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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.


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NCVA eREPORTER - February 22, 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

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

TIPS/RESOURCES

NEWS

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 EVENTS

VIETNAMESE AMERICAN TELEVISION MEDIA TRAINING

The National Congress of Vietnamese Americans is a proud supporter of this technical training program.

This training is provided by VATV and offered to all volunteers and Nonprofit organization members who are interested in the Media reporting arena.

DATE & TIME:
Saturday, February 25, 2006
9:00 AM- 6:30 PM

LOCATION:
Scouts R Us - 7120 Woodley Lane, Falls Church, VA  22042

CONTACT:  Nhan Vo, 301-257-8496, or 301 Buttry Rd., Gaithersburg, MD 20877

REGISTRATION:  Register by Wed 02/22/2006


Training Workshops include:
* a brief history of the need for media
* getting more youth involved in media and broadcasting
* technical training on how to conduct interviews
* camera techniques for field reporters
* use of lighting and audio for high performance recording
* basic video/audio editing techniques


VATV is collaborating with BPSOS, VAVA, NCVA, APACAF, VCSA, NAVASA, MVMA, KETDOAN, LSTN, VietTien TV, VPTV, SBTN to conduct VOICE Project.

Training location is sponsored by Dr. Nguyen Duc Tung (Scout R Us).

Note: VATV will provide Camera, Computer and equipment for training but participants are welcome to bring their own gear.  A live hands-on event will occur after the training to provide participants an opportunity to put their new learned skills in practice

(http://www.ncvaonline.org/archive/prj_MediaTraining_022506.shtml)

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Asian Pacific Islander Community Leadership Foundation (ACLF)
Executive Development Institute (EDI) and
Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics. Inc. (LEAP) invite you to...

FOURTH ANNUAL PUGET SOUND ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Save The Date!

When: Saturday, February 25, 2006
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

What: Join us for a day of leadership training by a selection of nationally renowned trainers on topics such as mentoring, personal development, emerging leadership and politics.

Where: Student Union
Shoreline Community College
16101 Greenwood Avenue North
Shoreline, Washington 98133-5696

Cost: $35 general registration fee
$15 student registration fee
(Checks and Visa/MasterCard/AMEX accepted)

DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM AT:
http://www.leap.org or http://www.aclfnorthwest.org/leap.htm

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Please contact Starr Macdonald, EDI, at (425) 467-9365/starr@ediorg.org
Negin Almassi, ACLF, at (206) 625-3850/aclfnw@aclfnorthwest.org
Jade Agua, LEAP, at (213) 485-1422 x4107/jagua@leap.org

This event sponsored by State Farm Insurance.

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ADVANCING CIVIL RIGHTS: 6TH ANNUAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE BRIEFING

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 from 9:30 to 11:00 am Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sacramento, CA

AACRE Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality

A Partnership of CAA | Center for Asian American Advocacy, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and Asian Law Caucus  Invites you to a legislative briefing discussing critical issues impacting the Asian Pacific American community as part of the California Asian Pacific Islander Policy Summit

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 from 9:30 to 11:00 am Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sacramento, CA

Asian Pacific Americans comprise 14% of the state’s population.  In this informative session, leading experts and community members will provide an overview of the state’s fastest growing population, highlighting policy priorities and key legislative proposals.  Topics include:

'         Asian Pacific Americans and Language Access. Asian Pacific American households have the highest levels of linguistic isolation in California.  Experts will share new data, broken down by legislative districts, about Californias diverse API population and the need for expanded language services.

'         Meaningful Parental Involvement in Education.  Due to language barriers, many parents cannot be partners in their child’s education.  An Asian American parent will speak about the importance of being engaged in her children’s education, and the need for translated documents to meaningfully involve parents in the educational system.

'         Access to Justice.  For Californians needing language assistance, the prospect of navigating the legal system is daunting.  Equal access to justice requires language services that enable all parties, regardless of language ability, to understand pleadings, forms or other legal documents; communicate effectively with clerks or court staff; and participate meaningfully in court proceedings. 

'         An APA Legislative and Budget Agenda for 2006.  An overview of key legislation and budget issues impacting the Asian Pacific American community.

For more information, please contact Vivian Huang, AACRE Legislative Advocate, at 916-321-9001.

To RSVP for the event, please contact Rachel Ferrer, Advocacy Intern, at rferrer@caasf.org

This legislative briefing is a component of the California Asian Pacific Islander Policy Summit “Partnering for Community Empowerment,” convened by the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, in partnership with Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality, Asian Pacific Islanders California Action Network, Asian Pacific State Employee Association, California Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus Institute, and the California Commission on Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs.  Registration materials for the summit can be found at http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/apilegcaucus.

At this exciting two day summit:

 '         Learn about 2006 budget and legislative proposals impacting APIs

'         Participate in a joint hearing of the API Caucus and APIA Commission to learn about emerging issues and provide public testimony on issues of concern to you

'         Build networks with advocates and community leaders from around the state

'         Advance your career through leadership and professional development workshops

'         Refine your advocacy skills and participate in Capitol legislative visits to share API priorities with legislators

Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
1225 8th Street, Suite 590
Sacramento, CA 95814
tel 916.321.9001 fax 916.448.6774

a project of
 CAA | Center for Asian American Advocacy
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Asian Law Caucus

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AACI’s 33RD ANNUAL BANQUET AND COMMUNITY STAR AWARDS

Changing Lives, Changing the Community

May 19th, 2006

6:00 pm Reception and Silent Auction

7:00 pm Dinner Program and Awards

Fairmont Hotel San Jose



For more information or to reserve tickets contact:
Kathleen Cordova, Development Director
(408) 975-2730 ext. 102
kathleen.cordova@aaci.org

Asian Americans for Community Involvement
2400 Moorpark Avenue, Ste.300
San Jose, CA 95128
Fax (408) 975-2745
http://www.aaci.org

AACI's mission is "Working to improve the quality of life in the community, focusing on Asian Pacific Americans."

(http://www.aaci.org)

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 FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

DEPT OF JUSTICE 2006 PUBLIC AWARENESS IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

110 kb)-offers $350,000 for up to 7 awards, ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, to raise the awareness of underserved populations, particularly socially isolated immigrant communities, about victims' rights and how to access crime victim services. Favorable consideration will be given to applicants partnering with one or more ethnic community-based or faith-based organizations with close ties to the targeted audience. Note: Applications that focus on prevention will not receive strong consideration for funding. A private non-profit organization does not need to have 501(c )( 3) status to apply for grant funding under this solicitation. Those applying are urged to begin the application process well in advance of the March 21, 2006 deadline.

The overall goal of this program is to raise the awareness of traditionally underserved populations on victims' rights as well as improve their knowledge on how to access local services available to crime victims. The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) will support the planning and development of victimization-focused public awareness campaigns targeted at underserved populations with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the local community. Victim service organizations will work in partnership with ethnic media (radio, print, television) as well as ethnic- and/or faith-based organizations to produce linguistically and culturally appropriate public awareness campaigns on one or more victimization issues.

(http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=7910)

(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/fund/pdftxt/FY06_UnderservedAwareness.pdf)

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WELLS FARGO FUNDS COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Wells Fargo is committed to improving and sustaining the company's local communities through grants and volunteer activities that support community programs and organizations. The Wells Fargo Charitable Contributions Program varies from state to state. However, Wells Fargo generally supports the following areas of interest: community development, including housing and workforce development; education, including financial literacy programs; human services; and arts, culture and civic projects.

(http://www.wellsfargo.com/about/charitable/index.jhtml)

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CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION GRANTS TARGET POVERTY ISSUES

The mission of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is to support efforts that promote a just, equitable, and sustainable society. One of the Foundation's four program areas, Pathways Out of Poverty, seeks to address reduction in poverty rates for low-income people and communities in the U.S. The program focuses on improving community education; expanding economic opportunity; and building organized communities. Outside the Flint, MI area, home of the Foundation, grants are not made for local projects unless they are part of a national demonstration and have clear implications for replication in other communities. Letters of inquiry are accepted throughout the year.

(http://www.mott.org)

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AMERICAN HONDA FOUNDATION FUNDS SCIENCE AND YOUTH PROGRAMS

The American Honda Foundation supports projects in the areas of youth and scientific education. The Foundation defines "youth" as prenatal through twenty-one years of age. "Scientific education" encompasses the physical and life sciences, mathematics, and the environmental sciences. The Foundation provides grants for K-12 education, higher education, and other nonprofit organizations that focus on youth and/or scientific education. Only projects that are national in scope will be considered for funding by the Foundation. Application deadlines are February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1 of each year.

