NCVA REPORTER - October 26, 2004

In this NCVA Reporter:

Events

• Bring Your ID: ELECTION DAY Tips – Nov 2, 2004
• 2005 Hands on Network Leadership Conference Call for Presentation – Nov 19, 2004
• Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network’s 2005 Silicon Valley Index – Jan 27, 2005

Funding Opportunities

• DisneyHand Minnie Grant
• Harris Wofford Awards
• Youth Leaders for Literacy
• YSA Youth Venture Funding
• Native Youth and Culture Funds
• U.S. Cellular Supports Company Communities
• Funds to Empower the Poor, Oppressed and Disadvantaged
• Program Honors Families Volunteering Together
• Support for Economic, Environmental and Social Justice

Jobs/Internships

• New Associate Director Position at the Asian Arts Initiative
• Operations Manager at Sweatshop Watch
• Program Officer, Health & Human Services, The Pew Charitable Trusts

Tips/Resources

• Budget Cuts, Federal Rules Threaten Addiction Funding

News

• New Southeast Asian American Directory and Search Engine Link Resources for Community Development (SEARAC Press Release)
• Vietnamese Americans hesitant about Kerry (Associated Press)
• Vietnamese Show Clout in Funding (Los Angeles Times)
• Vietnam: Attack on Mennonites Highlights Religious Persecution (Human Rights Watch)
• Local coalition formed to fight human trafficking (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Vietnamese language program closes (Associated Press)
• 'Uncle' Ben's face-saving fib satisfies Vietnamese tradition and seals a storybook romance (San José Mercury News)
• Fear of Dying Motivates Voters (Congressional Daily)

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EVENTS

BRING YOUR ID: ELECTION DAY TIPS

Remember to bring your identification when you vote and tell your friends to do the same.

Because of a new law, you'll probably need an ID if you are a recently registered voter, or if you have changed your address.  A few states will require ID from all voters.  To be on the safe side, we suggest that everyone bring an ID.

What ID should you bring? A driver's license or another government issued ID with your current address is the best form of ID in most states.  If you don't have a government ID with a current address, call 1-866-OUR VOTE to find out what ID will be accepted in your state. Try to call before Election Day because the hotline will be in high demand on November 2. (You can leave a message if it is after hours and they'll get back with you.) The hotline can also tell you how to vote early (before Election Day), which is a great option to avoid any problems on November 2.

Even if you don't have an ID, go to the polls to vote anyway -- you can still cast a provisional ballot without an ID.

For more information and answers to frequently asked questions, visit:

http://www.bringyourid.org.

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2005 HANDS ON NETWORK LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

Friday, November 19th is the deadline for the Call for Presentations Hands On Network Leadership Conference in Portland, Oregon, March 3-5, 2005. The theme for the 2005 Leadership Conference, "Unleash the Power: Volunteer Action Shaping Social Change," reflects the commitment to the power of volunteer service and the power of individuals to create change. As Hands On Network strives to find solutions to engage volunteers in experiences that will be meaningful for them and their communities, the conference will provide opportunities for sharing the most successful practices in the field, new thinking and robust synergy. Presentations focusing on the skills and knowledge leaders in the volunteer mobilization sector need to succeed in strengthening their organizations, programs, and the communities they serve. Additional information is posted on the selection process and criteria for choosing Proposals at http://www.handsonnetwork.org/national/shares/2005_CFP.pdf.

For more information, contact: Delores Druilhet Morton, 404.979.2916, dmorton@handsonnetwork.org

(www.HandsOnNetwork.org).

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JOINT VENTURE: SILICON VALLEY NETWORK – 2005 SILICON VALLEY INDEX

Dear Friends:

I'm writing to provide early notice that our annual breakfast-featuring the 2005 Silicon Valley Index - will take place JANUARY 27th, 2005, from 8:00 to 10:30 am. We'll be holding it at the HP PAVILION in San Jose, and we hope you'll make firm plans to join us.

Renowned technology forecaster Paul Saffo (Institute For The Future) will be kicking off the program this year. He will be followed by a distinguished panel of CEOs, elected officials, and others who will comment on the 2005 Index and discuss the region's long-term priorities.

But more than merely data and informed commentary, this year's event is also going to feature some lively extras: interesting activities on the concourses, including contests and exhibits featuring the young innovators of Silicon Valley; jazz and entertainment from some local high school bands; audience surveys; fabulous door prizes; and we'll be breakfasting on the very floor where the San Jose Sharks perform their hockey heroics.

More detailed information-about the program, registration, sponsorship opportunities and all the rest-will follow in the weeks ahead.

Sincerely,
Russell Hancock
President and CEO

ABOUT JOINT VENTURE'S SILICON VALLEY INDEX
The Index is a nationally recognized source of information which, for more than a decade, has told the Silicon Valley story.  The indicators measure the strength of our economy and the health of our community, and ultimately inform all of the work we undertake at Joint Venture. You can learn more about it, and read the 2004 Index by following this link:  http://www.jointventure.org/2004index/2004index.pdf.

