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Add Your Voice to the Decisions of the Immigration Bill

Shared by Janet Namkung:

On Tuesday, May 21st, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin considering amendments to sections of the immigration bill dealing with family-based visas. Judiciary Committee members need to hear from supporters of family reunification from across the country – not just those who live in their states – about the affect these amendments will have on our communities.

Please call TODAY, May 20th and TOMORROW, May 21st. On both days, Senate staff will be reporting on the number of calls for and against each amendment to the Senators.

We want to SUPPORT: Senator Hirono’s Amendments #6, #7, and #8
Amendments #6 and #7 would retain or restore the family-sponsored visa categories for older married children and siblings of US citizens. Amendment #8 would raise the age cap of adult married children to 39 for family-based, merit-based, and non-immigrant visas.

We want to OPPOSE: Senator Cruz’s Amendment #4
Amendment #4 would completely eliminate family-supported visa categories for married-adult children as well as siblings.

We want to OPPOSE: Senator Sessions’ Amendment #48
Amendment #48 would not give points for brothers and sisters for US citizens under the proposed merit-based immigration system.

Please Tweet, Facebook, and whatever over social media outlets you have access to, these following messages:
“I urge the Senator to SUPPORT Hirono amendments #6, #7, and #8, which preserves family reunification.
I also urge you to OPPOSE Cruz #4 and Sessions #48 amendements that would hurt immigrant families.”

Please use the following handles and #hashtags:
#CIRmarkup, #SJC (Senate Judiciary Committee), #timeisnow, #familyunity.

Also, Tweet Judiciary Committee Members:
@SenatorLeahy, @SenFeinstein, @ChuckSchumer, @SenatorDurbin, @SenWhitehouse, @amyklobuchar, @alfranken, @ChrisCoons, @SenBlumenthal, @maziehirono, @ChuckGrassley, @OrrinHatch, @SenatorSessions, @LindseyGrahmSC, @JohnCornyn, @SenMikeLee, @tedcruz, @JeffFlke

If you do not have access to Social Media, please call ALL of the Senators below:
Senator Charles Schumer (NY): (202) 224-6542
Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA): (202) 224-3841
Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT): (202) 224-2823
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI): (202) 224-2921
Orrin Hatch (UT): (202) 224-5251
Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN): (202) 224-3244
Senator Christopher Coons (DE): (202) 224-5042
Senator Patrick Leahy (VT): (202) 224-4242

THE NEXT TWO DAYS ARE IMPORTANT AND WILL HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON THE BILL!
Let’s make sure that we have our voices heard and support the amendments that support our communities!

If you have any question, please feel free to email Jannet Namkung at Namkung.Janet@gmail.com!

Seeking applicants for National Board

ECAASU is currently seeking applications for two positions for its 2013-2014 National Board: Director of Development and Special Events Coordinator.

The Director of Development will oversee the Development Team and is responsible for overseeing grant proposals, fundraising events, maintaining sponsor relationships, and creating an annual fundraising campaign. This position will ensure that ECAASU has the appropriate amount of funding to cover the annual operating budget. The Director of Development will also work closely with the Executive Team to create the yearly budget.

Applicants need not have grant writing experience, but it is preferred. Strong writing and analytical skills are required. History of financial planning is a plus.

The Special Events Coordinator will be responsible for overseeing the logistics of ECAASU’s special events including all fundraising events. This position will work closely with in tangential with all of the teams on National Board, however will be supervised by the Director of Development.

Applicants must have strong communication and organizational skills and experience in event planning/ organizing.

The application deadline is Sunday, May 26, 2013 at 11:59 pm. The application can be found here.

If you have any questions, please contact directors@ecaasu.org.

National Board Applications

While applying for ECAASU 2013-2014 National Board, you may be asking what we have done this past year.

The following is a list of accomplishments as of 3/29/13:

Advocacy: main projects focused on education initatives in order to edcuate and to inspire the next generation of AAPI student activists. Below are several of our main accomplishments to date:

-Created an Interactive Asian American Studies Map.
-Compiled an Asian American Studies Suggested Reading List.
-Expanded our Asian American Studies Initiative - a large network of students, faculty, and administrators involved in the Asian American Studies Movement across college campuses.
-Developed the Important Dates in American American Studies History Timeline.
-Worked with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on policy statements.
-Partnered with APIAVote! and AALDEF on Voter Registration and Voter Protection efforts for the 2012 Presidential Elections.
-Maintained the ECAASU Fact of the Week.
-Presented three advocacy workshops at the 2013 ECAASU Conference at Columbia University.
-Released the 2012 AAPI Milestones Info-graphic and AAPI Electorate Info-graphic.

Development: main projects geared toward increasing funding opportunities for ECAASU National initiatives (and at times, 2013 Conference initiatives) through grant writing, sponsorship outreach, and fundraising initiatives. To encourage greater communication between local AAPI artists and student leaders on the East Coast, the Development Team also created and expanded several projects that expand the outreach of AAPI artists and place these artists on the map for interested student leaders looking for programming opportunities.

- Expansion of the Artist Directory to more than 40 artists
- Surveyed students and artists to better serve both populations in the Artist Directory
- Hosted the ECAASU Open-Mic Concert in New York City featuring artists from the Artist Directory in January
- Title Sponsorship for Trailblazer Awards by Zhang Financial
- Title Sponsorship for Campus Tours by NAAAP
- Book Review of Vincent Yee’s Purple Heart
- Fundraised through Macy’s Shop for a Cause
- Completed the first Artist Raffle
- Completed several grants (>3)
- Sold T-shirts at various ECAASU events

Communications

- Increase in blog activity – point person posted 93times starting 04/10/12 to 03/29/13
- Awarded the $1,000 Trailblazer Award presented by Zhang Financial that recognizes outstanding individuals who have heavily impacted their communities through their work to an undocumented student, Ray Jose, who is a vocal proponent of ensuring that education opportunities are afforded to undocumented students.
- The ECAASU Campus Tour Presented by NAAAP was hosted at 7 universities, 1 conference and reached over 240 students from 20 universities to support and forward issues important to university communities
Bi-Monthly Digest – 19 sent starting from April 2012 to March 2013

Outreach

- Held a Youth Summit with WHIAAPI in June 2012
- Doubled the size of the Campus Ambassador Program; 20 ambassadors from 18 different campuses who discussed ideas on how to improve Asian American awareness at each of the ambassador’s respective campuses
- Expanded the Internship Program