(http://corporate.honda.com/america/philanthropy.aspx?id=ahf)

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A.J. MUSTE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE SUPPORTS SOCIAL CHANGE PROGRAMS

The A.J. Muste Memorial Institute supports projects that promote the principles and practice of nonviolent social change. Funded projects must be concerned with one or more of the following issues: peace and disarmament, social and economic justice, racial and sexual equality, and the labor movement. Through its regular grant program, the Institute makes about 20 to 30 grants annually to international, national, and local projects, giving priority to those with small budgets and little chance of funding from more traditional sources. The next deadline is April 14, 2006.

(http://www.ajmuste.org/guidelin.htm)

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WALGREENS GRANTS FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The Walgreens Company Contribution Program provides support to nonprofit organizations in local Walgreen communities throughout the U.S., as well as to organizations in the Chicago metropolitan area, home to the company's headquarters. A small portion of the budget is reserved for selected national organizations. The company's priority funding areas are health and education, with health as the major area of focus. Eligible organizations should have cost-effective projects operating within the community area surrounding a Walgreens store. Applications are accepted throughout the year.

(http://www.walgreens.com/about/community)

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SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER SUPPORTS YOUTH ACTIVIST PROJECTS

The Mix It Up Grants Program, administered by the Southern Poverty Law Center, funds youth-directed activist projects that focus on identifying, crossing and challenging social boundaries in schools and communities. Preference is given to applications that clearly show: youth leadership - i.e., projects created and carried out by youth activists; collaborative efforts across social boundaries - i.e., different youth groups or clubs working together, or school-based clubs working with community-based organizations; and continuing efforts to identify, cross or challenge social boundaries - i.e., the funded project isn't "the end" of the effort. Applicants are encouraged to be creative as the program is definitely open to new ideas. Applications may be submitted at any time.

(http://www.tolerance.org/teens/grants.jsp)

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BOLLINGER FOUNDATION SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR SCHOLARSHIP GRANTS

The Bollinger Foundation, a unique foundation created to provide financial assistance to families of economic development, community development, and public housing workers is seeking nominations for this year’s awards. Specifically, assistance is available to families who have lost a parent or guardian where the deceased or surviving parent or guardian worked in the field of public housing, community development, or economic development.

The deadline for nominations is May 20, 2006.

(http://www.bollingerfoundation.org)

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MAURICE FALK FUND GRANTS FOCUS ON SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Maurice Falk Fund is dedicated to encouraging a tolerant, just and inclusive society. The Fund primarily awards grants for research, education, training and innovative interventions to prevent discriminatory practices due to personal prejudices, biased private and public policies, unfair resource allocation, deprivation of access, and other exclusionary practices. The Fund focuses on inequities in healthcare, education, workforce development, mental health, housing, transportation, and environmental and criminal justice. Because the Fund has a small endowment and is limited in the ability to award large or numerous grants, the priority is to support innovative projects that address injustice and may involve a high degree of risk. Letters of inquiry are accepted at any time.

(http://www.falkfund.org)

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INTEL CORPORATE GRANTS FOR SCIENCE, MATH AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION

Intel Corporation is committed to maintaining and enhancing the quality of life in the communities where the company has a major presence in Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. (A list of eligible company communities is available on the website.) Intel's primary giving focus is science, math and technology education, with emphasis on K-12, higher education, and community programs that deliver the kind of educational opportunities that all students will need to prepare themselves to succeed in the 21st century. Intel will also consider funding for environmental programs as well as programs that improve the quality of life in its site communities. Applications may be submitted throughout the year.

(http://www.intel.com/community/grant.htm)

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INFORMATION GUIDE AVAILABLE FOR HP TECHNOLOGY FOR COMMUNITY GRANT INITIATIVE

The HP Technology for Community Grant Initiative is designed to provide technology tools to nonprofit organizations to enhance their effectiveness and to support the innovative use of mobile technology. In 2006, HP will award up to a hundred organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico an HP wireless technology package valued at approximately $17,000.

The 2006 HP Technology for Community Grant award includes the following: five HP Notebook PCs; one HP Tablet PC; one HP iPAQ Pocket PC; a wireless ready HP all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier; a wireless ready HP digital projector and wireless remote control; a wireless access point; an HP digital camera bundle; a $1,000 stipend; and training to set up a new wireless network.

Eligible applicants must be a nonprofit agency that meets all of the following requirements: operates as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization (government agencies, civic organizations, member agencies, and collaboratives are not eligible); operates programs in one or more of the following areas: health and human services, workforce development, environment, arts and technology, and/or community/economic development; has some experience maintaining a technical infrastructure; and did not receive a grant from HP in 2005.

The HP Technology for Community online application is managed with assistance from TechSoup. To apply for the grant, an organization must be registered at TechSoup Stock and must complete the qualification form. Applicant organizations are encouraged to register before the grant application period begins.

For more information about the program's goals and application process, see the HP Technology for Community Grant Initiative information guide at the HP Web site. The application page will be available online starting February 27, 2006.

(http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/programs/tech_community/index.html)

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 JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

WESTERN CENTER ON LAW AND POVERTY – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Western Center on Law & Poverty seeks an Executive Director to lead a well-established and highly reputed nonprofit poverty advocacy organization - California's oldest and largest legal services support center - to the next level of service on behalf of the state's low-income people.  An outstanding, hard-working and committed Board of Directors and staff will support the incoming Executive Director.

About Western Center:  Western Center on Law and Poverty advances and enforces the rights of low-income Californians to the basic necessities of life by working statewide for systemic change.  WCLP engages in legislative and administrative advocacy, impact litigation and technical assistance to legal and social services organizations to effectuate broad-based change aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty.  Leaving the representation of individual clients on individual cases to neighborhood legal aid offices, we take the lead on advocacy designed to make large scale improvements in the way low-income Californians receive the most critical services and benefits, primarily in the areas of health care, housing and public assistance.  Our successful court cases, legislative work and administrative advocacy help hundreds and often thousands of people at a time.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, WCLP has two branch offices in Sacramento and Oakland.  The staff currently numbers 29, including 16 lawyer/advocates.  In addition to poverty advocacy work, WCLP staff annually responds to between 3,500 and 4,000 requests for technical assistance and provides between 70 and 100 trainings around the state. WCLP publishes several authoritative manuals on topics such as CalWORKs, Medi-Cal eligibility, emergency benefits, lead poisoning prevention, foster care benefits and affordable housing.  Additional information about Western Center may be found on its website: www.wclp.org.

Western Center has an annual budget of over $3.1 million.  In 1996, Congress cut off federal financial support for programs like Western Center.  Since then, WCLP has been supported by private donations, foundation grants, contracts for services, and attorneys' fee awards. With the resignation of its respected Executive Director, Pegine Grayson, who is leaving to spend more time with her family, a unique opportunity is presented for the right leader.

About the Position:   WCLP seeks a respected, experienced and dynamic leader who is passionate about and has a demonstrated commitment to promoting access to justice for low-income people.  The new leader will work closely with a dedicated and hard-working Board of Directors and an outstanding, creative and committed staff, as well as a broader community of advocates, private lawyers, and donors.  The Executive Director is the primary spokesperson for Western Center, oversees its legal, legislative advocacy and administrative staff, and is responsible for strategic planning, fundraising, and managing daily operations.

Roles and responsibilities include:

*                    Maintaining WCLP's standard of excellence in the legal services community in all of its functional areas, including impact litigation, legislative and administrative advocacy, and the provision of technical assistance and support.
*                    Maintaining and expanding WCLP's current sources of funding.
*                    Maintaining and expanding partnerships, relationships and strategic alliances with other legal services programs, community based organizations, private lawyers, government agencies, and the legislature.
*                    Increasing WCLP's visibility in California as the "go to" organization on poverty advocacy issues.
*                    Continuing WCLP's leadership role in the broader legal services community on issues related to the delivery of legal services to, and access to justice by, low-income Californians.
*                    Providing the leadership and management required to ensure WCLP implements its ambitious strategic plan and stays on track to realizing its vision.
*                    Providing for the professional development of WCLP's excellent professional staff and creating a positive work environment to maintain the organization's high-quality advocacy and to continue to attract and retain excellent staff members.
*                    Working closely and effectively with WCLP's Board of Directors.
*                    Strengthening and expanding WCLP's impact litigation capacity.
*                    Overseeing the staff and operations of WCLP's three offices.

The ideal Executive Director candidate would be:

*                    An attorney licensed to practice in California or in another state;
*                    Demonstrably committed to social justice and advocacy on behalf of low-income communities;
*                    An excellent oral and written communicator and listener;
*                    A consensus builder;
*                    Politically astute;
*                    An effective spokesperson and advocate for the organization;
*                    Able to think strategically and plan effectively;
*                    Positive and energetic;
*                    An experienced and effective manager and problem solver;
*                    An executive with a track record of working effectively with a Board and staff of a mission-driven charitable organization who has demonstrated financial management experience and acumen; and
*                    Someone with a demonstrated enthusiasm for, and track record of, raising funds and support from a variety of sources.

