NCVA eREPORTER - January 10, 2006

The National Congress of Vietnamese Americans' NCVA eReporter is a regular email newsletter containing information on grant/funding opportunities, events/forums/conferences, available internships and news items pertinent to the Vietnamese American and Asian Pacific American communities.

In this NCVA eReporter:

EVENTS

• ICAN's New Year Celebration – Jan 14, 2005
• Free Technology Workshops from the Healthy & Secure Computing Campaign! – Various Dates
• Noi Vong Tay vi The He Tre (Together, for our Youth) – Feb 5, 2006
• National Archives and Presidential Libraries to Host Historic Two-Day Conference on Vietnam and the Presidency – March 10-11, 2006

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

• Grants for Faith-Based Collaborations
• The Arca Foundation Supports Democratic Media Programs
• Bowerman Track Renovation Program
• Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year Program
• Center for the Business of Government
• A Call to Social Leaders Sixty and Over
• Horace Mann Corporation and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Announce Fellowship Program for Educators
• National Education Association Fine Arts Grants

JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

• Case Manager for Katrina Aid Today
• Director of NALEO’s Washington DC Office

TIPS/RESOURCES

• Online: Ideas for Internet friend-raising
• Benchmarking: Understanding how all data works together
• Donors: Tips for successful constituent management
• Nonprofit Leadership, It Soon Will Be A-Changin’ Will the Sector Be Ready?
• A New Definition of Leadership

NEWS

• New VietAID Director Has Passion for Building (SAMPAN)
• Students Document Forgotten Katrina Victims (SAMPAN)
• Baby Boomer Estates Will Bring "Golden Age" of Philanthropy (Financial Times)
• Farmers Branch Recruit Talks About Racial Slur (CBS 11 – Dallas Fort Worth)
• Farmers Branch police chief suspended over comments (Dallas Morning News)
• Lawsuit Accuses Cemetery of Preying on Korean Veterans (Los Angeles Times)
• Seafood industry pleads its case (The Advocate)
• President Bush Names Howard Li to President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (Press Release)
• Wal-Mart Web Site Makes Racial Connections (Washington Post)
• JFK Library to host talks on Vietnam (Boston Globe)

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EVENTS

ICAN's NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

To thank you for all the support ICAN has received throughout the year, ICAN cordially invites all our sponsors, donors, fellow non-profit organizations, volunteers and supporters to our Tet Celebration as we celebrate together our accomplishments in 2005, and look forward to 2006 endeavors. 

Where:    Franklin McKinley School District
645 Wool Creek Dr.
San Jose, CA 95112

When:     Saturday, January 14, 2005 - 11am - 3pm

What:   Festivities include a lion dance, exquisite vegetarian dishes and other delicious food, and an entertainment segment with singing, a fashion show, karaoke!  Plenty of laughter and fun.

*** Admission is free.  To better serve you, please RSVP by calling 408-509-8788 to tell us how many guests you will be bringing, or send an email reply to this announcement so that we can have an approximate head count for the celebration and ensure adequate food for everyone.

We look forward to seeing you all as we ring in the new year, and thank you for your ongoing support.

Sincereley,

ICAN Team

International Children Assistance Network (ICAN) is a non-profit organization dedicated to enabling children to realize their potential and become quintessential members of their family and community. Our programs aim to create strong family and community networks to support our youth and children as well as provide them with skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed in life.  ICAN currently has programs working with Vietnamese children and families in the Bay area as well as in Viet Nam.  For more information, please contact info@ican2.org or visit our website at www.ican2.org

(http://www.ican2.org)

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FREE TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOPS FROM THE HEALTHY & SECURE COMPUTING CAMPAIGN!

CompuMentor's Healthy and Secure Computing campaign, through the generous support of The Peninsula Community Foundation, is offering free technology workshops to nonprofit organizations located in San Mateo and Santa Clara.

Workshop participants will come away with the tools, training, and support they need to establish secure and reliable desktop computers. Developing a stable technology infrastructure is the first step towards using technology to build more innovative services, internal practices, and collaborations with other organizations.

Who Should Attend?

We will be conducting two types of workshops; one is intended for nonprofit technical assistance providers and nonprofit technical staff (including technical volunteers, mentors, and accidental techies) who are available to provide services in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The other is for nonprofit executive directors, managers and senior staff.

For Techies: Desktop computer security auditing for small to medium sized networks.

This workshop will provide training about how to effectively and efficiently audit an organization's desktop computers for security. A security audit can provide organizations with information about their vulnerability to a number of different information technology risks. We will cover a simple methodology for this process, introduce automated tools for checking desktop security configurations, and provide attendees with checklists and documentation for use in the audit process.

This workshop focuses primarily on Windows desktop security, though many of the concepts and processes are applicable to other desktop technologies.

For Nonprofits: Desktop security for the Non-profit enterprise

This workshop will provide an overview of desktop security issues facing most small to medium-sized non-profit organizations. It will cover key areas of concern, such as viruses, worms, hackers, and disasters, and provide an overview of tools and technologies that can be used to improve security.

In addition, nonprofit organizations that attend the training will have the opportunity to be matched with a trained consultant or volunteer mentor to help the organization conduct a security audit. The matching process is free, though organizations will be responsible for any consulting fees.

Don't miss out on this great opportunity to learn more about keeping your computers secure!

We strongly encourage participating non-profit organizations to send their technical staff, accidental techies, technical volunteers, or outside consultants to the Techie workshop, as well as attending the Nonprofit workshop.

There are two opportunities to attend each workshop - choose the date most convenient for you. There is a $25 deposit to hold your spot for the organizational workshops on February 16 and March 1. This deposit will be refunded when you arrive at the workshop.

For Techies:
Saturday January 21, 2006, 10:00 to 12:00
CompuMentor Office
435 Brannan Street, Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94107

Friday January 27, 2006 10:00 to 12:00 * Full and Friday February 10, 2006, 10:00 - 12:00 * New Date Added
Cubberley Community Center
4000 Middlefield Road, Room A-2
Palo Alto, CA, 94303

For NPO Staff & Techies:
Thursday Feb 16, 2006 10:00 to 12:00 and Wednesday Mar 1, 2006 10:00 to 12:00
Cubberley Community Center
4000 Middlefield Road, Room A-2
Palo Alto, CA, 94303

If you have any questions about this workshop series, please contact Helen Seal at 415.633.9353 or HSC@compumentor.org.

