Newsletter

February 2007
Letter from the Chair

Dear Supporters,

First off, I would like to welcome our new board members serving on the CAPA Community Education Fund. The Ed Fund is a wonderful organization with a mission that is critically needed – to promote leadership and educate Asian Pacific Americans in public affairs. It is a very ambitious goal in which we’ve had many successes including our Summer Internship Program. We will continue to strive to create a wonderful program that is both educational but also unique in that it will give our students a better insight in our working government as well as possible career choices that they may not have considered. Our internship coordinator, Cindy Chin, should be praised for her guidance and administration of our “crown jewel” program. My predecessor, Jonathan Wen Hsu is heading up the establishment of a new Leadership Development Program. Unlike our past programs, this is going to be an ongoing program that will provide training and leadership skills for those in the workforce. Some elements will be presented to our interns in their training session but the bulk will focus on those who are working who can build their skills set to better their careers, become better leaders and possibly even move on to possible career options they haven’t considered. This is in addition to our partnership with the East Bay Asian Voter Education Consortium as well as our biennial Fall Forum and Debate event. With that I would like to welcome our new board members: Ken Chew, Matthew Del Carlo, Doreen Lew, Zhan Li and Evelyn Lin. I know that each person has individual talents that will carry us to the next level and that their participation is vital to succeeding in that.

Our signature event, Gala 2007, is rapidly approaching on Saturday, June 9th. I encourage you all to come to our event, especially this year, as we celebrate something close to home, our Summer Internship Program’s 16 years of success. Over 200 interns have passed through our program. Many came for an experience that was a unique one to them. Some wanted the challenges of what a public official’s office is like and wanted to dive firsthand in to gaining that insight. Some did it with gentle nudging from their family but came out of the program excited and invigorated. What this means is that there are no narrow criteria or standards for students who have applied in the past except for overall character, excellent academics, interest in public affairs, and community involvement. I’m happy to say that many have gone on to be leaders in their own community and that our Summer Internship Program played a key role in their development as leaders. With that, I have initiated creation of an Alumni Internship Council advisory board to bring ideas, give opinions, and take a more active role in advancing and improving our organization. I feel that this was a necessity to create such a body since our alumni interns are the ones who actually have experienced the program. We honor our program, we honor our alums, and we honor those who started the program with insight and vision. I hope that you will join us for this event. Information is posted at our website at www.capacommunity.org.

On a lighter note, it looks like it’ll be an interesting 2008. As of this writing, the California State Senate has passed a law to move our Presidential Primary to February. This makes a lot of sense that 10% of the country with the number one economy should have a big say in who the nominees for president should be in the respective party’s. The State Assembly looks like they’ll pass it and Governor Schwarzenegger looks like he will sign it. Now why am I saying this so early? Voter education. With that, I also encourage you update your voter registration, if needed. To help others register to vote and to participate in our public affairs. To our young people who are about to turn eighteen, not only register to vote but also be even more involved in your community and with the CAPA Community Education Fund.

Cedric Cheng
Chair, CAPA Community Education Fund