Salary:  Competitive, and based on experience.  Generous benefits package.

Application Procedures:   Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.  Interested applicants should submit:

1.  A cover letter expressing in detail why they are interested in the position of Executive Director of WCLP as well as what they believe they can contribute to the future of the organization and its client community;
2.  A current resume;
3.  Two writing samples; and
4.  The names and contact information for three references. 

Submit all materials electronically to:

WCLP Executive Director Search Committee
pgrayson@wclp.org

Richard A. Rothschild
Western Center on Law and Poverty
3701 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 208
 Los Angeles, California 90010-2809
Phone:   213-487-7211, ext. 24
FAX: 213-487-0242
rrothschild@wclp.org

(http://www.wclp.org)

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CALIFORNIA ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS INTERNSHIPS

Paid Legislative Internship, Asian Pacific Islander (API) Legislative Caucus of the California Legislature; 1 full-time or 2 part-time internships available.

Location: Sacramento, California.

Compensation: Hourly paid position, depending on experience (No benefits)

Desired Skills/Qualifications: The Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, comprised of the six Democratic Asian Pacific Islander Members of the Assembly, is seeking a legislative intern (recent college graduate, graduate student or upper division undergraduate,) to assist the Caucus consultant with all aspects of day-to-day operations at the Caucus. This is an exciting opportunity to gain exposure to the legislative and political process while working on a wide-range of issues relevant to the API community.  To find out more about the API Caucus, please visit http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/apilegcaucus/.

Responsibilities will include:

  a.. Compose correspondence, reports and other written materials as necessary;
  b.. Organizing events/functions such as legislative briefings, hearings, press events and annual API Policy Summit;
  c.. Conduct research on policy and legislation affecting the API community;
  d.. Providing administrative coverage of Caucus office, including phone inquiries, sorting mail, and updating website;
  e.. Community outreach and organizing, including attending community events.

The ideal candidate will possess:

  a.. Outstanding verbal and written communication skills; ability to write

and articulate ideas in a persuasive, organized, and effective manner;
  b.. Excellent organizational skills with attention for detail;
  c.. Strong interpersonal skills: ability to interact with legislators, legislative staff, advocates, community leaders, and a wide range of individuals;
  d.. Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, multi-task and handle multiple projects;
  e.. Easy going personality and a sense of humor;
  f.. Proficiency in a wide range of computer software programs desired; graphic design and web design a plus;
  g.. Knowledge of the legislative process a plus but not required.

Additional:
Internship begins March 2006.  Preference will be given to individuals who are interested in committing to between six months to one year.

Send candidate's resume with cover letter, two brief writing samples, and references by February 28, 2006 to:

Pam Chueh, Senior Consultant
Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus
1020 N Street # 370
Sacramento, CA 95814
E-mail: pam.chueh@asm.ca.gov

(http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/apilegcaucus/)

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GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS PROGRAM COORDINATOR - STUDENT SERVICES

The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) is a scholarship program aimed at expanding access to higher education for students who reflect the diverse society in which we live. Established in 1999 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this program is designed to fund the college education of twenty thousand high achieving low-income minority students.

GMS is administered by the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in partnership with OCA, which serves the diverse Asian Pacific Islander American communities. OCA, founded in 1973 as the Organization of Chinese Americans, is a national organization dedicated to advancing the social, political and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. For more information about the GMS program, please visit the following website: www.gmsp.org. For more information about OCA, please visit: www.ocanatl.org.

The Student Services component encompasses scholarship processing, records retention, leadership development, academic facilitation services and GMS scholar/alumni community building.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• In accordance with GMS policies and procedures, assess eligibility of nominees for selection and scholarship allocation each academic year.
• Communicate and coordinate with external agencies, staff and GMS scholars to obtain and/or provide information related to the scholarship.
• Assist with academic facilitation services.
• Assist with other student services and outreach functions.

This position is based in Washington, D.C. and reports to the Director of Student Services. This position may require some travel.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
• Bachelors degree;
• Minimum of two years experience in the area of student support services and/or financial aid;
• Demonstrated organizational skills;
• Outstanding communication skills;
• Technological literacy;
• Commitment to student development;
• Good analytical skills;
• Ability to work with diverse constituencies in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
• Pay commensurate with experience
• Health benefits
• Paid vacation and holidays

HOW TO APPLY:
Mail, fax or email a resume with cover letter outlining experience and working knowledge, plus names and contact numbers of two professional references to:

Gates Millennium Scholars/APIA
OCA
Attn: GMS/APIA Program Director
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, #725
Washington, D.C. 20036
Fax: 202-530-0643, Attn: Program Director
Email: gale@ocanatl.org

APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 3, 2006; or until filled

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For Immediate Release
February 15, 2006

Contact: 
Doug Lee, Programs Manager
(202) 223-5500, dlee@ocanatl.org

 OCA 2006 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE

Washington, DC - OCA is pleased to announce that applications for the 2006 OCA Scholarship Program are now available online. Up to 60- $2000 scholarships will be awarded to incoming Asian Pacific American (APA) college freshmen for the 2006-2007 academic school year. OCA recognizes that scholarships and financial aid play an essential role in helping students achieve a college education. "OCA is dedicated to education in the APA community," said OCA National President Ginny Gong. "We recognize the need to provide opportunities to students who do not have access to the financial resources necessary to pursue higher education."

Although the average level of education for APAs is higher than the national average, the statistics are misleading. While there are many members of the APA community who have advanced degrees, there are also countless APAs who are unable to attend college due to financial reasons. Through its many scholarships, OCA strives to achieve its goals of promoting civic participation, education, and leadership.

“For the 2006 OCA Scholarship Program, OCA offers a variety of scholarships to disadvantaged APAs. OCA offers scholarships not only for students who demonstrate financial need, but also for students who show high achievement, for those who are the first member in their family to attend college, and for APA women, said OCA Executive Director Dorothy Wong.

For more information on OCA’s scholarship programs and an application, students may go to OCA’s website at http://www.ocanatl.org. The deadline for applying to the 2006 OCA Scholarship Programs is April 18, 2006

###

About OCA
Founded in 1973, OCA, a national organization with over 80 chapters and affiliates across the country, is dedicated to advancing the social, economic, and political well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.

(http://www.ocanatl.org)

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CONFERENCE ON ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIPS

On behalf of the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), I am excited to announce that CAPAL will award three (3) scholarships to outstanding Asian Pacific American (APA) students  committed to public service and community action.

Awarded annually since 1992, CAPAL’s scholarships have enabled promising students with leadership potential to explore public service and learn how to influence public policy that affects our communities.  CAPAL Scholars are awarded $2,000 scholarships to support their successful completion of an internship in Washington, DC, as well as their development of a Community Action Plan.

CAPAL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan, educational organization that was founded in 1989 by APA professionals in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.  Its mission is to promote Asian Pacific American interests and success in public sector careers, to provide information and education on policy issues affecting the APA community, and to serve the APA community at large.

We would appreciate your assistance with informing undergraduate and graduate students of this opportunity to receive financial assistance to complete an internship in our nation’s capital during the summer of  2006. Please retain this information in your files, as this is an annual program.

Application and scholarship requirements are attached.  For more details or to download the application, please visit our website at http://www.capal.org or email questions  to scholarships@capal.org.

All applications must be received by Friday, March 17, 2006.

Thank you for your efforts and assistance.

Sincerely,
Candace  J. Chin
Chair,  CAPAL Scholarship Committee

Applicants committed to the breadth and diversity of the Asian Pacific American community, including but not limited to economic, ethnic, generational, and regional diversity, are especially encouraged to apply.

(http://www.capal.org)

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 TIPS/RESOURCES

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT: SERVICE LEARNING HAS ITS PITFALLS

Service learning, the procedure by which college students perform some type of community service, usually through a nonprofit organization, is gaining popularity on campuses throughout the country.

Despite its popularity and its benefits, it can suffer from problems experienced by any such arrangement. Care must be exercised to ensure that everyone involved, students, nonprofits, the community and even the college derive the maximum benefit from the experience or, conversely, not be hurt by the experience.

Eugene Tempel and William Plater of Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy suggested several caveats that should be kept in mind by all parties considering service learning agreements.

* Nonprofits should be sure that their needs are being addressed. In some settings, for example, nonprofits and clients may need stability rather than new volunteers every few months.

* The needs of students must be kept in mind. In some organizations, the leader may not have the time to be meaningfully involved with the students. In such a situation, it unlikely that they will learn very much.

* Reflection and evaluation are essential for both organization and students. An organization should not participate in a service learning project if it cannot take the time to reflect on and assess its own work.

* Nonprofits should be directly involved in the teaching of service learning, not simply providing a ‘place’ for students.

* There should be clearly defined goals of mutual benefit.

