Last Monday, April 2, at a national briefing in Washington DC convened by The White House, three of the nation’s largest foundations – The Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation – together pledged $1 million to support an exploratory planning process focused on the development of national public-private partnerships to increase philanthropic investment in the Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
The National Philanthropic Briefing on the Asian American/Pacific Islander Community, was an ambitious day-long convening conducted by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and was intended to leverage and encourage concrete action on public-private partnerships to address a full range of complex social and economic needs in AAPI communities across the country. Nearly 200 participants, including chief executives and trustees from several of the nation’s leading foundations, joined Cabinet members and ranking officials from the Obama Administration in a set of conversations designed to challenge both the private and public sectors to increase investment in AAPI communities and invest in their capacity.
“This is an historic moment for the AAPI community”, observed Peggy Saika, President/Executive Director of AAPIP, who addressed the convening as part of the briefing’s opening plenary. “Not only is this the first convening of its kind ever undertaken by a Presidential administration, it is a watershed moment for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders – within the field of philanthropy, within the Administration, and among the organizations and institutions that serve our communities. We now have three of the largest foundations in the country – The Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation and The W.K. Kellogg Foundation – committed to investing in a potential long-range vision that would bring both private and public capital to bear in meeting our community’s needs; and in a far more strategic, efficient and effective manner.”
Cynthia Choi, AAPIP Senior Director of Philanthropic Advocacy, who also attended the briefing, added, “As the economy continues to recover, the capital needed to support both the development of community-capacity as well as meet its ongoing needs will need to stream from both the public and the private sectors. Foundations, in particular, have a key role and responsibility in adding to that capital and in encouraging other private sources to join in partnering with government’s efforts.”
For more information about the National Philanthropic Briefing and the public-private partnership effort, please contact Cynthia Choi, at . To learn more about AAPIP, visit www.aapip.org, or contact Joe L. Lucero, Senior Director, Strategic Communications, at , or (415) 273-2760.