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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

http://www.ysa.org/awards/award_grant.cfm

DISNEYHAND MINNIE GRANT

Grants of $500 each are available to engage young people between the ages of 5 and 14 to plan and carry out service projects for National and Global Youth Service Day 2005 that respond to community needs.  We encourage and welcome projects where children and youth work with adults (parents, coaches, teachers, youth leaders, etc.).  By working with their family, school, friends, and neighbors, youth can solve community issues.

DEADLINE:   Monday, December 20, 2004

(www.ysa.org/awards/nysd_doc/Disney_application_NYSD_2005.doc)

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HARRIS WOFFORD AWARDS

The Harris Wofford Awards carry significant prestige as they recognize one of our nation’s greatest public servants.  Established in April 2002, the Harris Wofford Awards recognize extraordinary achievements of an Individual, Institution, and Media organization or member that actively contributes to “Making service and service-learning the common expectation and common experience of every young person in America”.

DEADLINE:   Monday, November 22, 2004

(www.ysa.org/awards/HARRIS_WOFFORD_AWARD2003.DOC)

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YOUTH LEADERS FOR LITERACY

Youth Leaders for Literacy, a joint program of the National Education Association and Youth Service America encourages, celebrates and honors youth-led reading-related service projects. Twenty $500 grants will be awarded to applicants who are conducting literacy, service projects during a seven-week period starting in early March (Read Across America Day) and culminating on April 15-17 (National Youth Service Day).

DEADLINE EXTENED: Friday, November 26, 2004

(http://www.nea.org/readacross/)

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YSA YOUTH VENTURE FUNDING

Get up to $1,000 in start-up funds for sustainable NYSD projects by becoming a YSA Youth Venturer. Youth Service America and Youth Venture are teaming up again to make every day National Youth Service Day! In conjunction with NYSD, April 15th-17th, we’re offering funding to enable young people to engage in community service and make a difference in their world. Ten awards of up to $1,000 in start-up funds will be available to young people (ages 12-20) who want to create sustainable new, civic-minded organizations, clubs or businesses (“Ventures”). These Ventures must be youth-led and designed to be a lasting asset to the community. YSA Youth Venturers are required to host a NYSD event.

Youth Venture is a movement of young people who are changing their communities through youth social entrepreneurship. Youth Venture is based on a belief in the ability of young people to see societal problems, conceive of sustainable new ventures to address them, and lead their implementation. Our mission is to help every young person nationwide find the courage and knowledge to make a difference with his or her life, and to change the way in which society views young people by proving that when given the opportunity, young people have the creativity, resourcefulness, and competency to bring about powerful change in their communities.

Applications are available at www.youthventure.org. Applications must be received by 12:00 noon on November 22, 2004.

(www.youthventure.org)

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NOVEMBER 15 DEADLINE FOR NATIVE YOUTH AND CULTURE FUNDS
First Nations Development Institute: Native Youth and Culture Fund

The goal of First Nations' Native Youth and Culture Fund is to partner with and support tribes and Native nonprofit organizations seeking ways to preserve, strengthen, or renew Native culture and tradition among Native youth. The Fund supports projects focused on youth that incorporate culture and tradition to address social issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, and mental health. The Fund's four priorities are preserving, strengthening or renewing cultural and spiritual practices, beliefs and values; engaging youth and elders in documenting traditional knowledge and beliefs; increasing youth leadership through educational or mentoring programs; and increasing access to and sharing of cultural customs and beliefs through the use of appropriate technologies, as a means of preserving tribal language, arts, history, or other culturally relevant topics. Tribes, Native nonprofit organizations and Native community groups throughout the U.S. are eligible to apply. The application deadline is November 15, 2004.

Visit the website listed above, or email Jackie Tiller at jtiller@firstnations.org for more information.

(http://www.firstnations.org/gNativeYouth.asp)

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U.S. CELLULAR SUPPORTS COMPANY COMMUNITIES
U.S. Cellular: Connecting With Our Communities Program

The U.S. Cellular Connecting With Our Communities Program provides monetary donations and free wireless phones and service to nonprofit organizations that improve the quality of life in communities where the company has a solid business presence. The company focuses its support on projects in the areas of civic and community; education; health and human service; the environment; and arts and culture. Nonprofit organizations located in eligible cities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin may apply.

Applications are accepted throughout the year. Visit the above website for more information, including a list of eligible cities.