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

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MANAGEMENT: USING A NEW CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY MODEL

There is continued debate regarding whether for-profit organizations have any obligation other than making money for shareholders -- whether they have any social responsibility.

For nonprofits, however, there is no debate, social responsibility is what most of them are about. And, very often nonprofits seek to engage for-profit companies in their missions.

At a recent philanthropy conference, Sondra Lintelmann-Dellaripa and Robert Nolan of the corporate relations office of Connecticut Childrens Medical Center, made it clear that nonprofits can utilize a new corporate philanthropy model that maximizes incoming money while helping for-profits enhance their commitment to philanthropy.

Under the old nonprofit model, the focus was on the nonprofit and its mission and the tax benefit to the company, with little idea of the business of business.

Corporate social responsibility then centers around several key components:

It embraces to main concepts not found in traditional strategic philanthropy: accountability and transparency.

It is the alignment of business operations with social values.

It recognizes that many of the changes a corporation implements in conducting its social responsibility strategy are internal changes in operations, products and materials.

It consists of integrating the interests of stakeholders – all those affected by the organizations conduct -- into the organization’s business policies and actions.

Its goal is to positively impact society while achieving business success.

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

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MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FOR NONPROFITS – E-BASE

ebase is powerful, sophisticated software developed for use by nonprofit organizations to manage their relationships with their community: members, donors, activists, clients, volunteers and constituents. ebase is a series of Filemaker Pro templates that was created by nonprofits for nonprofits. Technical support and training for ebase is based on the community model: ebase users work together, online and in-person, to help each other learn the in's and out's of ebase software and to extend its functionality.

(http://www.ebase.org)

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 NEWS

February 3, 2006   Episode no. 923

BELIEF & PRACTICE: Vietnamese New Year

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Last Sunday (January 29), Vietnamese people all over the world celebrated Tet -- the first day of their new year. The week-long holiday is a time for prayer and family reunions, and it usually combines bits of Buddhism, ancestor worship, and Daoism, the Chinese system for harmonizing with nature and observing life's passages. Nguyen Ngoc Bich follows his family traditions in Springfield, Virginia.

NGUYEN NGOC BICH: Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, is by far the biggest festival during the year.

The Vietnamese are known to be what you call eclectics. We like to pick what we believe to be the best part of various traditions.

Many Vietnamese, even when they are not Buddhists, still feel themselves very close to many of the ideas of Buddhism, and that's why one essential part of celebrating Tet is to go to the Buddhist temple to pray to Buddha. A lot of the womenfolk go for fortune reading. Kids go there looking forward to either the dragon or unicorn dance.

The Vietnamese also perform the unicorn dance, hoping that somehow the real unicorn will come to earth and bring peace, not only to our family but also to the whole world.

At the dot of midnight, between the old year and the new year, there you pray to the Jade Emperor, the Emperor of Heaven. And he is asked to come and witness the change between the little god that oversaw last year and the new god which is to come and oversee the new year.

Tet is a time when we ask the ancestor[s] to come back to give us their blessing. It's believed the ancestors also have a life in another world. That's why in Vietnam sometimes you burn offerings to the ancestors so that, hopefully, they can enjoy all these things, even money -- to use it over there.

You have to prepare a whole meal so that the ancestors can partake of them, the way they would be sitting down with us at the table. The Vietnamese believe that people really do not die. And because of that, the dead are believed to have their presence around us. They are the ones to protect us, keep us from harm.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (Praying): Thank you for helping us always.

That's why the ancestors are very, very close to us. The Vietnamese believe that you can communicate with your ancestor up until the fifth generation before you. It's because the Vietnamese like to simplify the math. So they wait for the New Year's Day and make everyone one year older. And in order to mark this, you have to say wishes to the elders of the family, and the family reward you with the lucky money, as well as give you some advice about new year.

ABERNETHY: To Vietnamese and everyone celebrating Tet, Happy New Year.

(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week923/belief.html)

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White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 7, 2006

CONTACT: Jimmy Lee or Erik Wang, 202-482-2204

WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE FOR ASIAN AMERICANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS ANNOUNCES TECHNICAL WORKSHOP IN LOS ANGELES FOR KOREAN AMERICANS

Washington DC:  The White House Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders today announced that the first Korean American specific technical workshop will be held in Los Angeles, California at the Korean Education Center on Friday, March 17, 2006.

Along with the White House Initiative Office, the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, local federal agencies and governmental officials will be conducting workshops to bridge the divide between programs and services of federal agencies with Korean American community groups and business leaders in the State of California.

Free Workshops will include such topics as how to write effective grants, how to secure grants and find grants for your organization, encourage financial literacy for your community, federal internship programs, and minority contracting opportunities for your small business.  For a list of up to date partners and federal agencies that will be at the technical conference please go to www.aapi.gov.

Sponsored by the White House Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the technical assistance workshops are created to aid the economic development in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community nationwide.  The White House Initiative was created through an Executive Order signed by President George W. Bush on May 13, 2004, to increase economic opportunities for and improve the quality of life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders through greater participation in federal programs where they may be underserved (e.g. economic and community development).

Technical Conference Information
Location:  Korean Education Center
680 Wilshire Place
Los Angeles, CA.  90005
Date: Friday, March 17, 2006
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Cost: Free (Refreshments will be served)
Local Contact: William Kil, Commissioner (213-385-1779)

(http://www.aapi.gov)

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February 8, 2006

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ENROLLMENT BUCKS NATIONAL TREND
 PSU may benefit from national grants targeted at expanding foreign language programs

By Emily A. Palm

Despite a noted descent nationwide in foreign language education, Portland State’s enrollment in such programs is growing.

Dr. Sandra Rosengrant, department chair of Foreign Languages and Literature, said she finds this gratifying.

According to the Modern Language Association, 15 K-12 public schools in the U.S. teach Arabic. Less than 2 percent of high school students in the U.S. today study Farsi, Urdu, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Russian or Chinese. In an effort to combat this national decline, President George W. Bush proposed a National Security Language Initiative last month. He requested $114 million for the 2007 fiscal year from Congress.

Rosengrant said it is premature to tell what this will mean for PSU, but said the university is poised to apply competitively for grants that may become available from the initiative.

The initiative is a partnership between the Department of Education, the Department of Defense and the director of National Intelligence.

“Our goal is, in essence, to ramp up the mastery of these critical languages, not solely for national security reasons but also in terms of America’s standing in the world,” said Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, at a briefing on the program.

The administration intends to produce 2,000 advanced speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi and Central Asian languages over the next several years.

Rosengrant noted that the language department at PSU has been expanding its programs. Last fall they hired a new assistant professor of Farsi. She hopes to add a Farsi minor to the available major in Chinese and minor in Arabic. “We simply cannot afford to be monolingual or monocultural,” Rosengrant said, and noted that she finds PSU students to be aware of this fact. In the fall of 2004 Arabic classes offered at PSU yielded 120 students, and Rosengrant said the program has grown.

A component of the administration’s strategic language plan entails expanding a Fulbright Scholarship program where Fulbrighters come to the United States and teach languages. Last year PSU hosted Fulbright teaching assistants from Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan. “These are wonderful, wonderful young people,” Rosengrant said. She said they plan to continue participation in the program, and next year will have teachers from Oman, Turkey, Russia, India and Iran.

The Fulbright teaching assistants at PSU support the newfound Heritage Language Initiative at PSU. Native literacy instruction is targeted at the languages with significant populations in Portland. The classes are taught in part by members of the community. The list comprises Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Farsi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu and Vietnamese.

Bush noted that understanding another language is a kind gesture. “When somebody comes to me and speaks Texan, I know they appreciate the Texas culture,” he said. “When Americans learn to speak a language, learn to speak Arabic, those in the Arabic region will say, gosh, America is interested in us. They care enough to learn how we speak.”

(http://www.dailyvanguard.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/08/43ea760d3f455)

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February 9, 2006

 NEW PUBLIC TV FOR A NEW AMERICA:
WORLDVIEW Launches as an Independent Program Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent public broadcaster MHz NETWORKS has launched WORLDVIEW, an internationally diverse 24/7 program stream for public television stations. The new stream aims to attract globally aware viewers with a wide range of international programming blocks - - World News, Foreign Affairs, International Mysteries, World Music, Sports, and Foreign Films -- all of it English accessible (in English or subtitled). "The idea is to make the world, and all its rhythms, opinions, textures, easier for Americans to understand," says Frederick Thomas, the executive behind WORLDVIEW. "The channel will tell all of the stories about the world, good and bad, going beyond the usual tragedy stuff." It won't be difficult for viewers to gain different perspectives given the wide range of countries and cultures carried on WORLDVIEW.