(http://ga0.org/ct/_daKh9512RQB/)

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NOI VONG TAY VI THE HE TRE (TOGETHER, FOR OUR YOUTH)

BPSOS together with Diamond Cultural & Entertainment Center proudly present:

A fundraiser to benefit our youth gang prevention project

Sunday, February 5th, 2006
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

@ Diamond
6763 Wilson Blvd. #R3 (behind Eden Center)
Falls Church, VA 22044

Tickets: $30 for dinner & show

Doors open at 4:00 pm, Program starts promptly at 5:00 pm.

Featuring the popular band The Night, fashion show by V-Style, and more!

*We get targeted for fundraisers all the time, but this one will be both worthwhile and fun!*

Lan Nguyen
Youth Program Manager

Boat People S.O.S, Inc.
Falls Church, VA
Ph. (703) 647-6470
Fax. (703) 538-2191

http://www.bpsos.org

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Press Release

January 10, 2006

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES TO HOST HISTORIC TWO-DAY CONFERENCE ON VIETNAM AND THE PRESIDENCY
Kissinger, Haig, Sorensen, Rather, Halberstam Among Participants

CONTACT:
Susan Cooper (National Archives): 202-357-5300
Brent Carney (Kennedy Presidential Library): 617-514-1662

Schedule of EventsOn March 10 and 11, 2006, the National Archives and the nation’s Presidential Libraries will host an unprecedented two-day conference examining the history of the Vietnam War and the American presidency. The conference, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

"Vietnam and the Presidency" is the first national conference sponsored by all the Presidential Libraries – from Hoover to Clinton – and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Leading historians, key policymakers of the era, and journalists who covered the war will examine the antecedents of the war, presidential decision-making, media coverage, public opinion, lessons learned and the influence of the Vietnam experience on subsequent U.S. foreign policy.

Among those participating in the historic two-day conference will be General Alexander Haig; Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; Special Counsel to President Kennedy Theodore Sorensen; Special Assistant to President Johnson Jack Valenti; Senator Chuck Hagel; New York Times columnist Bob Herbert; Ambassador Pete Peterson; professors George Herring, Robert D. Schulzinger, and Marilyn Young; journalists Steve Bell and Dan Rather; Pulitzer Prize-winning authors David Halberstam and Frances Fitzgerald; and historians Michael Beschloss, David Kaiser and Jeffrey Kimball. Former President Jimmy Carter will speak via video and NBC Nightly News anchorman Brian Williams will moderate all of the second day’s sessions.

The Vietnam War was the longest and most controversial war that the United States ever fought. It claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and over three million Vietnamese. From the arrival of the first U.S. military advisors in the 1950s to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, U.S. involvement in Vietnam was central to the Cold War foreign policies of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. The war has continued to affect the policies of subsequent presidents and its legacy is particularly relevant today during America’s war on terror.

"It is our hope and expectation that this conference will reveal a wealth of new information on the history of the Vietnam War and its impact on the office of the President," said Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein. "As keepers of the nation’s official history, the National Archives and the Presidential Libraries are uniquely positioned to provide a forum for examining the effect of the war in Vietnam on our nation, and its citizens."

Reservations for "Vietnam and the Presidency" are required and may be made by calling (617) 514-1642 or by writing the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston, Massachusetts, 02125, Attn: "Vietnam and the Presidency." The program is subject to change due to speakers’ schedules. For more information, and an updated schedule of the conference, access the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum’s Web site at www.jfklibrary.org.

"Vietnam and the Presidency" is sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum; Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute; Harry S. Truman Library Institute; Eisenhower Foundation; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum; Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace; Gerald R. Ford Foundation; Jimmy Carter Library and Museum; Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation; George Bush Presidential Library Foundation; William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum; and the Foundation for the National Archives.

-30-

(http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2006/nr06-54.html)

Related News Story:
(http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/01/10/jfk_library_to_host_talks_on_vietnam/)

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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

GRANTS FOR FAITH-BASED COLLABORATIONS

The Faith and Service Technical Education Network (FASTEN) offers resources to faith-based practitioners, philanthropies, and public administrators who collaborate to renew urban communities. FASTEN’s 2006 Partners in Transformation Awards Program will provide grants to faith-based organizations and houses of worship operating programs in collaboration with organizations outside the faith community in the following states: AL, CA, FL, LA, MS, NC, NY, OK, TX, and VA. Grants will focus on three categories of service: Emergency Disaster Response (short-term relief efforts); Community Recovery/Rebuilding Efforts (long-term developmental efforts, e.g., jobs and housing); and Services Addressing Deep Pockets of Poverty (e.g., youth programs, healthcare, jobs programs, etc. in historically poor/distressed neighborhoods). The application deadline is March 1, 2006.

(http://www.fastennetwork.org/display.asp?Page=2006_INFO)

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THE ARCA FOUNDATION SUPPORTS DEMOCRATIC MEDIA PROGRAMS

The Arca Foundation is dedicated to the pursuit of social equity and justice, particularly given the growing disparities in the world. The Foundation began a few years ago to provide funding for projects to promote a diverse, democratic and competitive media that serve the public interest and provide avenues for expression of our First Amendment rights. Through the Media and Democracy Program, the Foundation funds both policy and content projects: those that fit within a coordinated strategic plan, projects that create and distribute alternative content, and projects that influence the content and approach of mainstream media. The proposal deadlines are on March 1 and September 1, annually.

(http://www.arcafoundation.org/)

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BOWERMAN TRACK RENOVATION PROGRAM

The Bowerman Track Renovation Program, administered by Nike's Community Affairs department, provides matching cash grants to community-based, youth-oriented organizations that seek to refurbish or construct running tracks anywhere in the world.   Special consideration will be given to existing running tracks in need of repair or refurbishment, and tracks located in low and moderate-income communities.  Matching grants of up to $50,000 are provided, and approximately $200,000 will be distributed each year. Requests are reviewed quarterly and will be accepted on an ongoing basis through May 31, 2009.

(http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=26&item=bowerman)

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WAL-MART TEACHER OF THE YEAR PROGRAM

The Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year Program is designed to recognize outstanding teachers throughout the U.S. Winning teachers will receive $1,000 educational grants from the Wal-Mart Foundation to be used for an educational program of the teacher's choice. Winning teachers also have the opportunity to apply for state and national Teacher of the Year honors. State winners will receive an additional $10,000 educational grant and will be automatically entered in the national competition. The national winner will receive an additional $25,000 educational grant for a total of $36,000 to his or her school. Nominations are limited to K-12 educators teaching at nonprofit, public, parochial, and private schools. Anyone can recommend an outstanding teacher by visiting a local Wal-Mart store, Supercenter, Neighborhood Market or SAM'S CLUB and filling out a nomination form. Applications will be accepted from February 4 through 24, 2006.