(http://www.uscc.com/uscellular/SilverStream/Pages/a_charitable.html#target)

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FUNDS TO EMPOWER THE POOR, OPPRESSED, AND DISADVANTAGED
Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People

The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) focuses its efforts on the empowerment of economically poor, oppressed, and disadvantaged people seeking to change the structures that perpetuate poverty, oppression, and injustice. SDOP supports local groups in the United States or other countries who are oppressed by poverty and social systems, want to take charge of their own lives, have organized or are organizing to do something about their own conditions, and have decided that what they are going to do will produce long-term changes in their lives or communities. Supported projects must be presented, owned and controlled by the groups of people who will directly benefit from them and must address long-term correction of conditions that keep people bound by poverty and oppression. Applications are accepted throughout the year. Visit the website listed above for more information.

(http://www.pcusa.org/sdop/)

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PROGRAM HONORS FAMILIES VOLUNTEERING TOGETHER
FamilyFun Volunteers Program

The FamilyFun Volunteers Program, offered by FamilyFun in partnership with DisneyHand, recognizes U.S. families that volunteer together to benefit others or improve the community or world. The program provides grants and prizes to families that have performed a volunteer community work project as a team. Twenty-five First Prize families will win a gift package of FamilyFun books and kits and $1,000 will be donated to the families' charities of choice. For the five Grand Prize winners, the family will win a deluxe gift package of FamilyFun books and kits and $5,000 will be donated to the families' charities of choice. Families throughout the U.S. that consist of not less than two persons, at least one of whom is less than 18 and one 18 or older, are eligible to apply. The application deadline is January 3, 2005. Visit the above website for more information.

(http://familyfun.com/volunteers)

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SUPPORT FOR ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Norman Foundation
The Norman Foundation supports efforts that strengthen the ability of communities to determine their own economic, environmental and social well-being, and that help people control those forces that affect their lives. Support is provided for efforts to promote economic justice and development through community organizing; to prevent the disposal of toxics in communities, and to link environmental issues with economic and social justice; and to promote civil rights by fighting discrimination and violence and working for equity. Current civil rights priorities are education equity and criminal justice reform. Letters of inquiry are due December 1, 2004 in the area of environmental justice, March 15, 2005 in the area of economic justice, and July 15, 2005 in the area of civil rights. Nonprofit organizations throughout the Unites States are eligible to apply. Visit the above website for more information.

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

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JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR POSITION AT THE ASIAN ARTS INITIATIVE

First application deadline: November 15, 2004

Do you believe that the arts can provide an important political and cultural voice for the Asian American Community in Philadelphia?  Do you have expertise and passion for working in a non-profit environment?  Are you looking for a position to use your leadership and management experience to guide an emerging community organization into the next phase of institutional growth?  If you answered yes to these questions and you have the following skills, then you should apply for this very exciting, newly created position of Associate Director of the Asian Arts Initiative.

Core Responsibilities
The Associate Director will report to the Executive Director and serve as a senior-level staff member.  Together with the ED, the Associate Director will participate in setting strategic direction and priorities for this growing community arts organization.  S/he is responsible for ensuring operational systems and the day-to-day internal operations of the organization, in areas including staff communication, human resources, office and facilities management, budgeting and financial management, planning and evaluation. S/he will also work with the ED to recruit and train a Development Director to oversee fund development and grants management responsibilities. The anticipated start date for this position is January 2005.

Qualities We're Looking For in An Associate Director
* A commitment to advancing the voice of Asian Americans in Philadelphia. A strong belief in the arts as a method of community building and community change.
* Demonstrated experience in staff supervision and providing human resources support
* Proven project management experience. Ability to prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities and tasks. Excellent attention to detail.
* Creative problem-solving on organizational development and management issues.
* Personal flexibility and the ability to work with diverse personalities and evolving organizational needs.
* An extraordinary ability to work as a team member and to facilitate group process and positive group dynamics
* Demonstrated experience in non-profit finance and/or fund development.
* Strong written and verbal communication skills. Facility with computer systems and software including: Microsoft Office Suite, Quickbooks, FileMaker Pro.
*  Ability to make a long-term commitment to the position.

Required Professional Background
* A minimum of 5 years experience in organizational management in a non-profit cultural organization or related work environment.

Salary
* Commensurate with experience and competitive in the Philadelphia cultural community.

To Apply
Please send a resume, cover letter with salary requirements, and list of references no later than, November 15, 2004 to:

Ms. Gayle Isa, Executive Director
Asian Arts Initiative
1315 Cherry Street, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107

If you would like more learn more about the Asian Arts Iniatiative, please visit our website at www.asianartsinitiative.org

*       *       *
The Asian Arts Initiative is grounded in the belief that the arts can provide an important political and cultural voice for the Asian American community in Philadelphia. We serve as a community arts center where artists and everyday people are developing means to express our diverse experiences as Asian Americans.