The evening World News block features newscasts from Taiwan, India, Japan, France and Germany -- with Bolivian and Russian news being added in March, and Pan-African news arriving by June. The World Music block features Strictly Global, with videos from across the globe and the Emmy Award-winning MHz Presents, which features artists from all genres of music, guests such as Floetry, The Chieftains, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Afro Celts, Suzanne Vega, and dozens more. The International Mystery block features iconic detectives from all over the world; the super sleuths that become "can't miss it" viewing opportunities.

Another important audience for WORLDVIEW will be America's recent immigrants, who represent a wide range of countries. "Through our experience in the Washington, D.C. market we know that immigrants will support this type of programming, and the stations that carry it, because they feel they have a stake in it, like an investment," says Thomas. In Washington, MHz has been successful at raising on-air pledge dollars in at least six different languages: Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, Vietnamese, Urdu, and French, and has acquired significant local underwriting from businesses wishing to reach these viewers. "'Passionate' is a word frequently used to describe how local ethnic communities feel about MHz," says Nancy Sherwood, MHz's membership manager. MHz plans to upload a weekly American-Diversity block of programming produced by ethnic producers across the country on the WORLDVIEW feed.

In a nod to the largest group of recent immigrants, Spanish-speaking groups from Latin and South America, WORLDVIEW is presenting a Spanish- Language block of daily news and informational programming. Dialogue is WORLDVIEW'S signature series in its Foreign Affairs block, while the Indian programming block on WORLDVIEW recognizes the influx of South Asian immigrants to the U.S. Interstitial programming on WORLDVIEW comes from washingtonpost.com, one of the premier news websites. In a unique alliance, WORLDVIEW will be the broadcast outlet for washingtonpost.com's video stories, usually housed on washingtonpost.com's website. Lastly, rounding out the genres is WORLDVIEW's Shortie block of programming which showcases films from the annual MHz Shortz Student Film Festival.

WORLDVIEW to Help Promote Financial Independence

MHz NETWORKS has been operating as an independent public television organization (non-PBS affiliated) for over a decade. Shrinking Federal and State funding over that time forced MHz to become more entrepreneurial, with the ultimate goal being to create financial self-sustainability. WORLDVIEW has been funded internally by MHz. "The financial realities dictated that we become very flexible," says Thomas, "over the last decade we've had to turn on a dime, many times, finding new ways to acquire programming and generate revenue. We think our experience will help us meet the specific needs of other stations that take the WORLDVIEW feed." MHz plans to share its unique marketing and development knowledge with WORLDVIEW-presenting stations, helping them attract local dollars through underwriting, ancillary sales, and even video-on-demand opportunities. The approach is to build new U.S. programming partners in the same way that MHz has forged programming partnerships with international programmers, many of whom have been on MHz's stations in Washington, D.C. for years. These programmers trust MHz as a U.S. programming partner -- as a U.S. organization that "speaks their language." "WORLDVIEW is a great platform for our content," says Sanjiv Prakash, Editor and CEO of Asian News International (ANI) based in New Delhi. "We've been with MHz for a while and are really excited to see the evolution of their vision." ANI provides exclusive content from South Asia for WORLDVIEW.

"Programming independence can lead to financial independence -- I think these are the two best concepts we have to guarantee the future of public broadcasting," says Thomas, "We believe WORLDVIEW can help stations move in that direction."

Viewers who would like to see MHz WORLDVIEW offered through their local public TV station should contact them directly.

MHz NETWORKS, which operates in Northern Virginia and serves the Washington, D.C. market through WNVC and WNVT, is owned by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC), headquartered in Richmond, VA. CPBC is a 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation which also operates WCVE-TV/FM and WCVW in Richmond, VA and WHTJ-TV in Charlottesville, VA. The WORLDVIEW program stream in sponsored in part by the GlobeCast WorldTV service and is available on Intelsat America 5. MHz produces its original programs through its two production studios, one in Northern Virginia at its technical operations center, the other at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Visit http://www.mhzworldview.org for more information.

CONTACT: Jenna Reedy of MHz NETWORKS, +1-703.770.7135, or jreedy@mhznetworks.org

(http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060209/dcth031.html?.v=41)

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February 14, 2006

ARE WE HAPPY YET?

Pew Charitable Trusts Polls/Survey Results

Americans have always had a thing about happiness. We all have certain unalienable rights, declares our Declaration of Independence, among them "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

So then, a couple of centuries into the chase, how are we doing?

Alas, only so-so. Just a third (34 percent) of adults in this country say they're very happy, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey. Another half say they are pretty happy and 15 percent consider themselves not too happy. These numbers have remained very stable for a very long time.

But some of us are happier than others, and this variance helps to paint a portrait of the kind of people Americans are. It also casts doubt on some of the famous wisdom on the subject.

For example, remember grandma's aphorism about money not buying happiness? Well, brace yourself, but dear ole grandma may have been misinformed. Our survey shows that nearly half (49 percent) of those with an annual family income of more than $100,000 say they're very happy. By contrast, just 24 percent of those with an annual family income of less than $30,000 say they're very happy.

This finding definitely puts grandma on shaky ground, but it doesn't necessarily prove her wrong. It establishes a correlation (two things that go hand in hand) rather than a cause (one thing that leads to the other). There are, in fact, any number of possible causes of this correlation. Perhaps money leads to happiness. Perhaps happiness leads to money. Or perhaps both are influenced by some other, more powerful factor.

Later in this report we'll try to sort out which correlations are most powerful. But meantime, we should note at the outset that all of the findings from this survey should be taken with a general caution.

Much of the research into the field of happiness -- to say nothing of simple common sense - suggests that at the level of the individual, happiness is heavily influenced by life events (Did you get the big promotion? Have a fight with your boyfriend?) as well as by psychological traits (self-esteem, optimism, a sense of belonging, the capacity to love, etc.). The Pew survey did not look at life events or psychological characteristics. We only looked at happiness by demographic and behavioral traits. But through this admittedly limited prism, we found some fascinating correlations.

Several of them stand out: Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

We also found some interesting non-correlations. People who have children are no happier than those who don't, after controlling for marital status. Retirees are no happier than workers. Pet owners are no happier than those without pets.

The findings are drawn from a telephone survey of a nationally representative, randomly-selected sample of 3,014 adults, conducted from Oct. 5 through Nov. 6, 2005. You can go directly to the full battery of happiness tables by clicking on this index. Here is a run-down of the most compelling findings.

Income

The correlation between happiness and family income is very strong indeed - reported happiness rises in a nearly straight line through eight levels of annual family income. At the highest income category -- $150,000 and above - fully 50 percent of respondents report being very happy; by contrast, just 23 percent of those who have a family income below $20,000 say they are very happy.

But there is also a way to look at the long term trend in happiness that sheds a different light on the question of whether it is tied to money. As noted above, about a third of the public has been reporting they are very happy ever since 1972, when the General Social Survey (sociological surveys funded largely by the National Science Foundation) started asking the same happiness question that Pew posed in its survey. But during these past three decades, the average annual per capita income in this country has more than doubled in inflation adjusted dollars. Thus, in the aggregate, Americans have more money now than they did a generation ago. But in the aggregate, we're no happier.

So was grandma right after all - money doesn't buy happiness? Well, no. The trend data also show that what matters on the happiness front is not how much money you have, but whether you have more (or less) at any given time than everyone else.

That raises one more question: how about the really rich? Does the linear relationship between happiness and income continue right up into the income stratosphere - with billionaires happier than millionaires, who in turn are happier than the folks just getting by on $500,000 a year?

This survey can't provide an answer; random phone calls don't generate a large enough sample of the super rich. So all we can do is fall back on the wisdom of the popular culture, which is fond of chronicling the travails of the rich and famous. Of course, we can't be sure if these stories are based on a representative sample. But we do notice that reading them often makes us happy.

Political Party Affiliation

Some 45 percent of all Republicans report being very happy, compared with just 30 percent of Democrats and 29 percent of independents. This finding has also been around a long time; Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the General Social Survey began taking its measurements in 1972. Pew surveys since 1991 also show a partisan gap on happiness; the current 16 percentage point gap is among the largest in Pew surveys, rivaled only by a 17 point gap in February 2003.

Could it be that Republicans are so much happier now because their party controls all the levers of federal power? Not likely. Since 1972, the GOP happiness edge over Democrats has ebbed and flowed in a pattern that appears unrelated to which party is in political power.

For example, Republicans had up to a 10 and 11 percentage point happiness edge over Democrats in various years of both the Carter and Clinton presidencies, and as small as a three and five percentage point edge in various years of the Reagan and first Bush presidencies. Also, we should explain here a bit about how our survey questionnaire was constructed. The question about happiness was posed at the very beginning of the interview, while the question about political affiliation was posed at the back end, along with questions about demographic traits. So respondents were not cued to consider their happiness through the frame of partisan politics. This question is about happiness; it is not a question about happiness with partisan outcomes.