(http://www.walmartfoundation.org/)

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CENTER FOR THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT

The Center for The Business of Government provides cutting edge knowledge to government leaders by stimulating research and facilitating discussion of new approaches to improving the effectiveness of government at all levels in the United States and across the world. The Center provides research stipends to leading public management researchers in the academic and nonprofit communities. The application deadline is March 1, 2006.

(http://www.businessofgovernment.org/main/apply/index.asp)

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A CALL TO SOCIAL LEADERS SIXTY AND OVER

In collaboration with the Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation, Civic Ventures recently announced their call for nominations for the first annual Purpose Prize. The Purpose Prize recognizes outstanding social leaders who began their work after the age of 50 and who plan to continue and expand their work in the future. Five $100,000 cash "investments" will be awarded. The prize winners will also have additional access to funding opportunities via the new Fund for Innovation. Nominations are due by February 28, 2006.

(http://www.purposeprize.com/prize/)

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HORACE MANN CORPORATION AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY ANNOUNCE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR EDUCATORS

Horace Mann and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. have joined together to award fifty teachers a $1,000 fellowship to travel to Springfield to study Lincoln's life and legacy. The fellowships feature a five-day institute in June and July, 2006. One fellowship will be awarded in each state. The application deadline is March 4, 2006.

(http://www.horacemann.com/educator-resources/abraham-lincoln-fellowship.html)

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NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FINE ARTS GRANTS

$2,000 grants to enable fine arts (including the media arts) teachers to create and implement fine arts programs that promote learning among U.S. public school students at risk of school failure for resource materials, supplies, equipment, transportation, software, and/or professional fees. This year, elementary teachers are eligible. Teachers must be NEA members and apply through local NEA affiliate. The application deadline is February 1, 2006.

(http://www.neafoundation.org/grants.htm)

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JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

CASE MANAGER FOR KATRINA AID TODAY

Boat People SOS, Inc. (BPSOS) is a national Vietnamese-American community-based organization with 25 years of service and 15 branch offices across the U.S. BPSOS seeks 19 Case Managers to provide services to Asian Katrina victims under BPSOS’ CLASS Program funded by UMCOR’s Katrina Aid Today National Case Management Consortium.

DISASTER RELIEF AND RECOVERY PROGRAM:  In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, BPSOS-Houston immediately began translating into Vietnamese all press releases, information, and procedures regarding benefits and disseminated that information to the evacuees.  The disaster relief efforts provide direct assistance in the form of FEMA registrations, medical services, cash assistance, and housing referrals.  BPSOS also provides referral services to connect the Vietnamese-American evacuees to mainstream charities, in essence, serving as the bridge between community members and the mainstream service providers.

CLASS (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Social Services) program is an innovative model that helps the Vietnamese evacuees navigate through the social services system and other community resources to access benefits that will promote self-sufficiency as they recover and resettle post-disaster. 

Salary: Dependent upon experience, plus benefits. 

Responsibilities:
1.         Work closely with the Relief and Recovery team and the staff of BPSOS’ partner organization to complete development of a comprehensive services model;
2.         Conduct outreach on identification of and services available to Katrina hurricane victims;
3.         Complete intakes and needs assessments for Asian Katrina hurricane victims;
4.         Assist clients in accessing social services provided by BPSOS and by the community at large, including ESL classes, housing, health care, employment, and public benefits;
5.         Recruit and supervise volunteer navigators to accompany clients to appointments to provide advocacy, interpretation, and translation;
6.         Access and process donations and assist in volunteer development;
7.         Maintain confidential case files and input case data into software; and
8.         Provide monthly report to Disaster Relief Operations Manager.

Requirements:
1.         Bachelors degree in social work or related field;
2.         Fluency in English and another language, preferably an Asian language;
3.         Case management experience with disaster relief efforts preferred;
4.         Ability to mobilize community resources;
5.         Ability to work independently and as part of a team;
6.         Bicultural background preferred; and
7.         Valid driver’s license and vehicle for transporting clients, with expenses reimbursed.

Location: Houston, TX; Bayou La Batre, AL; Biloxi, MS; New Orleans, LA; Falls Church, VA; Atlanta, GA; Orange County, CA.

To apply:  Send cover letter, resume and list of three professional references to:
Pharia Le
Director of Management and Support
Pharia.Le@bpsos.org

BPSOS is an equal opportunity employer!

(http://www.bpsos.org)

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DIRECTOR OF NALEO’s WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE

The Organization
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund was established in 1981 to empower Latinos to participate fully in the American political process. The NALEO Educational Fund carries out this mission by developing and implementing programs that promote Latino civic participation and voter engagement, provide assistance and training to the nation's Latino elected and appointed officials, conduct research on Latino electoral access issues, and by promoting a policy framework that enhances Latino access to the American political process.

The NALEO Educational Fund is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization governed by a 15 member Board of Directors and a 25-member Board of Advisors. Both Boards are comprised of members of Congress, state and local elected officials, and corporate leaders from across the country. The NALEO Educational Fund maintains offices in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Houston, and New York. It employs approximately 42 full-time staff with an annual budget of $5 million.

The Position
The Washington, D.C. Director acts as the organization's primary representative and chief advocate on mission-related public policy issues. The Director works collaboratively with the Senior Director of Policy, Research and Advocacy and the Executive Director in pro-actively creating and setting the direction of policy initiatives relating to issues affecting Latino access to the electoral process, including naturalization, election reform, voting rights, the Census, and Latino appointments to top federal positions. The Director is also responsible for supervising the day-to-day operations of the Washington, D.C office, which includes managing three staff members, including two Policy Analysts and the Office Manager. The Director must develop, maintain and strengthen excellent working relationships with members of the White House Administration and staff, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Conference, other House and Senate members, and key federal agencies. The Director must also work closely with the national media and other national advocacy organizations. The Director is also responsible for ensuring that the Washington, DC office keeps the organization's primary constituency of Latino elected and appointed officials and other stakeholders informed about our policy initiatives. This is a full-time position, with a salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. The NALEO Educational Fund also provides an excellent benefits package.

