JACL Concludes the 2010 Mobilize for Policy Program

The Japanese American Citizens League Pacific Southwest District (JACL PSW) finished its second year of its Mobilize for Policy program this May.  The goal of the program is to empower college aged youth with the skills and passion for advocating policy on issues relevant to the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community and creating real action around these issues.  This program was created to establish a connection between college students, their respective college organizations and community organizations so they can ultimately become effective and inclusive in the public policy realm.

Mobilize for Policy gathered twelve students from five colleges (in the greater Los Angeles area and held six sessions from January 2010 through May 2010.  Through these sessions, participants learned how to better understand themselves, the community, and effectively voice their community’s concerns and issues on a policy level.  Workshops and sessions focused on identity, landscape in Asian Pacific Islander policy, identifying issues, and advocating and acting on those issues.  Students were also able to share experiences on their respective campuses and build ties with other college students involved in the program.

The collective group from the Mobilize for Policy program 2010 decided to work on an action plan with the intent to debunk the myth that college is unaffordable and unattainable.  They targeted the issue of underrepresented Asian Pacific Islander groups in higher education institutions.  Their goal was to provide resources for students of underrepresented Asian Pacific Islander groups in Los Angeles inner-city high schools to help them gain access to higher education.  Their plan included utilizing their own knowledge as a group with various educational backgrounds and the resources provided by JACL PSW.  With this plan in hand, the students were able to take it back to their schools and use it as a model for a program on their own campuses.

JACL PSW staff also worked with Mobilize for Policy participants and their individual schools to help with issues and regarding their organizations and campuses.  The students were engaged in workshops teaching programming and organizing skills, and linked to community organizations and resources that would benefit their concerns.

As a community organization, JACL Pacific Southwest District hopes to be the link and space for these students to continue their policy work outside of this program and to take the skills they learned back to their respective colleges and organizations.  By sharing opportunities in our community for these youth to become involved, JACL PSW hopes to involve Mobilize for Policy participants in real public policy engagement and activism.

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Organizing Collegiate Activists – JACL Kicks Off it’s Mobilize for Policy Program in 2010

Los Angeles– The JACL Pacific Southwest District kicked off it’s 2010 Mobilize Policy Program gathering Asian and Pacific Islander collegiate activists from UCLA, Cal State Northridge, USC, Claremont Colleges, and Occidental. These students were hand selected because of their background in student leadership as well as their passion for community advocacy.

The Mobilize for Policy program is one of JACL’s signature youth leadership programs aimed at connecting student leaders/organizers with 1) students from other campuses who are doing similar work, as well as 2) connecting those students to a larger context of issues affecting the Asian and Pacific Islander community. JACL hopes to increase the effectiveness of local on-campus education and advocacy as well as broadening the scope of student advocacy to connect to a larger array of nonprofit advocacy.

This year our students within two major frameworks including: access to higher education and immigration reform. Understanding that the Asian and Pacific Islander community, as well as other communities of color encounter major barriers educational attainment, our students will work on-campus, as well as state-wide in order to address the need for increased ethnic and socio-economic diversity on campus. In addition, many Asian Pacific Islander students are very familiar with the crisis that currently exists with the current US Immigration system. Our students will work to educate and organize for a path to citizenship and a reformed system of immigration for our community members.

The JACL Pacific Southwest District Mobilize for Policy program will occur from January to June 2010. We are confident that through the multiple iterations of this program annually, JACL along with its student partners will be able to effect significant change to areas like education and immigration, ultimately serving the larger Asian and Pacific Islander community.