Asian Arts Initiative
1315 Cherry Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215)557-0455 or info@asianartsinitiative.org

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Sweatshop Watch

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT OPERATIONS MANAGER
(Full-time Position in Los Angeles)

Sweatshop Watch, a unionized workplace, is a coalition of labor and community organizations committed to eliminating the exploitation that occurs in sweatshops.  Sweatshop Watch serves low-wage workers nationally and globally, with a focus on garment workers in California.  We believe that workers should earn a living wage in a safe, decent work environment, and that those responsible for the exploitation of sweatshop workers must be held accountable.  Our programs tackle the root causes of sweatshops through worker education and organizing, policy advocacy, public education and action, coalition building, and research.

Position Summary
The Operations Manager is responsible for financial management and administration. This is a key position which ensures legal compliance and smooth functioning of organizational finances, operations, and personnel matters.

Responsibilities
Financial management
* Maintain accounting systems, policies and procedures.
* Perform financial accounting activities including bank deposits, payments to vendors, and reconciliations.
* Provide regular financial forecasts and budget reports to Executive Director.
* Prepare financial reports for grants and funders.
* Work closely with Executive Director to produce yearly organizational budget and monitor results against budget.
* Prepare schedules for annual external audit, and coordinate audit process.
* Manage vendor, banking & investment relationships.

Administration
* Assist Executive Director in overseeing legal compliance of organizational finances, operations, and personnel matters.
* Maintain insurance policies, including general liability, and director’s and officer’s.
* Coordinate payroll.
* Administer benefits, including health, retirement and other benefits provided by the union contract and personnel policies.
* Maintain corporate records.

Office management
* Maintain inventory of supplies and educational materials.
* Coordinate maintenance of office equipment.
* Maintain filing systems and archives.
* Coordinate mailings, including regular newsletter and membership mailings.
* Coordinate production of printed materials.
* Maintain membership database.
* Supervise office volunteers and interns.

Fundraising
* Assist Executive Director with fundraising, including preparation of proposals and reports, and follow up to membership solicitation drives.
* Coordinate grassroots fundraising events with board members and donors, such as house parties.

Qualifications:
Required:
* Self-starter with ability to act independently and thoughtfully when presented with work goals and projects.
* Minimum 5 years experience in nonprofit accounting, or 3 years experience and a degree in accounting.
* Proven ability to manage all financial activities of an organization; demonstrated experience in preparing and presenting financial statements and reports.
* Working knowledge of nonprofit administration, including legal compliance issues, insurance issues, and personnel matters.
* Superb administrative skills, including ability to organize and balance workload under deadlines and multiple commitments.
* Highly organized, pays attention to detail.
* Mastery of QuickBooks or other relevant accounting software.
* Strong computer skills, particularly MS Excel, MS Word and databases.
* Experience in nonprofit fundraising, including raising funds from foundations, individual donors and/or special events.
* Commitment to social justice issues.

Preferred:
*·Bilingual in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and/or a Southeast Asian language

Compensation:
Salary negotiable. Medical, dental & vision benefits, paid vacation and sick time, paid holidays, pension plan.

Application deadline:
November 3, 2004

To apply:  Please send cover letter, resume, and salary requirements/salary history to:

Nikki Fortunato Bas, Executive Director
Sweatshop Watch
310 Eighth Street, Suite 303
Oakland CA 94607
Facsimile: (510) 834-8974

For more information, please visit www.sweatshopwatch.org.

SWEATSHOP WATCH IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER, AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF RACE, RELIGION, COLOR, SEX, DISABILITY OR SEXUAL ORIENTATION. ALL PERSONS ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.

Sweatshop Watch is a union shop, represented by the INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL ENGINEERS

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PROGRAM OFFICER, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS

The Pew Charitable Trusts serves the public interest by providing information, policy solutions and support for civic life. Based in Philadelphia, with an office in Washington, D.C., the Trusts makes investments to provide organizations and citizens with fact-based research and practical solutions for challenging issues. With approximately $4.1 billion in dedicated assets, in 2003 the Trusts committed more than $143 million to 151 nonprofit organizations. The program officer position is expected to conceptualize, develop and manage Trusts-supported health and human services policy initiatives.  The ideal candidate would have substantive work experience in the public policy arena and demonstrated knowledge of key issues, organizations and individuals in the health and human services field.  To be successful in this position, the individual would bring together a wide array of ideas and appropriate networks of talented experts who can help shape program design and implementation.

(www.pewtrusts.org/about/jobs)

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TIPS/RESOURCES

October 15, 2004

BUDGET CUTS, FEDERAL RULES THREATEN ADDICTION FUNDING

Special Report
By Bob Curley

Budget cuts and federal funding rules have put a number of states in jeopardy of being penalized millions of dollars from their all-important federal block grant allocations -- a double-whammy that state officials say could seriously impair their ability to provide addiction services.

Under the rules governing the $2-billion federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPT), states are penalized if they fail to keep addiction spending levels within three percent of what they have spent, on average, during the previous two fiscal years. For each dollar the state falls short of the block grant's Maintenance of Effort (MOE) target, they risk losing a dollar of federal funding.