Qualifications
*        Superior analytical, writing, speaking and advocacy skills (Writing samples required).
*        Outstanding organizational and communications skills, including ability to interact with staff, media, elected and appointed officials, corporate/business representatives, and the general public.
*        Substantial legislative/administrative policy development and advocacy experience on Capitol Hill, or with State or local government, or non-profit organization required. Experience with electoral access issues preferred.
*        Bachelor's Degree in relevant field required, graduate degree preferred;
*        Thorough understanding of legislative process and basic ability to read and understand primary legislative/administrative materials (such as bills, statutes and regulations) required.
*        Ability to effectively supervise staff and oversee office operations required.
*        Ability to handle multiple tasks, organize and prioritize workload efficiently, and work in a team environment.
*        Ability to speak Spanish preferred; ability to read and write Spanish, a plus.
*        Knowledge of, and commitment to, the Latino community.
*        Ability to work respectfully with people from all cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
*        Supportive of the mission and philosophy of the NALEO Educational Fund.

PLEASE SEND SALARY HISTORY, WRITING SAMPLES AND RESUME TO:
Rosalind Gold, Senior Director of Policy, Research and Advocacy,
rgold@naleo.org
NALEO Educational Fund
1122 W. Washington Blvd., Third Floor Los Angeles, CA 90015
Tel: (213) 747-7606, ext. 120 w Fax: (213) 747-7664

NALEO Educational Fund is an equal opportunity employer. Applications are evaluated on the basis of job qualifications and not race, sex, color, disability, national origin, religion, creed, age, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship or authorized alien status, or veteran status.

(http://www.naleo.org)

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TIPS/RESOURCES

ONLINE: IDEAS FOR INTERNET FRIEND-RAISING

Online giving is increasingly spread throughout different age sub sets and is growing as a source of income. According to Michael Johnston, president of HJC New Media, many online donors are affluent and while people are beginning to give to multiple charities via online channels, loyalties are not as multiplied as with offline methods.

People tend to choose monthly giving more than single giving and are more trusting of charities online than they are of institutions online (e.g. giving email, opening attachments, etc.)

At a recent direct response conference in New York City, Johnston provided a peek at new and emerging technologies for fundraising and provided ten keys to online fundraising/friendraising.

1. Build a fundraising-friendly Web site.

2. Provide a secure giving page.

3. Understand your online donor.

4. Conduct strategic planning. Have a vision, develop principles and goals and provide actions/deliverables to users.

5. Don't forget to apply offline fundraising principles.

6. A marketing plan is key.

7. Empower donors. Collect constituent information for segmentation and align appeals and interests. Personalize the experience.

8. Integration across all channels.

9. Create a plan and benchmarks.

10. Innovate...but it takes planning, teamwork and technology.

(http://www.nptimes.com/enews/tips/onlinefund.html)

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BENCHMARKING: UNDERSTANDING HOW ALL DATA WORKS TOGETHER

Many nonprofits, for budgetary or a variety of other reasons, do not work to ascertain a full analysis of its fundraising figures. Do you just accept what the various parts tell you or do you work to understand the whole and relate back to the parts?

Mary Beth McIntyre, vice president of relationship management at Target Analysis Group offered some clarifying rules during a recent conference in New York City.

Rule #1: Make annual analysis relevant. If you are hiring a consultant to implement a file audit or working with your marketing agency on a file audit spend time at the beginning discussing how you segment and group your donors. Collaborate to make the views relevant to help you with both internal education and to drive strategies throughout the year.

Rule #2: Gain clarity for key metrics and review quarterly. Make sure that you are given a clear understanding of metrics and how to interpret them. Quarterly results can be a bellwether for year-end performance. This view can prompt you to revise campaign strategy to compensate for trends.

Rule #3: Benchmark for context, perspective and to help prioritize goals and educate management. Attend conferences and utilize industry-wide resources (Giving USA, Target Analysis Group National Index, Paradyz Matera Performance Watch, Campbell Rinker and Industry publication studies). Participate in peer benchmarking groups where available.

(http://www.nptimes.com/enews/tips/benchmark.html)

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DONORS: TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL CONSTITUENT MANAGEMENT

Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) utilizes a sharp focus on the donor. From creative to data capturing and information sharing, the process is an organization-wide activity.

Embracing CRM In a Donor Centric Organization was one of the topics discussed at the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation's 2005 New York Nonprofit Conference. Vaneeda Bennett, chief development officer at the American Diabetes Association contributed the following key aspects to a successful CRM program.

* A repository, or data warehouse, must be created to capture and standardize information drawn from each donor touch point throughout the organization into one pool.

* Look for a link, an ability and an interest when conducting prospect research. Reactive prospect research involves the search for information on a specific person, foundation or corporation. Proactive research is conducted to identify potential donors, sponsors or volunteers.

* Manage not only the continual data collection but also the coordination of that information. Share resulting insights throughout the organizations no "silos." Record all donor interactions and determine the value of the donor as well as his/her behaviors.

* Analyze data from past donor interactions, anticipate future behavior and rank and code prospects.

* Bring now-sophisticated understanding of donors into the present by incorporating this understanding into organization-wide, day-to-day operations. Coordinate cross-marketing opportunities across all business units and respond in real time.

(http://www.nptimes.com/enews/tips/donors.html)

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NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP, IT SOON WILL BE A-CHANGIN’ WILL THE SECTOR BE READY?

If you are involved with a nonprofit organization, take a look at the people who run it. Pretty soon, there may be entirely new faces in those positions.

Results of a survey published late last year by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that 23 percent of 2,210 executive directors anticipate leaving their organizations within two years. The survey was conducted in 2004; thus, if these expectations prove true, we will see nearly one-quarter of the top nonprofit jobs turn over by the end of this year. (For more information on the survey, go to http://www.aecf.org/publications/browse.php?filter=20 and click on the two PDFs for Change Ahead: Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Transitions Survey 2004.)

Filling those positions may prove difficult. The nonprofit executive has become less distinct from his or her for-profit peers, Brad Cummings of Monument Consulting told GuideStar, and recruiting leaders for nonprofits is already more challenging than usual because of the economy. Fundamental differences between nonprofit and for-profits missions, revenue generation, ownership, and available resources exacerbate the situation, because accepting an executive with only business experience does not always satisfy a nonprofit's needs.

Daniel B. Ripps, vice president of DRG, a nonprofit executive search consulting firm, agrees that nonprofits and for-profits seek many of the same qualifications in their executives: vision, leadership, and business skills. As the sector has grown and individual nonprofits have become increasingly more complex, organizations have begun to try to entice executive directors with more business and management skills as well as those capable of making difficult financial decisions.

