Community Action Projects
The Community Action Project (CAP) is a collaborative effort between CAPAL scholars and interns in service of the mission to CAPAL. Students will work together in small groups with community partners, creating deliverables to give back and address issues facing the AANHPI community. The groups then present their final projects at the Summer Closing Ceremony. Click below to view past Community Action Projects.
2023 Projects
Community Partner: Act to Change
Team members: Caroline Guo, Jianhao Cui, Adnaan Elahi, Kevin Dagvadorj, Peter Tam
Goal:
- Organize and run an outreach event for Act to Change’s Youth Ambassador Program
- Engage in community outreach and recruitment for the event
- Plan communications and marketing strategy on social media sites
Community Partner: Papa Ola Lokahi
Team members: Pashmina Khan, Rachel Ninjbadrakh, Taryn Nakamura, Sukhmani Kakar
Goal:
- Develop, implement, and analyze a survey for the recipients (alumni) of the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program to understand:
- their lived experience of the program
- assess future needs
- reassess commitment to serving the Native Hawaiian community
- Get comprehensive data to increase the number of Native Hawaiians in health and allied health professions
Community Partner: Center for Asian Pacific American Women (CAPAW)
Team members: Zeta Atoigue, Wendy Gao, Keana Hilario, Malaya Siy
Goal:
- Develop a cohesive brand and style guide to grow CAPAL social media and sustain long-term growth
- Create a style guide, article posts, linktree, and buffer app
- Highlight stories from CAPAW’s programs such as the APAWLI and sHERO initiatives on social media
Click here to download their project.
Resources
Community Partner: National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA)
Team members: Van Pham, Mia Roque, Laurie Chan, Sarah Goldman, Emily Ye
Goal:
- Gather data and stories from AANHPI communities across the country
- Identity themes amongst these stories and create an environment that prompts discussion and cultivates understanding
- Identify connections and links between AANHPI backgrounds and mental health
Community Partner: Asian American Student Academic Program at University of Illinois Chicago
Team members: Juan Carlos Feraro, Austin Huang, Olivia Tong, Khue Tran, Justin Wu
Goal:
- Design and propose a workshop series for AANHPI students at UIC that provides financial support with each session featuring a wide variety of financial literacy topics
- Evaluate and conduct research about the demographics of Asian Americans in Chicago
- Analyze and compile data about data around AANHPI students at UIC
Click here to download their project.
Resources
2022 Projects
- Act to Change Youth Ambassador Program
- The Climate Initiative Youth Survey & Engagement Project
- APIAVote Voter Engagement Toolbox
- Asian American Representation in History and Textbooks
- CAPAW Communications Plan & Social Media Campaign
- APIAVote-Michigan Racial Equity Research Project
- Holistic Approach to Mental Health in the AANHPI Community
Community Partner: Act to Change
Team members: Alexia Vue, Nina Gohel, Gurmehar Kaur
Goal:
- Understand Act to Change’s Theory of Change
- Execute an event and social media campaign for Act to Change’s Youth Ambassador Program to engage AAPI youth
- Implement proper data collection and reporting techniques to develop and build upon existing curriculum for the Youth Ambassador Program
Community Partner: The Climate Initiative
Team members: Elizabeth Sweet, Emily Hoyumpa, Isha Kalia, Danielle Mangabat, Kilin Tang
Goal:
- Collect data about AAPI youth’s perception on climate change, how their AAPI identity affects their stance on climate change, and their thoughts on climate policies and solutions
- Propose methods to engage the young AAPI community on climate issues based on data from the survey
- Develop research on the intersection between climate crisis, youth, and the AAPI community
Community Partner: Asian Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote)
Team members: Lauren Zou, Aidan Ng, Phillip Huynh, Rachel Song
Goal:
- Design and compile a comprehensive digital toolbox geared towards general student organizing tactics in additional to voter engagement-specific training and programming material
- Directly address tactics to build sustainable and self-sufficient AAPI community power and engagement, including an emphasis on voter education and registration
- Engage and educate collegiate students through visual design, research, digital engagement, narrative creation, and more
Click here to download their project.