Of course, there's a more obvious explanation for the Republicans' happiness edge. Republicans tend to have more money than Democrats, and -- as we've already discovered -- people who have more money tend to be happier.

But even this explanation only goes so far. If one controls for household income, Republicans still hold a significant edge: that is, poor Republicans are happier than poor Democrats; middle-income Republicans are happier than middle-income Democrats, and rich Republicans are happier than rich Democrats.

Might ideology be the key? It's true that conservatives, who are more likely to be Republican, are happier than liberals, who are more likely to be Democrats. But even controlling for this ideological factor, a significant partisan gap remains. Conservative Republicans are happier than conservative Democrats, and moderate/liberal Republicans are happier than liberal Democrats. Hmmm, what other factors might be at play? Well, there's always...

Religiosity

People who attend religious services weekly or more are happier (43 percent very happy) than those who attend monthly or less (31 percent); or seldom or never (26 percent). This correlation between happiness and frequency of church attendance has been a consistent finding in the General Social Surveys taken over the years.

The same pattern applies within all major religious denominations. For example, 38 percent of all Catholics who attend church weekly or more report being very happy, while just 28 percent of Catholics who attend church less often say they are very happy. The survey also finds that white evangelical Protestants (43 percent) are more likely than white mainline Protestants (33 percent) to report being very happy, but this difference goes away after taking frequency of church attendance into account.

Marital and Parenting Status

Married people (43 percent very happy) are a good bit happier than unmarrieds (24 percent) and this too has been a consistent finding over many years and many surveys. It holds up for men as well as for women, and for the old as well as the young, though the marriage gap in happiness is not quite as great among the old.

Overall, parents are happier than adults who have no children, but this gap disappears once a person's marital status is considered. That is, married people with children are about as happy as married people without children. And unmarried people with children are about as happy as unmarried people without children.

Race and Ethnicity

Blacks (28 percent) are somewhat less likely than whites (36 percent) or Hispanics (34 percent) to report being very happy. The difference in average family income among the groups appears to be a factor, but it plays out in different ways for different groups. For non-Hispanic whites, having more family income is clearly correlated with being happier. (There are not enough Hispanics in the survey for analysis by income groups.) But among blacks, there is no correlation - blacks with a family income of $50,000 a year or more are about equally likely to say they are very happy (28 percent) than are blacks with a family income of less than $50,000 (27 percent). It's possible that blacks with incomes much higher than $50,000 (say $100,000 or more) are happier than others, but there were not enough of these higher income blacks in our survey for further analysis on this point.

Age and Gender

There is virtually no difference in happiness by gender and only a bit of variance in happiness by age. But the age data run counter to the prevailing ethos of the popular culture, which is forever extolling the blessings of youth.

It turns out that the young are less happy than the middle-aged or old. This gap is a bit more pronounced for men, who have a 15 percentage point happiness gap between those who are 18-to-29 years old and those who are over age 65, than it is for women, among whom the equivalent gap is just seven percentage points.

Work, Education, Health, Geography, Miscellaneous

Here most of the findings are pretty predictable - healthier people tend to be happier, and so do better-educated people.

The pattern in happiness by work status is a bit more complicated. Retirees (36 percent) and workers (35 percent) are equally likely to report being very happy, and both are happier than those who are not employed (26 percent very happy). There is a significant gender variance here. Retired men and retired women are about equally likely to be very happy, as are working men and working women. But among those who are not employed, men (16 percent) are less likely than women (30 percent) to report being very happy - presumably because for more women than men, not working outside the home is a matter of choice.

Recent immigrants are about as happy as those who have been here for generations. People who often feel rushed are less happy than those who don't. Suburbanites are a bit happier than city folks, and Sunbelt residents are a bit happier than people who live in colder climates.

Putting It All Together

How do all these factors play out together? Well, it can get complicated. Sometimes the correlations tend to reinforce one another. For example, healthy people tend to have more income, and both these traits independently correlate with happiness. But sometimes the correlations are not in sync. Frequent church-goers, for example, on average have less income than infrequent church-goers - so their religious profile pushes them up the happiness scale while their financial profile pushes them down. Which factor is more powerful? And is being a Republican really a predictor of happiness, independent of all other factors?

One way to find out is by way of a statistical technique known as multiple regression analysis, which gauges the relationship between each factor and happiness while controlling for all the other factors. That analysis shows that the most robust correlations of all those described in this report are health, income, church attendance, being married and, yes, being a Republican. Indeed, being a Republican is associated not only with happiness, it is also associated with every other trait in this cluster. Even so, the factor that makes the most difference in predicting happiness is neither being a Republican nor being wealthy - it's being in good health.

The same regression analysis also finds that education, gender, and race do not have a statistically significant independent effect on predicting happiness, once all the other factors are controlled.

Keep in mind, however, that even taking into account all these factors, we don't actually improve by very much our ability to predict which specific individual is likely to be very happy. If we knew who'd been fired last week, or who's a glass-is-always-half-full kind of person, we'd probably do a lot better.

Unhappiness

So much for happiness. What about the other side of the coin? Which Americans are "not too happy"? Well, as one would expect, the unhappy campers are for the most part the demographic mirror image of the happy campers. But there are a few wrinkles.

The first has to do with race. As already noted, whites and Hispanics are about equally likely to say they are very happy, and both groups are happier than blacks. But looking only at unhappiness, the relationship between the three groups changes: many fewer whites (12 percent) than blacks or Hispanics (each 23 percent) say they are not too happy.

On the health front, while there's a strong association between feeling healthy and happy, there's an even stronger association between feeling unhealthy and unhappy. Fully 55 percent of people who say their health is poor also report that they are "not too happy." No other characteristic measured in this report comes close to rivaling poor health as a predictor of unhappiness.

The unhappiness data also highlight the plight of another demographic group -- single parents with minor age children. More than a quarter of them (27 percent) report being not too happy - by far the largest percentage for any marital or parenting sub-group in the survey.

A Closing Note on a Delicate Subject

Lastly, we come to what may be the most controversial non-finding of all. It turns out that there is no significant happiness gap between dog owners and cat owners. Or between owners of pets of any kind and those who have no pets. We're at a loss to explain. We're just happy - no, make that very happy -- that neither Fido nor Felix can read.

About this report
The Pew social trends reports explore the behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives - family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. Reports analyze changes over time in social behaviors and probe for differences and similarities between key sub-groups in the population.

The surveys are conducted by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

 (http://www.pewtrusts.org/ideas/ideas_item.cfm?content_item_id=3251&content_type_id=18&issue_name=Public%20opinion%20and%20polls&issue=11&page=18&name=Public%20Opinion%20Polls%20and%20Survey%20Results)

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February 15, 2006

GRANTS TO RELIGIOUS GROUPS FALL, STUDY SAYS
White House to Rebut Report in March

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer

Despite the Bush administration's rhetorical support for religious charities, the amount of direct federal grants to faith-based organizations declined from 2002 to 2004, according to a major new study released yesterday.

White House officials immediately disputed the findings. They said they will release their own figures next month showing an increase in federal funding for religious groups.

The dispute highlighted a lack of independent, widely accepted data about how many federal tax dollars are going to religious organizations, what they are doing with the money and whether they are more, or less, effective than other charities.

Some critics of the President's Faith-Based Initiative have long contended that the administration is shifting who gets money, but not increasing the total amount of federal funding available to shelter the homeless, counsel prisoners and provide other social services.

The study released yesterday "is confirmation of the suspicion I've had all along, that what the faith-based initiative is really all about is de-funding social programs and dumping responsibility for the poor on the charitable sector," said Kay Guinane, director of the nonprofit advocacy program at OMB Watch, a liberal watchdog group in Washington. "It sounds warm and fuzzy, but they've been cutting down the size of the pie all along."

The study by the nonpartisan Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy examined 28,000 grants made by nine federal agencies over three years. It found that religious charities got an unchanging share -- about 18 percent -- of the money awarded each year.

But because the total pie of available funding shrank by more than $230 million over the three years, the slice that went to religious groups also declined, from $670 million in fiscal 2002 to $626 million in fiscal 2004.

At the same time, the study found that the initiative has succeeded in encouraging more religious groups to apply for funding, and the number receiving grants rose almost 15 percent. "Less federal money is being divided into more grants," the study concluded.

In a telephone interview, the study's authors declined to discuss its political implications. Lisa M. Montiel and David J. Wright said the study focused only on direct federal grants, not monies distributed through block grants to states and municipalities, which are several times larger.

The authors also said they did not attempt to determine how much money went to religious organizations before President Bush took office in 2001. They looked only at grant programs that were in existence for all three years covered by the study, Montiel said, because they were trying to get a picture of the "trend line," not a static snapshot of the money given to religious charities in any one year.

H. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, accused the study of bias, saying it was "only the latest indication of the Roundtable's agenda in opposition to the president's faith-based initiative."

The study did not count grant-making programs that were created after 2002 and ignored such programs as Head Start, which he said was the second-largest source of federal funds for religious organizations, after the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 202 housing program for the elderly poor.

"They have picked rotten cherries and come up with a rotten pie," Towey said. "They took a very small sample of programs and grants and are drawing conclusions that are completely inaccurate."

Towey said the White House has been collecting growing amounts of data on grants each year, beginning with two federal agencies in 2002, five in 2003, seven in 2004 and 10 in 2005. When it issues its report for 2005 in March, he said, "we'll look at 25,000 grants in just one year" and "will show there's been an increase every year in the category of competitive, nonformula grants for social services."

Several independent researchers who were not involved in the study defended the Roundtable.

Candy S. Hill, senior vice president for social services at Catholic Charities USA, said the study's findings fit with her experience. "It doesn't surprise me, because overall the funding for most social service programs is shrinking," she said. "We're grateful there's a recognition by the administration of the wonderful work that faith-based groups do, but we continue to be concerned about the levels of funding."

Stanley Carlson-Thies, director of social policy studies at the Center for Public Justice, an evangelical Protestant think tank in Annapolis, said the study "gives the lie to alarmists" who think the administration is funneling vast sums to churches.

"Look at the huge percentage of money that continues to go to secular organizations," said Carlson-Thies, who formerly worked in the White House faith-based office. "The image that there's this Bush push that's going to turn the government into a religious apparatus -- if people think that that's what's happening, they're wrong."

(http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/about)

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021401903.html)

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February 21, 2006

VIETNAMESE AMERICANS BRING HEALTH CARE, HOPE TO RURAL VIETNAM
Volunteers travel to their homeland to provide medical and dental care

By Todd Bullock
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A tiny insect nearly derailed the educational aspirations of a 12-year-old girl in rural Vietnam.

It had become lodged in her ear and had caused an infection that resulted in hearing loss.  Dr. Clarissa Dudley, a physician from Virginia, discovered the errant bug and was able to work with local villagers to obtain an instrument close enough to an "ear curette" to enable her to remove the insect and prevent further deafness in the little girl.

It is difficult for children to study or play when they are hurting; it is harder still for sick children in rural Vietnam, where simple maladies can become disabling.

Recognizing the need for basic health care in Vietnam, Vietnamese Americans have volunteered to fill the gap.

Vietnamese Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) and Hope for Tomorrow (HOPE), two U.S. nonprofit organizations led by Vietnamese Americans, sent a team of 20 volunteers -- including seven dentists, two doctors and two public health workers -- to the central highlands region near Da Nang November 12-23, 2005, and provided medical care to rural Vietnamese children and public health training for communities. (See related article.)

Because of the caring efforts of these two organizations, the health and futures of 2,700 Vietnamese children, many of whom never had been to a dentist or a doctor, will be brighter.

VNAH is a Virginia-based nonprofit organization originally established to assist war amputees and other disabled people in Vietnam. Its president, Ca Van Tran, an entrepreneur who immigrated to the United States from Vietnam after the war, founded VNAH in 1991 to help disabled Vietnamese overcome their disabilities and lead richer, fuller lives.

VNAH works closely with the Vietnamese government and has received funding and support for its programs from several U.S. agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Labor.

HOPE, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization, has a core mission of providing medical relief efforts to needy communities throughout the world. Its president, Chau Nguyen, an entrepreneur who also emigrated from Vietnam, is particularly interested in helping improve the lives of under-served Vietnamese.

In an interview with the Washington File, Dudley said she "found it very rewarding to witness my Vietnamese-American friends return to their country and contribute to their homeland."

"They represent a new generation of Vietnamese Americans who, while raised in the United States, have a strong connection with their culture and strive to preserve their history," she continued.

DENTAL AND MEDICAL TREATMENT

According to Tran, the medical team visited five schools west of Da Nang, a coastal city with a population of almost 600,000, most of whom lack access to basic infrastructure such as electricity and running water.  The mission also provided basic dental and medical services to the Montagnards, an ethnic minority that lives in isolated villages located in Vietnam's central highlands.

"The mission team had two 'dental vans' which traveled to each school with the team bringing along all the necessary dental supplies," Nguyen, said adding each van had a chair set up for fillings enabling three dentists to work within each van at the same time.

According to Nguyen, about 75 percent of all kids screened had dental caries (small cavities).

"Many children with permanent teeth had severe cavities. Fillings were needed for the majority of children and extractions were mainly done for those for decayed and abscessed teeth," he said.

Many children also had overcrowding of teeth, which happens when the mouth does not grow fast enough to accommodate adult teeth due to poor nutrition, according to Nguyen.

The mission team also worked with parents and local health officials to establish fluoridation systems.

Along with dental screening, the medical team also performed medical checkups. Whenever a problem was identified, Tran said, the child underwent a more detailed examination.

"About 100 children were screened per day and some of the common problems encountered were malnutrition and parasitic infections," he said.

The team distributed milk for its nutritional value and anti-helminthic tablets to rid infected children of parasites and worms, Tran said.  The group also provided vitamin supplements to parents for their children.

In addition to the health and dental screenings, the medical team provided critical care for specialized cases.  For those patients who need more extensive care, according to Tran, VNAH will pay to transport the child and his parents to a city where the necessary care can be obtained.

PUBLIC HEALTH CAPACITY-BUILDING

"Experience from previous missions indicates that our target population tends to have a poor understanding of disease process and prevention," Tran said.

"Since health education is severely deficient in the rural areas, we integrated oral hygiene and cavity prevention programs into our dental care efforts," he said.

The public health team went to each classroom in the schools it visited and conducted training sessions on proper tooth-brushing techniques and showed the children how to use a salt substitute for toothpaste," Nguyen said.

The mission team covered other basic hygiene instruction such as hand washing.

"The teachers were also instructed to enable them to continue and reinforce these lessons to their students," Nguyen said.

According to a VNAH-HOPE mission report, the public health program was the most popular assistance during the trip because it engaged many schoolchildren, their parents and teachers in open discussions about proper oral health and personal hygiene.

"To exchange this knowledge with health care professionals and individuals in rural communities and glean from them information about how medical care is best delivered is a tremendous learning experience for both sides," Dudley said.

See also "Vietnamese Legislators Study U.S. Disabilities Legislation."

For more information on U.S. policy, see East Asia and the Pacific and Humanitarian Assistance and Refugees. 

For information on how U.S. foreign assistance is affecting lives, see Partnership for a Better Life.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

 (http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=February&x=20060221165356TJkcolluB2.994937e-02&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html)

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February 21, 2006

34th SENATE DISTRICT MAY SIGNAL TIGHTER RACES

CULTURALLY and politically, Orange County is a doughnut and Santa Ana is the hole - a concentration of Latinos and Democrats surrounded by Republican-voting whites and Asian Americans.

The concentration is big enough that when the Legislature redrew political maps five years ago in a bipartisan deal, it made Santa Ana as the heart of one Democratic congressional district, one state Senate district and one Democratic Assembly district while leaving the rest of the county firmly in Republican hands.

As drawn in 2001, the 34th Senate District was nearly 60percent Latino and had a Democratic registration advantage of 25,000 voters (nearly 10percentage points). The tilt came largely on a 30-point Democratic margin in Santa Ana, from a strong influx of Latinos in recent years.

With the 34thSD's purposeful Democratic configuration, Democrat Joe Dunn easily won re-election in 2002 but in the four years since, Republican Party leaders - with few other opportunities to gain legislative seats - have conducted a massive and expensive voter-registration drive that has erased the Democratic advantage.

The latest secretary of state registration numbers, dated Jan.3, have the Democratic edge down to 1.4points, thus making the 34thSD the single most competitive legislative district this year, and Republicans are claiming that since then they have eked out a 34thSD voter plurality.

Dunn is being forced out of the Legislature by term limits and probably will run for statewide office this year. His departure has touched off intense primary battles in both parties that will lead to a partisan showdown in November. And with few other legislative seats in which the outcome is in doubt, it's likely that both parties and myriad interest groups will spend millions of dollars, perhaps as much as $10million, on the two-part contest to elect Dunn's successor.

The primary duels are microcosms of the ideological divisions in both parties.

For the Republicans, that means a face-off between freshman Assemblyman Van Tran, the Legislature's first Vietnamese-American member and a favorite of party conservatives, and three-term Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher, a pro-abortion rights moderate.

For Democrats, it pits Assemblyman Tom Umberg against former Assemblyman Lou Correa, now a county supervisor and a moderate who draws business support. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata backs Correa, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez supports Umberg.