The nonprofit executive, however, needs to lead by consensus more than dictation, Ripps contends. In addition, nonprofits need executives who have the ability to fundraise and possess excellent interpersonal skills that will enable them to foster relationships with funders, donors, and board members.

Action Plan for the Future: Celebrate the Sector's Unique Qualities

Clearly, the sector can expect increased competition for leadership in the next few years. What can nonprofits offer executives to entice them to accept jobs that often offer lower compensation than equivalent positions in the for-profit sector?

Daniel Ripps suggests that flexibility and understanding of outside priorities, such as family needs, can be particularly attractive to senior executives who want to spend more time with their families or small children. Success, he offers, is measured differently in the nonprofit sector than in the for-profit world.

Brad Cummings concurs. In a slumping economy and overall hot job market, he states, nonprofits' best chance for recruiting top-notch talent seems to lie in their ability to provide a different quality of life for executives than the for-profit industry can offer.

Lauren Nicole Klapper-Lehman and Suzanne E. Coffman, January 2006
© 2006, Philanthropic Research, Inc. (GuideStar)

Lauren Klapper-Lehman is an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary. She was a communications intern at GuideStar during the fall 2005 semester. Suzanne Coffman is GuideStar's director of communications and editor of the Newsletter.

(http://www.aecf.org/publications/browse.php?filter=20)

(http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/leadership.jsp)

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A NEW DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP
Inspiration comes from inside, from a deep place we call authenticity. It is a way of being.

So often, leadership is rehearsed. We read books by former organization leaders. We learn "techniques" and "the tricks of the trade:" how to dress, how to make a speech, how to command attention. Through all this, the soul waits patiently while the personality indulges itself. This is why leadership often gets such bad press: it is practiced as a function instead of as the result of noble, powerful, and passionately held values. The truth is that nothing happens without the presence of inspiring leadership. But because the soul waits patiently, it often remains unheard-suspended. Meanwhile, the personality engages in "doing." Eventually, the personality becomes aware of the soul and chooses--or is sometimes forced--to listen to it. This is when we change from "acting" to "being"--perhaps the most important change in our lives.

This is the difference between old story leadership and new story leadership--the difference between working from the personality alone and aligning the personality with the soul, the difference between doing and being, the difference between being unconscious and becoming conscious. It is the difference between talking about higher ground leadership and being a higher ground leader.

To engage the soul, we must ask questions that go beyond the personality or the ego, such as, "What are we communicating when we are not using words?" We must be rigorous when we ask ourselves if we are pleased with the answers. Asking subtle, soul-centered questions like these is a sign that the soul has been stirred, that we are becoming conscious and ready to inspire others from a place of inner wisdom, authenticity, and integrity, rather than from a rehearsed, rote-learned, or copied approach to leadership and inspiring others that lacks substance and roots.

Inspiration comes from inside, from a deep place we call authenticity. It is a way of being.

Source: Lance Secretan. Inspire! Chicago: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/LandingPage.aspx?id=40437&p=1)

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NEWS

December 16, 2005

NEW VIETAID DIRECTOR HAS PASSION FOR BUILDING

by Adam Smith

“One of my passions is building things,” said Hiep Chu, who majored in civil engineering in college, owned a small construction company, and has devoted much of his adult life to working in community service organizations.

Chu, 40, will now be able to combine two of his passions, building things and community service, as the appointed executive director of VietAID, a nonprofit community development corporation based in Dorchester.

A refugee from Vietnam, Chu began his career in community service in 1989 when he worked as an assistant director at the Vietnamese American Civic Association, a social services agency also in Dorchester. Over the past 15 years, he has worked at the Institute for Asian American Studies at UMass Boston as a program director, the National Coalition of Advocates for Students, Inc., as a project director, and VietAID as a properties manager.

Chu came to the U.S. in 1980 as a teenager, a year after he enlisted in the Vietnamese military. At the time, Vietnam was invading Cambodia. Chu’s parents helped him and his younger brother flee to the U.S. via a refugee camp in Malaysia.

While he did feel protected in the refugee camp, he said his refugee experience was “very challenging” and “overwhelming.”

“One night you’re with your family and the other night you’re (in) a refugee camp without your parents,” he said.

His experience is similar to that of many other Vietnamese who came to the U.S., after the fall of Saigon in 1975, to flee the communist government or reunite with relatives in the U.S.

Upon entering the U.S., Chu ended up in Amherst, Mass., where he lived with a Vietnamese family and completed high school. His time in Amherst left him largely separated from the Asian communities of Massachusetts.

Then, when he went to college at Northeastern University in Boston, he discovered Chinatown.

“I was kind of excited because it’s an area much more like home. You see people that you are more familiar with, who just look like you. (Also,) there used to be a lot more Vietnamese shops.”

His favorite hangout was a Vietnamese coffee shop located where the Loews Theater is now.

“Chinatown was really the place to hang out,” he said. A few years later, he discovered Dorchester, which now houses much of Boston’s 11,000 Vietnamese Americans.

VietAID, which is located at Fields Corner, targets services towards this community.

According to a 2004 report from the Institute of Asian American Studies, Boston’s Vietnamese population faces several challenges. More than a quarter of Vietnamese over age 25 have less than a ninth-grade education, and more than half of Vietnamese women have no high school education. The population also has a low, average per capita income – $10,434 – and has a high poverty rate.

VietAID, which was formed in 1995 and has a 15-person staff, works to build affordable and mixed-income housing, place people in housing, and advocate for community leadership.

Chu said one of the center’s challenges is creating mixed- and low-income housing in Dorchester because of limited space.

“There is no land available. The land that is available is privately owned and the price tag is very high,” said Chu.

Yet the organization has created several developments in recent years. In addition to developing its new community center in Fields Corner, VietAID has built 12 single occupancy rooms at 1392 Dorchester Ave.; a three family home at 7 Toledo Terrace; and six units of housing at 17 Faulkner St. It is also developing 40 units of housing at 1460 Dorchester Ave. and more than 20 units of housing on 13 lots scattered around Fields Corner.

“VietAID is doing a lot of community building. It’s building communities through housing, and through its community center,” said Chu.

He said that as director he hopes to continue to focus on developing housing projects, provide more help to poor Vietnamese immigrants who need better jobs, and to strengthen VietAID’s leadership programs.

“I would like to do more leadership development for Vietnamese. Traditionally, community development corporations don’t do a lot of cultural activities and programs, but we’re more like an ethnic CDC.”