The Massachusetts state budget for FY2003, for example, fell $9.1 million short of what the state spent over the previous two years, meaning the state also could lose an additional $9.1 million in SAPT block-grant funds. Texas faces a possible $10-million penalty for FY2003 because of a budget recission ordered by the state legislature. California officials, meanwhile, worry that they will face MOE problems of their own if the state legislature does not support renewal of the $120 million in treatment spending authorized by voters under Proposition 36.

Designed to Protect

The MOE requirement was put into place to prevent states from substituting federal money for state funds spent on addiction services. Since all states receive a share of block grant funds, any money withheld from those who fail to meet their MOE requirements would be redistributed to the other states.

During the past two years, at least four states -- Massachusetts, Iowa, Texas, and South Carolina -- have formally requested waivers of the block-grant penalties from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Waivers can only be granted if the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services determines that the state has suffered "extraordinary economic conditions," defined as a financial crisis in which state tax revenues decline significantly and either unemployment rises or employment drops.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by Join Together seeking all waiver requests submitted by states within the past five years, SAMHSA provided documentation of waiver requests submitted by South Carolina in September 2002 seeking relief for the FY2002 block grant; by Massachusetts in December 2002, also seeking a waiver for FY02; and by Iowa in November 2003, seeking a waiver for FY2003.

Subsequently, Join Together learned that the state of Texas also had submitted a waiver request to SAMHSA for FY03, and that Massachusetts is seeking a second waiver, for FY03, as well. Other federal documents obtained by Join Together indicate that as many as eight states have had their budgets cut to the point where their federal block-grant dollars are in jeopardy.

Mark Weber, a spokesperson for SAMHSA, said the number of waiver applications received by the agency "waxes and wanes" from year to year, but said there "hasn't been a huge spike" in waiver requests since 2001. Weber described "a handful" of states that have had MOE difficulties, but SAMHSA would not provide Join Together with the exact number of states that the agency has been communicating with regarding budgetary and MOE issues.

"It certainly has been an issue in a number of states," said Paul Samuels, director of the Legal Action Center, which provides legal services and other support to groups like the State Associations of Addiction Services, whose members rely on the block grant as a primary funding source. "There have been a number of states that have contemplated or implemented cuts to addiction services, and in those cases MOE becomes a big issue."

Mixed Response

SAMHSA's response to the waiver requests has been mixed: in April 2003, waivers were granted to South Carolina for an MOE shortfall of $1.76 million and to Massachusetts for a $4.63 million shortfall, and Iowa was granted a waiver for a $380,000 shortfall in January, 2004.

In its FY02 request, Massachusetts successfully argued that the shortfall was due to "reduced revenue during this mild recession as well as aftereffects following the events of Sept. 11, 2001," and said that addiction services had not been singled out during wide-ranging budget cuts. Similar arguments were made by South Carolina and Iowa, and each state was able to demonstrate the employment and tax-revenue declines required to qualify for a waiver.

However, SAMHSA denied the $10-million waiver request submitted by Texas for FY03, and also has balked at a second waiver request from Massachusetts, which is seeking a $9.1-million block-grant waiver for FY03.

"We have every intention of enforcing the law as it is written, while working with states that have raised issues [with MOE] on an individual basis," SAMHSA spokesperson Mark Weber told Join Together. "Our number-one goal is getting services to people in need, but there's a law is in place that we need to adhere to."

Concept vs. Reality

In less-lean budgetary times, the MOE has often been a useful policy tool for advocates and state agency directors, who could argue against funding cuts by telling lawmakers that deep cuts would trigger the federal penalties. Indeed, in the midst of its current budget crisis, Massachusetts advocates were able to use the MOE as leverage to win a $11.9-million special supplemental budget appropriation for addiction services. However, while this funding should prevent Massachusetts from having MOE issues in FY04, it doesn't directly impact the state's FY03 waiver request.

"My experience over the past 20 years is that states can manage to put the money into addiction programs, especially with MOE hanging over their heads," said the Legal Action Center's Samuels. "Without MOE, you really would risk losing money in a lot of states."

John Carnevale, president of Carnevale & Associates and a former staffer with the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the MOE concept works as long as state budgets remain level or increase. "It says to states, 'We're going to give you this money and make sure that you keep up your end,' which makes perfect sense," he said. "But when you have a downturn, all bets are off."

Critics say the MOE rules have proven inflexible in the face of sharp and broad cuts in state spending because they only cause more pain if states legitimately cannot come up with the money to meet the MOE requirement in a given year. Also, when spending cuts occur across the board, other constituencies and programs with their own MOE requirements are affected, making it a less-powerful tool for persuading lawmakers to back addiction services over others.

The block-grant MOE's two-year averaging rule also may have had the unintended effect of punishing states that, prior to the recent budget crises, had been increasing their spending for addiction services.