Both primary battles promise to be nasty with positions on gay marriage, abortion and other hot-button issues grist for campaign propaganda - and ethnic rivalries and the candidates' personal peccadilloes looming as unspoken but potent issues. And as parties, unions, business groups and other interest groups pour money into the district, it's a stark reminder of how much California's legislative elections have changed in recent years due to term limits and the bipartisan gerrymanding.

Although term limits force constant turnover of legislators - roughly a third of the Legislature every two years - gerrymandered districts mean that virtually all of the vacated seats are filled by winners of the primaries without partisan contests, depending on the designated party ownership of each district.

In the two election cycles since the gerrymander went into effect, there have been 200 legislative elections - 100 in 2002 and another 100 in 2004 - but voters have acted against the intentions of the political mapmakers in just five of those elections, involving three districts, for a success rate of 97.5percent.

Another 100 legislative seats are to be filled in 2006, 80 in the Assembly and 20 in the Senate, but with the gerrymander still in place (voters last year turned down Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's measure to draw new districts), only two or three are expected to be even marginally competitive. The 34th SD may be the only Senate district in serious play.

Thus, it is largely a matter of bragging rights. At best, Republicans could improve their standing in the 40-member Senate from 15 to 16, still five short of a majority with no hope of getting there at least until the next round of redistricting.

Dan Walters is a columnist for The Sacramento Bee.

(http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_3529590)

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February 21, 2006

LOUISIANA GOVERNOR UNVEILS RECONSTRUCTION PLANS

By Melinda Deslatte
The Associated Press

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Gov. Kathleen Blanco outlined a $7.5 billion rebuilding, relocation and buyout plan Monday for thousands of residents whose homes remain damaged or destroyed after last year's hurricanes.

It is Louisiana's first comprehensive housing proposal since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August, followed a month later by Hurricane Rita.

"In the not-too-distant future, I predict the sounds of hammers and saws will be ringing through all of our communities as our homes are rebuilt," Blanco said.

Assistance would be capped at a maximum of $150,000 per homeowner under the proposal. But direct relief is still months away, and homeowners receiving the aid could be taking on more debt to rebuild.

The draft faces scrutiny from local officials, state lawmakers and the affected residents; and it depends in large part on federal dollars awaiting congressional approval.

But the plan represents a significant step in using billions of already available federal recovery dollars.

About $4.2 billion of the money proposed for the program has been recommended by the White House but hasn't yet been approved by Congress. Any plans for spending the federal aid that Louisiana has received — and any additional housing money appropriated by Congress — would require approval from the Legislature and federal officials.

About 128,000 owner-occupied homes had major damage from the storms and 210,000 more received minor damage, according to Blanco's Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA).

The Blanco administration plan would provide money to repair or rebuild damaged homes and to relocate people who want to build elsewhere in Louisiana.

For those who don't want to relocate or rebuild in Louisiana, the plan would buy them out at 60 percent of the pre-storm home value.

The program would use a mix of direct grants and home loans, in some cases with no interest and no payments due until the homes are sold or transferred to new owners.

"The priority is to help people return to their way of life, to return to their homes and their communities," said Walter Leger, an LRA board member.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002818573_katrebuild21.html)

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February 22, 2006

WESTMINISTER MAY RENAME STREET FOR DO
The Westminster City Council tonight is expected to discuss a proposal to rename Moran Street in honor of Yen Do, the founding publisher of Nguoi Viet Daily News.

By Nguyen Huy Vu
The Orange County Register

WESTMINSTER – The family of the founder of the nation's longest-running Vietnamese-language newspaper is asking city officials to stop discussions about naming a street after the ailing icon.

The Westminster City Council tonight is expected to discuss a proposal to rename Moran Street in honor of Yen Do, the founding publisher of Nguoi Viet Daily News.

But the effort has backfired, creating a rift among some of Nguoi Viet's competitors that work along Moran Street and prompting debate about the pioneer's contribution to the community.

The idea of renaming the street began last year when some in the community felt it was time to honor a Vietnamese-American in the city. Do's daughter, Anh Do, a Register columnist, said the family researched the effort but decided to pass.

"It's a lovely gesture and it's nice to be considered ... but the City Council and our family have more pressing issues to deal with," said Do, a senior manager at Nguoi Viet. "My father is a very simple man and we don't seek attention.''

City Councilman Frank Fry, who put the proposal on the agenda, said the city will discuss the item as planned to settle the matter.

Yen Do founded Nguoi Viet in 1978 to inform the developing Vietnamese community about news in its homeland and how to navigate life in the United States.

The weekly newspaper Do peddled out of his garage has since grown into a daily institution in Little Saigon, home to the nation's largest concentration of Vietnamese-Americans.

Do retired last year because of diabetes and complications from kidney disease.

Fry said the initial request for the name change came from Jeffrey Brody, a Cal State Fullerton professor, Do biographer and former Register reporter.

Fry said he would likely vote against the change because local businesses would have to pay for new building signs and advertising.

"You're talking about a lot of money," he said.

Mayor Margie Rice, who also opposes the name change, said it could create confusion if city officials began naming streets after individuals.

"If you are going to honor somebody, you'll have to honor everybody," Rice said. "There are so many deserving people here, I couldn't begin to make a choice."

Councilmen Kermit Marsh and Andy Quach said they would like to hear from the community before making a decision.

"Yen Do is a great contributor to this community, but his competitors do business on the same street, which isn't fair," Quach said. "It's like putting a 'McDonald's Street' next to a Burger King."

The reaction Tuesday among business owners along Moran Street was mixed.

Hoang Nguyen, of Bien Tinh Music, said she thinks a name change would be appropriate because of Do's contributions.

"He's done so much to help the community," Nguyen said in Vietnamese. "A lot of people support him and so do I."

CONTACT US: (714) 445-6685 or vnguyen@ocregister.com

(http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/homepage/article_1010795.php)

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February 22, 2006

WHY RENEW VOTING RIGHTS ACT? ALA. TOWN PROVIDES ANSWER

By DeWayne Wickham

When Asian-American residents of Bayou La Batre, a small Alabama town that was made famous by Forrest Gump, went to the polls in August 2004, they might have had one of the film's most memorable lines on their mind. "Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get, " Gump, the title character in the Oscar-winning movie, said prophetically in the opening scene.

After being urged by several candidates to vote in the municipal election, many of the Southeast Asian-Americans in the town of about 3,000 had their ballots challenged. Nearly 50 of them were forced to fill out paper ballots and have another registered voter vouch for them.

Despite these hurdles, Phuong Tan Huynh — the first Asian-American to run for City Council there — defeated Jackie Ladnier in the October runoff, but only after the Justice Department intervened.

Tuesday, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a non-partisan group, released a 187-page report that argues the need for reauthorizing the sections of the Voting Rights Act that are set to expire next year. One of them empowered the Justice Department to send observers to monitor Bayou La Batre's runoff election.

Though the law "has accomplished much during its first 40 years, more remains to be done in order to protect the rights of racial and ethnic minorities to fully and equally participate in the electoral process," the report concludes.

Prime example

What happened in Bayou La Batre is proof of that. The voter challenges came from supporters of Ladnier, who is white. The challengers complained that the Asian-American voters were not citizens, had criminal records or didn't live in Bayou La Batre.

Ladnier told the Mobile Register he knew that some of the Asian-Americans had been in trouble with the law. "A lot of them we didn't know but had to make a judgment, say if someone came and met them outside and ... seemed to be guiding them through it," he told the newspaper. "Also, we figured if they couldn't speak good English, they possibly weren't American citizens."

That's just the kind of knee-jerk opposition the Voting Rights Act is supposed to guard against.

"We can confirm that there were race-based challenges to Vietnamese voters in the city's primary election," Justice Department spokesman Eric Holland told me. "We monitored the election and in concert with local officials prevented any race-based challenges" in the runoff. That's the sort of good news ending that drafters of the report, "Protecting Minority Voters: The Voting Rights Act at Work 1982-2005," want to safeguard.

Support, but concern

Both President Bush and the Republicans who control Congress support renewal of the Voting Rights Act. But that hasn't stanched the concerns of civil rights activists.

"The president has made a general statement of support for reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act ... (but) the devil is in the details," Theodore Shaw, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said during a January conference call with The Trotter Group, an organization of black columnists.

Likewise, Karen Narasaki, executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, told the group that she fears conservatives will weaken the law even as they renew it. "You can reauthorize something, but it does not necessarily mean that it is actually going to be effective and strong" when the process is completed, she said.

And that's what worries me. The renewable sections of the Voting Rights Act are the heart of this important law. They require "preclearance" of voting law changes; they permit the use of federal election monitors and language assistance for voters in jurisdictions that have a history of discriminatory treatment of minority voters.

It was these protections that paved the way for the election of Phuong Tan Huynh — and which need to be renewed intact.

DeWayne Wickham writes weekly for USA TODAY.

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-02-22-forum-voting-act_x.htm)

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