Resources
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1od9Zjbp6ClF7PhPENvUQPn9ovKjAKB1imiEx4BA1Hkg/edit?usp=sharing
Community Partner: Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
Team members: Brendan Ly, Karina Ngo, Lena Pham, Lorenzo Garcia, Ruhani Ahluwalia
Goal:
- Generate a dataset through a survey into Asian-American representation in textbooks used in public school history classes
- Support elected officials working nationwide to add more broad diversity to the learning materials through which public schools are taught to define what ‘American’ can mean
- Engage in social science research through sourcing, entry, cleaning, and merging large data files to produce the foundation for a research report to support the implementation of APIA history inclusion
Community Partner: The Center for Asian Pacific American Women
Team members: Mia Hwang, Hana-Lei Ji, Manasi Reddy, Faith Tabora
Goal:
- Create a communication plan/social media campaign for CAPAW that can be followed regularly throughout 2022
- Design outreach materials for events and conferences hosted by CAPAW
- Increase foot traffic to CAPAW’s website and social media channels
Click here to download their project.
Resources
Community Partner: APIAVote-Michigan
Team members: Tanya Decendario, Joel Hwang, Munahil Sultana
Goal:
- Conduct a research-based project to collect data regarding current racial equity and socioeconomic disparities in housing, health care, and employment
- Increase understanding in how to better support AAPI communities and to help other organizations and funders understand why it is important to invest in supporting AAPI communities in regard to racial equity
- Conduct surveys with members of the AAPI community over phone, in-person, and via electronic form
Click here to download their project.
Community Partner: National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPMIHA)
Team members: Amal Ali, Steven Gomez Bautista, Nishad Francis, Darin Wong
Goal:
- Engage students in efforts to help strengthen a national initiative to address mental health in the current environment that due to the pandemic and anti-Asian hate exacerbates an already challenging situation
- Identify strategies to talk about mental health among peers
- Identify creative solutions to healing for both self and others
Click here to download their project.
Resources
2021 Projects
Community Partner: Papa Ola Lokahi
Team members: Rina Nagashima, Ryna Nguyen, Tarleen Sodhi, and Vanessa Tufaga
Goal:
- Create a publicly shareable, user-friendly map indicating the population of Native Hawaiians across the U.S., accounting for population density
- Help Papa Ola Lokahi in guiding its mission and purpose, which is to serve Native Hawaiians where they live
- Provide updated information for Papa Ola Lokahi’s Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program’s outreach efforts in recruiting students who are pursuing their education in health and other qualified careers
Click here to download their project.
Resources
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/rina.nagashima/viz/RacePopulationsAcrosstheUS/Story1
Community Partner: Asian American LEAD
Team members: Akansha Khurana, Eileen Kim, John Hoang, and Yoo Ra Sung
Goal:
- Re-engage AALEAD alumni in current AALEAD activities and opportunities
- Identity alumni and parent needs
- Strengthen youth recruitment and parent feedback
Click here to download their project.
Community Partner: Act to Change
Team members: Saneha Borisuth and Manuel Divino III
Goal:
- Design, create, and launch a bullying response public service campaign via TikTok
- Create informational videos driven by Act to Change data
- Develop an influencer contact database
Community Partner: The Center for Asian Pacific American Women
Team members: Richelle Caday, Roberta Maratita, Vishni Samaraweera, Aashna Sawhney, and Angie Zhang
Goal:
- Create a bank of in-depth interviews and create narratives of the Asian Pacific American Women’s Institute (APAWLI) Fellows in how they are living their purpose
- Shine a light on the diverse stories of AANHPI female professionals
- Change the narrative for AANHPI women in the United States
- Leave a legacy for future AANHPI women leaders
Click here to download their project.
Resources
Community Partner: Act to Change
Team members: Baongan Chuor, Binh Nam Nguyen, Jason Wong, and Grace Lim
Goal:
- identify how to recruit youth and what youth should be doing to end bullying in schools through a Follow-on Service Project
- create potential leadership opportunities for youth
- draft communication templates and institute data collection to diversity applicant pool
- design newsletter blasts and accessible sign-up forms
- improve future iterations of YAP by understanding pilot outcomes
Click here to download their project.