"It creates a disincentive for states to spend over their MOE target levels, because they get penalized for a short-term economic downturn," said Michael Botticelli, assistant commissioner for substance-abuse services in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Ann Horn, deputy director of the department of administration in the California Department of Health Services, agreed. "Legislators and administrators have been unwilling to put extra money into substance abuse because of the MOE requirement, not only in California but in other states, as well," she said.

The 'MOE Bank'

Botticelli said members of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) have proposed to address the problem by allowing states to establish an "MOE bank" that would give states credit for spending above their MOE targets. "Every dollar over the target amount would go into the savings account, so that when states can't maintain their spending they can 'draw upon' their account before they incur penalties," said Botticelli.

In appealing Massachusetts' FY03 waiver denial, Botticelli is asking SAMHSA to take into account the state's' strong record of funding addiction services during the past decade. Dave Wanser, deputy commissioner for behavioral and community health in the Texas Department of State Health Services, also is asking SAMHSA to reconsider its denial of his waiver request, arguing that the budget cuts have not significantly impacted the number of people getting addiction services, and requesting that a five-percent funding match required of Texas providers be included in the MOE calculation.

"I've always hated the MOE issue," said Janet Zwick, director of the Iowa Division of Health Promotion, Prevention, and Addictive Behaviors in the state Department of Public Health. "I think we have numerous states with budget cuts, and I can't believe we won't have many with MOE issues. I would like to see SAMHSA work with the states to make sure they don't lose money."

Botticelli and other state directors describe SAMHSA officials as generally willing to work with states to resolve the MOE crisis. "They don't want to see states lose money," said Botticelli.

Weber said SAMHSA is "open to all reasonable options," adding, "We're optimistic that we'll be able to work things out with the states. That's why we have this appeals process in place."

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NEWS

October 20, 2004

PRESS RELEASE:

CONTACTS:
Sophy Pich, sophy@searac.org
Max Niedzwiecki, searac@searac.org
(202) 667-4690

NEW SOUTHEAST ASIAN AMERICAN DIRECTORY AND SEARCH ENGINE LINK RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Washington, DC: Americans with roots in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam number over two million nationwide, and maintain hundreds of grassroots organizations for the betterment of their communities.  One hundred and eighty groups are presented in a new publication and search engine: Directory of Southeast Asian American Community-Based Organizations 2004: Mutual Assistance Associations (MAAs) and Religious Organizations Providing Social Services.

The Directory is available in printed and on-line formats at http://www.searac.org/maa, and should be of use to public agencies, decision-makers, funders, and others interested in working with Southeast Asian Americans, some of whose communities continue to face strong economic and educational challenges.  The on-line search engine allows users to select by program area, state, and ethnic representation, and will be updated periodically with new entries.

The introduction to the Directory reveals, for the first time, the financial character of the sector composed of grant-eligible Southeast Asian American organization.  Annual budgets of organizations in the survey total well over $75 million.  Most organizations have budgets of $300,000 or less, and operate programs on a voluntary basis.  Most organizations that focus programming on youth, elderly, and interpretation and translation services report they have no specific funding for those programs.

California includes the largest number of surveyed organizations, and the largest number of Southeast Asian Americans.  Minnesota and Wisconsin have the second and third highest numbers of surveyed groups.  Texas, with the second-largest population of community members, is found to have few grant-eligible community organizations.  In all, the Directory includes listings in thirty-two states.

The Directory and search engine have been produced by the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) with support from the Ford Foundation and other supporters.  Now celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, SEARAC is a national organization managed primarily by and for Southeast Asian Americans, and focuses on organizational capacity building, advocacy, and action-oriented research.

(www.searac.org/maa)

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October 21, 2004

VIETNAMESE AMERICANS HESITANT ABOUT KERRY
Some resent Democratic candidate for protesting war

By Terence Chea, Associated Press Writer

WESTMINSTER, Calif. - Here in the teeming markets and cafes of Little Saigon, the shifting political loyalties of Vietnamese American voters are evident when conversation turns to November's presidential election.

Westminister and neighboring Garden Grove, which make up the nation's largest Vietnamese community, have long been Republican strongholds, but generational changes and misgivings over President Bush's policies have weakened GOP support among Vietnamese Americans.

Still, despite concerns about Bush, the Iraq war and a lackluster economy, few are rushing to embrace his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, who has made his Vietnam War military service a centerpiece of his presidential bid.

Most Vietnamese Americans respect that Kerry, unlike Bush, risked his life and fought the Communists as a swift boat captain on the Mekong Delta. It's what Kerry did when he returned from the battlefield that angers them.

Many here resent the Massachusetts senator for protesting the Vietnam War as a young veteran, engaging with Vietnam's Communist leaders and not taking a tougher stance on human rights and democracy in their homeland.