But Chu, who will become director in January, is modest when speaking about his goals for the community development corporation. It’s easy to talk about ideas, he said, but it’s better to check back in years from now, and then see what has been done.

(http://www.sampan.org/show_article.php?display=338&PHPSESSID=90fbaf18fe6d208cffe3788af955bb82)

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December 16, 2005

STUDENTS DOCUMENT FORGOTTEN KATRINA VICTIMS

by Adam Smith

One observation that struck Soramy Le when she and her fellow UMass Boston classmates visited Vietnamese communities in and around New Orleans last month was that many of the immigrants appeared to be reliving their lives as refugees.

"It was shocking," said Le, to see Vietnamese who came to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon with nothing, start their lives over in the Gulf Coast, and then have everything taken away from them by hurricane Katrina.

Le, an art major, and five of her classmates -- Phuong Nguyen, Nam Le, Judy Mai, Jennifer Nguyen, and Catherine Tran -- traveled to New Orleans and surrounding towns to document what they feel the mainstream media has neglected to reveal: the struggles of thousands of Vietnamese immigrants. More than 7,000 Vietnamese live in New Orleans alone.

The trip was spontaneously worked into an Asian American studies class the students were all taking called "Boston's Asian American Community."

"This wasn't written into the course," said professor Peter Kiang. "It was on the fly."

But for the students, the trip provided the education of a lifetime.

After flying into New Orleans, the students, most of whom have fluency in Vietnamese, traveled to areas still crushed by Katrina. By van they drove to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and visited Vietnamese grocers and bakeries, Buddhist temples and Catholic churches, and homes and lots where homes used to be. They interviewed people struggling to get their lives back together, people still without running water or electricity, people still subjected to mandatory curfews. They photographed boarded up businesses, upturned fishing ships, ruined homes, and dirty lots littered with clothes, chairs, toilets and other belongings salvaged from the storm. They noted what they felt were class and racial disparities. Some areas -- mostly the wealthier ones -- were re-building quickly while other areas -- mostly the poorer ones -- remained depressed.

One theme that kept coming up: the resiliency of the Vietnamese refugees who suffered before and refuse to show the pain of suffering again.

"Because of how the Vietnamese came to this country," said Phuong Nguyen, they feel "things can always be worse."

The group said that those they interviewed often spoke of the disaster with an expression of hope and downplayed their own troubles.

"You could see that they were disheartened or discouraged, but they didn't show it," said Le.

Nguyen, whose family lives in Houston, Texas, said the experience helped him gain insight into the lives of his parents, who are refugees. He said after visiting the victims of Katrina, he remembered a time when he was on a shrimping boat with his father. He told his father that he thought the shrimping business was a tough one and was met with the response: "You don't know what pain and suffering is about." Nguyen said the class trip gave him a glimpse into the hardships his parents must have endured.

Other students had the same experience.

"I guess I have a lot more curiosity and respect for my own parents' refugee experience," said Nam Le.

Several also felt an emotional connection to those they met on the trip and felt guilt leaving for home while they suffered.

"I could leave, go home, and turn on the water and the lights and get something to eat," said Nguyen, yet many in New Orleans, Biloxi, and Bayou La Batre cannot do the same.

Some of the students hope to revisit the area for the Vietnamese New Year celebration, known as Tet, and are trying to pull together money for the trip. The four-day visit in November was paid for by private donations that were gathered last minute.

The group presented their photos, videotaped interviews, and film footage at UMass Boston on Wednesday, but they plan to create a larger project from the trip.

Said Le: "I don't want this to be a project that we start and then ends up on the shelf."

(http://www.sampan.org/show_article.php?display=336&PHPSESSID=90fbaf18fe6d208cffe3788af955bb82)

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December 23, 2005

BABY BOOMER ESTATES WILL BRING “GOLDEN AGE” OF PHILANTHROPY

In the coming decades, legacy gifts from a new generation of wealthy Americans will bring a sharp increase in donations to U.S. charities, according to a Harrison Group survey of 500 of the country's wealthiest families, Financial Times reported Dec. 14.

Survey respondents were predominantly white males, at an average age of 54 and with average net assets of $28 million.

These donors plan to bequeath 22 percent of their wealth to charities, or a total of $4.5 trillion among 750,000 households across the U.S. with similar assets, survey results indicated.

In 2003, charitable giving accounted for 16.6 percent of total net estates valuing $10 to $20 million, or 31.6 percent for those valued above $20 million, according to Boston College's Center on Wealth and Philanthropy.

The Center predicts that U.S. charities will receive $6 to $24.6 trillion from baby boomer estates by 2052, ushering in a "golden age" of philanthropy, according to Professor Paul Schervish, director of the Center.

"American families have a concern about not hobbling their children with inheritances that take away their opportunity to make their own way in the world," explained Melissa Berman, head of the nonprofit Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. "The tradition of philanthropic giving is very strong in the U.S."

About three-quarters of respondents prefer to support education and the arts, while 21 percent favor health causes, survey results showed. Those who have been wealthier longer prefer donating to the arts much more strongly than the most recently wealthy, and an interest in supporting health-related charities increases with time as well.

(http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&Date=20051214&ID=5351627)

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January 4, 2005

FARMERS BRANCH RECRUIT TALKS ABOUT RACIAL SLUR

Sarah Dodd
Reporting

(CBS 11 News Exclusive) FARMERS BRANCH Thinh Nguyen is recently out of the police academy trying to get his first job as a police officer. But he didn't anticipate his application in Farmers Branch would provoke an offensive racial slur allegedly made by the police chief.

“I felt discriminated in a way, but I felt his comments were his own,” said Nguyen.

A high ranking Farmers Branch police official filed a formal complaint against Chief Jimmy Fawcett, claiming the chief told a six person hiring panel, "as long as I'm police chief, we won't have any gooks in this department".

Fawcett has been chief 15 years and there have not ever been any Asian officers on the force. A statement issued Wednesday says the city will now look into hiring practices.

The City of Farmers Branch says the chief admits to making "inappropriate ethnic comments regarding Asians." But the chief denies making the specific comment he's accused of. Either way, Nguyen isn't deterred and still wants to work in Farmers Branch.

“It doesn't change the way I feel. There's good officers, the ones who turned him in. I applaud them and appreciate it,” Nguyen said.

The city is not investigating because Fawcett admits to making inappropriate comments, and no disciplinary action has been taken against him.

Jennifer Nguyen with the Vietnamese-American Media Association said, "We do have a lot of mad, unhappy citizens out there waiting for comments and an apology from the Farmers Branch chief. We were shocked and are offended."

