, aptly titled "Office of Public Engagement" (OPE), is headed by Jon Carson. The office is under the leadership also of Valerie Jarrett.
The office is, in their words,
[...] the open front door to the White House.
The Office of Public Engagement is the embodiment of the President’s goal of making government inclusive, transparent, accountable and responsible.
The OPE blog has posts from many different related agencies, including USAID. One particular post involves the reception of Syrian-American leaders at the White House to discuss the tragedy occurring in Syria at the hands of Bashir Al-Assad.
AAPI
Another office exists specifically to address the APA community, the Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), headed by Kiran Ahuja. The initiative is part of the Department of Education, and is co-chaired by Secretary Arne Duncan and Secretary Gary Locke.
The Initiative works collaboratively with the White House Office of Public Engagement and the designated Federal agencies to increase Asian American and Pacific Islander participation in programs in education, commerce, business, health, human services, housing, environment, arts, agriculture, labor and employment, transportation, justice, veterans affairs and economic and community development.
The Initiative seeks to highlight both the tremendous unmet needs in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities as well as the dynamic community assets that can be leveraged to meet many of those needs.
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AAPI)
The AAPI blog is a repository of the many White House initiatives targeted for the AAPI, and also serves to link concepts such as "sustainability" to the APA community.
The AAPI is now in its second incarnation, after being established by Bill Clinton and then continue until the expiration of George W. Bush's executive orders 13339 and 13403 in May 2007. It was reestablished in October 2009 by Executive Order 13515 by President Obama. It will expire again in October of this year unless renewed by the President.
So, what have we learned?
The White House has seemed to provide some great resources with the OPE and AAPI - many electronic resources such as blog entries by administration officials to take the message to the APA community. It is up to us to use these resources in a way to improve our community. Meetings between the administration and our community are occurring. But perhaps we must also be our own advocates, and take what we see from the electronic conversation out to the real world - neighbors, friends, and family.
You can find links to the White House OPE and AAPI blogs on the APA Kos blogroll.