Bush also supported engagement with Vietnam, but Kerry gained notoriety in the Vietnamese community as the senator who worked to normalize U.S.-Vietnam relations and blocked legislation that would have tied U.S. aid to improvements in Vietnam's human rights record.

That has provided plenty of ammunition for Vietnamese Republicans to blast the Democratic presidential hopeful, and made it difficult even for Democratic activists to vote for Kerry, let alone stump for him.

"It's a very sensitive issue for anyone who's a registered Democrat," said Xuan Vu, 31, a community activist and Democrat in Orange County. "People feel very hesitant about Kerry. If they vote for Kerry, it's really about how much they dislike Bush."

Russ Lopez, California spokesman for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, declined to comment.

Loyalities shifting with new generations
In the decades since the Communists prevailed in Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, many with links to the South Vietnamese government and army, have immigrated to the United States. More than 1 million now live in the United States, with growing communities in San Jose, Houston, Northern Virginia. Orange County has the most people of Vietnamese descent — 130,000 according to the 2002 census.

Their story is similar to that of Cuban Americans, another traditionally Republican voting bloc whose loyalties are shifting along with a new generation of voters. But Cubans have much more influence, since they're concentrated in the swing state of Florida. Vietnamese are more scattered, with their largest communities in solidly Democratic California.

In Little Saigon, the broad boulevards are lined with shopping centers packed with restaurants, banks, realtors, doctors, travel agents and supermarkets catering to Vietnamese patrons. Reflecting their growing political clout, the streets are plastered with campaign signs for Vietnamese candidates running for the school board, city council, and mayor's office. This year, there's also a state assembly candidate, Van Tran, who would be the nation's highest-ranking Vietnamese-American if elected to the California Legislature.

Opposition to Vietnam's Communists remains fierce here, at least among the most politically vocal. Earlier this year, the city councils of Westminster and Garden Grove passed resolutions to ban Communists from visiting their communities. Five years ago, some 15,000 people demonstrated for nearly two months when a video store owner displayed a Vietnamese flag and a portrait of communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

Younger generations more liberal
As voters, Vietnamese Americans have traditionally backed the GOP because of the Republican Party's strong stance against Communism. But that's changing. Between 1992 and 2002, the share of Vietnamese registered Republicans in Orange County fell from about 60 percent to about one-third, as more voters identified themselves as independents and Democrats, according to Christian Collet, a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine.

"The segment of the community that participates remains in vigorous opposition to the government of Vietnam," Collet said. "What you have seen in recent years, however, is a greater willingness of younger Vietnamese Americans to speak out and oppose this view."

Vietnamese who grew up in the United States tend to be more socially liberal and less Republican than their parents. They worry more about education, jobs and the economy than about communism and U.S.-Vietnam relations.

"The party of Bush is bringing America down. We need to change to the Democrats," said Dang Tran, 37, a truck driver who lives in Lawndale. "We don't need to talk about the Vietnam war anymore. That was a long time ago."

But growing support for the Democrats doesn't necessarily translate into votes for John Kerry.

Many older immigrants remember him as the angry young veteran who railed against the Vietnam War and tossed his medals at an anti-war rally in the nation's capital.

"He's a communist sympathizer like Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden," said Ky Ngo, 51, a longtime Republican activist in Orange County. "We lost the country because of him. He helped the Communists when he spoke very badly about the war. He slandered our soldiers."

Mixed feelings
Kerry is also remembered as the Senate subcommittee chairman who blocked the Vietnam Human Rights Act after it passed 410-1 in the House two years ago. Fellow veteran John McCain, R-Arizona, and many foreign policy experts agreed with Kerry, who argued that engaging Vietnam was the best way to promote human rights, and passing the legislation would only boost the country's hard-liners.

Nevertheless, the Vietnamese-language media accused Kerry of coddling Vietnam's communist leaders.

"When he opposed the Vietnam Human Rights Act, it was like stabbing a knife in the chest," said Duc Nguyen, 32, a community activist and registered Democrat in Fountain Valley. "I hope that he reconsiders the wishes of Vietnamese voters."

Some older veterans of the South Vietnamese army have become disillusioned with President Bush, but still can't bring themselves to vote for Kerry.

Ngoc Tran, 58, of Westminster, is a former air force officer, isn't sure he'll vote for either candidate.

"I respect all U.S. soldiers who fought in Vietnam, but when (Kerry) returned, he told a lot of lies," Ngoc said, discussing politics with fellow veterans over iced French coffee and jasmine tea.

Elsewhere in the country, Vietnamese Americans also have mixed feelings about Kerry.

Hung Nguyen, 32, of Fairfax, Va., disagrees with Kerry's stance on Vietnam, but argues that since both candidates support engagement with the Communists, other issues are more important. Still, he's cautious.

"I don't want to damage my reputation with the community by completely supporting Kerry," said Nguyen, a Democratic activist in the Washington, D.C. area. "It's an uphill battle for us to convince the rest of the community."

