AAPIP 2010 Blog

new AAPIP Board Member, Beadsie Woo

Check out a new guest blog from Lillian “Beadsie” Woo about AAPIP’s briefing at the Here and Now Symposium in Washington DC on June 23rd. Beadsie is one of three new members to join our Board of Directors this past April, and is also a member of the Cherry Blossom Giving Circle in the metropolitan Washington DC region.

She is a Senior Associate for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, based in Baltimore, MD, one of the top twenty largest foundations in the country. She is an economist with extensive knowledge of some of the most pressing issues facing immigrant families and low-wage workers.

We’re happy to have the support of both Beadsie in this new role, and the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Below are her remarks…

“The data that AAPIP presented to open the Here and Now Symposium was really eye-opening and as a new AAPIP board member, an affirmation of the importance of having an affinity group focused on foundation giving to Asian American and Pacific islander organizations and API-serving organizations.

The disparity in philanthropic dollars to API communities and organizations relative to the size of the API population in the US was shocking! For a variety of reasons (including widely varying experiences among the different communities (Hmong being different from Chinese being different from Korean), relatively small numbers in comparison to other ethnic and racial groups, and maybe a reluctance to be a “squeaky wheel”), API communities and needs are underserved by philanthropy.

By conducting the research and then presenting it to audiences across the country, AAPIP is elevating a problem that would otherwise go unnoticed. Talking with individuals from API-serving non-profits before the program began, I felt pride in AAPIP’s role as co-sponsor of this conference that empowers these entrepreneurial individuals committed to their communities.”