Resources
Community Partner: Papa Ola Lokahi
Team members: Sora Heo, Dina Paul, Josh Raymundo, and William Yee
Goal:
- Increase Papa Ola Lokahi’s reach to Health Professionals in different phases of their careers
- Encourage young Native Hawaiians into health careers
- Increase retention of recipients so they stay active in Native Hawaiian serving organizations
2020 Projects
Community Partner: Act to Change
Team members: Komal Kamdar, Kathleen Mallari, and Carolyne Im
Goal: Designing an outreach campaign promoting Act To Change resources and educating families and students on bullying affecting AAPI youth, especially as a result of COVID-1. Creating a toolkit for resources for AAPI youth
Community Partner: CAPAW
Team members: Alice Yu, Garinn Pereira, and Keerat Singh
Goal: Conduct an evaluation of the Center Asian Pacific American Women’s
(APAWLI) Leadership Fellows Program.
Click here to download their project.
Community Partner: AARP
Team members: Patrick Liu, Agnes Mok, and Amanda Yuen
Goal: To collect data on caregiving, intergenerational communication, and mental health the AANHPI community during COVID-19.
2019 Projects
Community Partner: DVRP
Team members: Helena Ong, Kristina Smelser, Mary Thao, & Jessica Li
Goal: Research the impact of domestic and sexual violence in API communities.
Community Partner: AARP
Team members: Cassie He, Abeeha Shamshad, & Jeremiah Azurin
Goal: To collect data on millennial experiences with the concept or action of caregiving, along with its expectations and relevant education
Community Partner: 1882 Foundation
Team members: Zoie Chang, Sarah Kamakawiwo’ole, David Kim
Goal: Continuation of 2018’s CAPAL Range 99 project.
Community Partner: National CAPACD
Team members: Rachel Oda, Courtney Tran, & Emily Tran
Goal: Conduct research to help CAPACD design leadership development programs to support community focused AANHPI organizations.
2018 Projects
Community Partner: Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Team Members: Sylvia Peng, Charlotte Rhodes, Jessica Lee, Angela Li, An Pham
Goal: Highlight the influence of technology with case studies showcasing how technology is utilized by AANHPIs in a variety of fields – from running businesses, in academia, and when confronting sexual and domestic violence.
Community Partner: The 1882 Foundation
Team members: Ashley Tjhung, Tingyao Li, Cassidy Pregil, Hannah Hsieh, Sally Pak, Samantha Mori
Goal: Research Range 99, a section of the Historic Congressional Cemetery, and justify memorializing the site and develop a fundraising plan for the 1882 Foundation to implement, ensuring funds are secured for a memorializing project.
Community Partner: Libraries Without Borders
Team members: Michelle Chung, Yvonne Shih, Jeremy Lee, Xiong Her, Angela Zhao
Goal: Create standard curricula/training modules for weekly workshops for elderly AANHPIs, providing resources on health, legal assistance, financial literacy, and language learning. so they may be run by volunteer groups from surrounding schools and organizations.
Community Partner: National CAPACD
Team members: Angela Tran, Patricia Choi, Kelly Chang, Sharon Le, Sara Kang
Goal: Gather and map data and indicators measuring the impact of gentrification and displacement in hot market neighborhoods. The mapping tool will include AAPI poverty trends, national housing preservation data, environmental and neighborhood health metrics to assess the impact of displacement on low income AAPI communities.
Community Partner: Asian American Government Executives Network
Team members: Télyse Masaoay, Nashi Gunasekara, JungJun Cho, Mark Dong, Anita Mathias
Goal: Become familiar with AAGEN by serving as volunteers at the annual Leadership Workshop to best learn of the logistic processes feeding into the successful implementation of a workshop, and work with advisors to craft Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for this and AAGEN’s other operations and programming.
2017 Projects
Community Partner: Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Team Members: Jordan Choy, Neil Decenteceo, Vivian Kim, Ting Lin.
Goal: Create an awareness campaign that effectively engages older AAPIs to engage in hate incident reporting.