Fawcett chose not to comment on our story. The Vietnam veteran has been on the Farmers Branch force for 32 years.

(http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_004190804.html)

Related Story: “Farmers Branch Chief Admits to Insensitive Comment”
(http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_004105009.html)

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January 5, 2005

FARMERS BRANCH POLICE CHIEF SUSPENDED OVER COMMENTS

By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News

Farmers Branch Police Chief Jimmy Fawcett has been suspended for 10 days without pay for making inappropriate comments about people of Vietnamese heritage last month in front of six officers who had convened to interview job applicants.

Jimmy Fawcett The suspension started Thursday. The chief also will be required to continue organizational counseling that began last month, two weeks after the comments were made.

The incident has prompted the city to review the department’s hiring practices, according to a written statement from the city.

The chief acknowledged making the comment, the statement said.

Chief Fawcett is a 32-year department veteran, and has been chief for 15 years. He had a previously unblemished record, the city said.

He did not return phone calls this week seeking comment.

A complaint about the comment was filed with the city’s Human Resources department on Dec. 14, the same day six job applicants were to face the oral interview board, comprised of department employees ranging from patrol officer to deputy chief. One of those applicants was of Vietnamese heritage.

None of the applicants was in the room at the time, according to the city’s statement.

(http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/carrollton/stories/010606dnmetfbchief.4a20788b.html)

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January 5, 2005

LAWSUIT ACCUSES CEMETERY OF PREYING ON KOREAN VETERANS
Contracts in English did not include features promised by Korean-speaking salesman, group says.

By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff Writer

For years, Oakdale Memorial Park in Glendora actively sought the business of Korean immigrants who fought with Americans in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The cemetery distributed a glossy brochure showing watercolor sketches of three imposing stone markers and an incense burner that would serve as the gateway to a walled-off area dedicated to Korean veterans. It also bused in Korean veterans for tours. Hundreds bought plots there, the veterans said, on the promise of a Korean soldiers memorial and a special section of the park devoted to them.

But today, Oakdale has yet to build the memorial and as veterans are dying, workers are burying them in plots at the far end of the cemetery alongside non-veterans, not in the separate area veterans say they were promised.

In a suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday, a group of 15 veterans and two relatives of deceased veterans, who primarily speak Korean, allege that a Korean-speaking representative of the park lied to them.

The suit charges that the pitch the Oakdale representative, Jin Heung Kim, gave the veterans in Korean is different from the English in the contracts. While Oakdale's salesman and materials spoke of a special memorial and burial site for the veterans, according to the lawsuit, the English-language contract makes no mention of them and does not specify that the veterans would all be laid to rest in one dedicated area.

Julie A. Su of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a nonprofit group that helped the veterans file their suit, alleges that the cemetery took advantage of the fact that most of the buyers did not speak much English.

The suit comes amid a greater focus by authorities on possible fraud targeting Asians who do not speak English.

Last year, an Alhambra Toyota dealer settled a suit filed by Asian Pacific American Legal Center after Chinese-speaking customers said the English-language car contracts they signed were different than what the Chinese-speaking salesmen promised. That case also prompted a new state law requiring companies that do business in four Asian languages — Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese — to provide contracts written in those languages.

"It's just unfortunately very common because businesses see vulnerable communities and defraud them," Su said. "I think that oftentimes, with Asians, they're not expected to fight back, which adds a layer of vulnerability."

A spokesman for the Houston-based company that owns Oakdale, Service Corp. International, said the company was surprised by the suit.

"As far as I know, we've provided everything we've promised to the Korean War Veterans Assn.," said Terry Hemeyer, managing director of communications, referring to the local group that has been complaining about the cemetery situation.

"As recently as November, we got a letter from the Korean War Veterans of the U.S.A. that thanked us for what we're doing and looking forward to a long, beneficial relationship."

Hemeyer declined to comment further because he said the company has not yet had an opportunity to review the lawsuit and does not know anything about the alleged employee. Kim, identified in the lawsuit as the Oakdale representative, could not be reached for comment, and Hemeyer said he could not provide additional information about him.

Kun Sup Chang, an 82-year-old retired major in the South Korean air force who lives in Koreatown, said he hopes that filing a suit will help them get some answers.

"I am angry I've been … fooled," said the man, who was wearing a baseball cap with an embroidered eagle and American flag. He spoke in Korean, through a translator.

About four years ago, Chang said, he and about 40 other Korean veterans were invited by Kim to attend a memorial service for veterans at Oakdale Memorial Park. The cemetery paid for a bus to bring them there, he said.

Chang said Kim told them about the prominent area that the park was planning for Korean veterans and their families, comparing the project to a national war veterans' memorial in South Korea.

Chang was impressed by the wide, flat lawn, the majestic oak trees and the prominent location by the front gates, which he figured would make it easy for his children and grandchildren to visit. On Sept. 25, 2002, Chang bought two plots at about $2,000 each.

He said he did not realize something was amiss until he went to the funeral of a friend, In Bae Kang, at the end of 2002.

Kang was not buried at the location Chang said they were promised, the Chapel Lawn. Instead Kang's plot was near the back, on the north side of the cemetery. It was in an area called Garden of Hibiscus, which one of the veterans' lawyers said had long been marketed toward the Korean community, not just veterans. (The hibiscus is South Korea's national flower and the area features a Korean-style pavilion.) None of the war memorial monuments Oakdale's brochures promised had been erected, nor had the low wall Chang said the cemetery promised to build to set the veterans' plot apart from others.

Chang said he asked about the change in locations, and an Oakdale employee told him the veterans would be relocated later, when more plots were sold. (He bought two more plots to try to accelerate the process.)

Chang also said he found out there was no guarantee for the veterans to be buried next to one another. He stopped making payments. When he went to his regular Korean veterans meetings, he found others had similar complaints. They sought out the Asian Pacific American Legal Center about a year ago. (They are also being represented by a private firm, Lim, Ruger & Kim, and the pro bono law office Public Counsel).

The complaint accuses Kim and Oakdale's parent company of defrauding the veterans, negligently misrepresenting and falsely advertising their services and violating laws designed to protect the elderly and consumers.

The veterans primarily want Oakdale to do what it promised and bury them and their families on the Chapel Lawn, said Su, of the legal center. The veterans are also suing for damages, but Su said they have not yet specified an amount.

On Wednesday, a sign advertising the "Korean War Veterans National Memorial Park in U.S.A." was still standing in a bed of geraniums by the cemetery's entrance. Chang shook his head.