Community Partner: Asian Pacific American Vote
Team members: Ariel Higuchi, Alain Xiong-Calmes, Richard Fu, Evan Yoshimoto
Goal: Design a deliverable workshop presentation highlighting landmark Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) political movements to generate appreciation for AANHPI civic engagement, and perform background research on historical and contemporary AANHPI identity.
Community Partner: National Resources Defense Council
Team members: Starla Couso, Emi Okikawa, Bernadette Mead, Justin Rose, Javan Santos
Goal: Supplement the deficit in data surrounding energy burdens of Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) households.
Community Partner: National CAPACD and Asian Community Development Corporation
Team members: John Camara, Areeba Haider, Richard Li, Carlo Tuason, Steven Xie
Goal: Prove the displacement of AAPIs from Boston’s Chinatown and create a guide as to how to use a mapping tool to better analyze housing trends.
Community Partner: Domestic Violence Resource Project
Team members: Melody Fan, Crystal Im, Farjana Islam, Justine Kim, Marcia Saeteng
Goal: Create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) detailing three methods by which a bystander can intervene in situations of domestic violence. Translate the PSA into English, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese.
Community Partner: National Education Association
Team members: Anna Casalme, Michelle Liu, Maki O’Bryan, Camille Sanchez, Jun Min Zhong
Goal: Produce and execute a webinar targeted towards the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community on engaging with state and local educational agencies on the 2017 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plans.
2016 Projects
- Voter Engagement
- The Intersectionality of Asian and African Americans
- Fetishization of AANHPI Women
- The Importance of Racial Diversity Across Environmental Government Agencies, NGOs, and Foundations
- How Federal Education Policy Affects AAANHPIs
- LGBTQ AANHPI Allyship and Nonprofit Advocacy
- AANHPI Representation on Capitol Hill
Team members: Janny Jang, Stephanie Xiao, Leangelo Acuna, Allen Lo
Goal: To showcase how all issues, including those that are not considered “traditionally AAPI” are relevant to our community and can impact voter engagement of the generally untapped political power of AAPIs. They want to create a holistic image of AAPI issues but also to deconstruct them to uncover the less talked about issues.
Team members: Megan Matthew, Peter Liu, Devin Tran, Stephanie Xiao, Grace Kim
Goal: To provide a history that weaves the relatively short history of Asian Americans with that of black America. To allow others to see how relations between these two groups were shaped through history and what Asian and black solidarity can look like in the upcoming years.
Team members: Nancy Luo, Abigail Wang, Sylvia Guan, Ashley Truong
Goal: To give AAPI women an opportunity to speak about the fetishization and marginalization of their identities to bring more awareness to the complexity of race and gender in their lives.
Team members: Divina Li, Victoria Vong, Philip Samuel
Goal: To examine real examples of environmental injustice – the historic Warren County PCB landfill, Richmond CA’s Chevron Oil dispute, and D.C. Chinatown’s gentrification – and to reveal how race or nationality of victims, as well as of the organizations and agencies trying to help, can impact outcomes in disadvantageous and unfair ways.
Team members: Bo Chong, Michael Yee, Celine Nguyen, Sophia Fang
Goal: Educate others on the issues surrounding DACA/DAPA and its effect on AAPIs in this country, and provide a way for others to understand the impact of immigration policy from the perspective of those that the policy affects on a day to day basis.
Click here to visit their website.
Team members: Miru Osuga, Sooji Yang, Olivia Flechsig, Tien Weber, Rosa Keller, Marisa Paipongna
Goal: To bring LGBTQ allies into a conversation on the the diversity of the AAPI community when it comes to gender and sexual identity. To highlight the importance of nonprofit or advocacy work within this sphere. To be a proactive call for action in supporting our LGBTQ brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings.
Visit their Facebook Page.
Click here to download their project.
Team members: Felicia Wong, Bichnga Do, Juhi Patel, Rachel Chiu
Goal: To illuminate the current state of AAPI representation on the hill and point towards how the AAPI community can affect change on the hill and vice versa to “progress” AAPI-significant issues.