When Chang visited his friend's grave Wednesday, he pointed to a line of brown pine needles and leaves that the recent rainstorm had carried about 15 feet onto the lawn. This was particularly frustrating because one of the appealing parts of the supposed veterans memorial plot was that it was on higher ground that was less susceptible to flooding.

"Koreans really value their burial place and it's a very bad thing if water floods or gathers in a burial place," Chang said.

"It's a Korean custom. If floods are soaking into the ground, the water just stays there. It's bad for future generations, bad luck. If you're buried in a dignified place, it helps the future generations."

(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-koreans5jan05,1,7609132.story?coll=la-headlines-california)

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January 5, 2005

SEAFOOD INDUSTRY PLEADS IT CASE
Vitter hears appeals for help after storm

By Timothy Boone
Advocate business writer

HARVEY -- U.S. Sen. David Vitter and members of the Senate Commerce Committee staff on Wednesday evening heard testimony from shrimpers, fishermen, scientists and environmentalists about what steps need to be taken to help Louisiana's billion-dollar seafood industry recover from Hurricane Katrina.

"There's a sense of desperation in all sections of the industry," said Rusty Gaude, an LSU Sea Grant agent for Plaquemines, St. Bernard and Orleans parishes. "The fishermen need money today."

Vitter, R-La., and a handful of representatives from the commerce committee staff spent Wednesday touring devastated areas of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes, the first stop on a three-day visit to Louisiana and Mississippi. The staffers will visit Jefferson Parish today, then head to the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Friday.

Katrina destroyed more than 52 million pounds of seafood in ice houses and processing plants when the storm hit Aug. 29. Fishermen lucky enough not to lose their boats are trying to make up for the lost revenue, but are facing challenges because of the destroyed docks and boat launches.

"People keep asking me 'Should I keep on fighting or just go forward?'," said Pete Gerici, who once fished in Bayou Sauvage in Orleans Parish. "But I don't know what to tell them what to do."

Calvin Nguyen of the Vietnamese-American Fishermen Union said the hurricane resulted in $67 million in damages to his members, sinking boats and destroying homes.

"Every day, people ask me 'Where am I going to get the money to rebuild?' or 'How can I rebuild?'," Nguyen said. "If you can give me the answers, I can pass them along to hundreds of people."

Nguyen said the fishermen who lost everything to Katrina want to go out and fish. "We don't want hand-outs," he said. "But we need help."

Some of the help may come from the Magnussen-Stevens Act, which the Senate is set to reconsider later this year. According to Vitter, the bill will set aside $17 million for the next four years to help the seafood industry.

Some community development block grant funds could be used to repair the seafood industry infrastructure, and Vitter said low-interest, long-term bridge loans could give fishermen the money to repair their boats and return to the Gulf of Mexico. "We're hoping to tweak the act some more to take care of some of the things that are being discussed tonight," Vitter said.

Harlon Pearce, chairman of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, said before Katrina, the state was the nation's leading producer of shrimp and oysters, and the second-leading producer of fish and crabs.

"We need to rebuild this industry so we're the competitor and not the one always worrying about competition," he said. "But we've got a long way to go yet."

(http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/010506/bus_biz002.shtml)

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White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Eddy Badrina or Erik Wang

Friday, January 6, 2005
202-482-3949

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH NAMES HOWARD H. LI TO PRESIDENT’S ADVISORY COMMISSION ON ASIAN AMERICANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS

President George W. Bush announced his intent to appoint Howard H. Li to serve as a member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

"I am deeply honored that the President appointed me to serve on the Commission," said Li.  "I am looking forward to working closely with my fellow Commissioners and providing my input to the Report to the President.  I also pledge do my best to represent the AAPI community in the greater New York area."

Mr. Howard Li, of Demarest, NJ, is the founder, Chairman & CEO of Waitex International Co., Ltd. / Prime Time International, Inc. and Fortune USA, Inc., which began operations in 1981 in New York City.  Mr. Li also is the founder and sole owner of a conglomerate of multinational companies involving logistics, information technology, real estate development, global trading and retail stores.  "Crain's" magazine has ranked Waitex Group of Companies as one of the top 200 privately held companies in years 2002-2005 in the greater New York Area.  Waitex International Co., Ltd. has 8 facilities on the East and West coasts, totaling 3 million square feet of warehousing space and providing complete supply chain solutions, including order processing, EDI, ASN, UCC128, pick & pack, storage, and various logistics services to 500 large companies and handling a few billion dollars in retail value of consumer products for its clients annually.  Prime Time International, Inc. and Fortune USA Inc. manufactures, imports and wholesales men's and ladies apparel to major department and specialty stores across the United States under its own 10 famous national brands, such as Focus 2000 and Focus Lifestyle, as well as under licenses, such as Russell Athletic (special sizes).

Mr. Li is very dedicated to the Asian American business community, and his deep rooted knowledge of both Chinese and American business methods make him a highly sought after advisor on Asian / Western economy.  In 2005, Howard Li was the first Asian American in twenty-three years to Chair the National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week 2005 Conference Steering Committee, supported by the Minority Business Development Agency at the US Department of Commerce and also served as Co-Chairman from 2002 to 2004.  In addition, he is director of the United Way of New York City, one of the largest volunteer-directed organizations, and is chairman of the US-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

In recognition of his entrepreneurial success and civic participation, Howard Li has received numerous awards. He was chosen as an illustrious recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award for 2001, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Finalist of New York City and New Jersey.   Mr. Li also received the Pioneer Award, presented by US Department of Commerce MBDA.

The President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders was established by Executive Order 13339 signed by President George W. Bush on May 13, 2004 furthering his commitment by providing equal economic opportunities for full participation of Asian American and Pacific Islander businesses in our free market economy where they may be underserved, thus improving the quality of life for 14.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

###

Erik F. Wang
Deputy Director
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
ewang@aapi.gov
202-482-2204 (T)
202-219-8809 (F)

(http://www.aapi.gov)

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January 6, 2005

WAL-MART WEB SITE MAKES RACIAL CONNECTIONS
DVD Shoppers Get Offensive Referrals

By Ylan Q. Mui

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About NCVA
Founded in 1986, the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community advocacy organization working to advance the cause of Vietnamese Americans in a plural but united America – e pluribus unum – by participating actively and fully as civic minded citizens engaged in the areas of education, culture and civil liberties.

Copyright material is distributed without profit or payment for research and educational purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107