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6299042/)

(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/9973781.htm)

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October 22, 2004

ORANGE COUNTY ELECTIONS
VIETNAMESE SHOW CLOUT IN FUNDING

By Jean O. Pasco, Times Staff Writer

The growing political and economic muscle of the nation's Vietnamese community is on display in two Orange County elections, in which a pair of candidates — including one who is expected to become California's first Vietnamese American state legislator — has attracted nearly $1 million in contributions.

Most of that money has gone to Van Tran, a Garden Grove councilman running as a Republican for a seat in the Assembly. Tran has gathered about $800,000 both from traditional GOP donors and from Vietnamese Americans locally and across the country. About a third of his cash came from outside Southern California, including money from fundraisers in Philadelphia, Dallas, Washington state and Virginia.

Andy Quach, a Westminster councilman who is running for mayor, also has raised a substantial amount of money — about a quarter of the $177,000 he has taken in so far — outside the area. Vietnamese American donors in San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco have contributed.

The money is testament not only to the perceived electability of the candidates but also to the economic and political vitality of the ethnic group from which it was raised, political experts said. Following a well-established pattern for immigrants, Vietnamese Americans have grown increasingly active in politics.

"These are candidates who have made it economically, and that moves them toward political participation," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior scholar at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at USC. Their donors "are people who want to see these candidates succeed. It's not quite like buying access. It's gaining visibility and credibility in the political system."

Thanks to a Republican voter majority in his district, Tran, an attorney, is expected to become the first Vietnamese American in the state Legislature. His Democratic opponent is businessman Al Snook, a perennial candidate who has raised $2,650.

In Westminster, the election of Quach, a business consultant, is less sure; he is facing incumbent Mayor Margie L. Rice and Ha Mach, a real estate broker. Rice has raised about $40,000 and Mach has raised less than $5,000.

About one-third of the money Quach raised through Sept. 30 came from Westminster and Garden Grove, cities that are home to Little Saigon, a business and residential district that has the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside Vietnam. The area has about 135,500 of the roughly 450,000 Vietnamese who resettled in California after the fall of Saigon in 1975, and about 1.1 million such emigres nationwide.

Eight candidates with Vietnamese surnames are on the ballot in Westminster and Garden Grove, where ethnic Vietnamese constitute 31% and 21% of residents, respectively. That's double the number who ran in 2000.

In Santa Clara County, home to the nation's second-largest concentration of Vietnamese Americans, there are five such candidates on the ballot.

While the numbers may not be significant — by comparison, there are 42 Latino-surnamed candidates on the Orange County ballot — what is significant is that several "have serious credentials, are raising serious money, mobilizing a serious bloc of voters and carrying a serious chance to win," said Christian Collet, a researcher with UC Irvine's political science department.

A victory for Tran would be "a high-water mark for a community that has been more famous for casting aspersions than it has for casting ballots," Collet said, a reference to the throngs demonstrating in Westminster five years ago against a store owner's display of Vietnam's communist flag.

Instead of protesting, he said, "tens of thousands [will be] voting to send a homegrown activist to Sacramento."

Tran has come a long way from his first political job in 1985 as a 20-year-old working for then-Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). Dornan was bounced from office in 1996 by a Latina, Democrat Loretta Sanchez, whose strategy included wooing Latino and Vietnamese American voters.

Tran, eyeing the seat of termed-out Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove), raised the bulk of his money — $600,000 — last year to fight off a primary challenge from fellow Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes, whose backers include Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a longtime friend. Tran got 57% of the vote to Leyes' 43%.

Once he won the nomination, he set to helping Quach and other Garden Grove candidates, including Janet Nguyen for the City Council, Trung Nguyen for school board and Bill Dalton for mayor, running against Leyes.

Seeking money from Vietnamese Americans was part of a broader fundraising strategy, said Tran, who emigrated from Saigon as a 10-year-old in 1975.

"It's a natural constituency, and I can raise quick money because I've worked with the community for nearly two decades," Tran said. "The point was to diversify [the fundraising base], and I've done that. I have well over 3,000 individual donors, and I'm very proud of that."

Among individuals who gave the maximum allowed by state law — $3,200 each for the primary and general elections — virtually every name is Vietnamese, including donors from Stockton and Sacramento, as well as Orange County.

Some of the donations to Quach are larger because Westminster has no limits on campaign contributions. His donations include $10,000 from a family that owns jewelry stores in Westminster's Asian Gardens Mall and $7,900 from a company with grocery stores in Westminster, Garden Grove and San Jose.

Many of the donors sought him out, said Quach, who came to the U.S. in 1980, at age 7, after his father had been jailed for five years by Vietnam's communist government. He said that, for many contributors — particularly those from out of town — donating wasn't seen as a way to gain access but as an exercise of their right of free speech.

"Every ethnic American, at the end of the day, has a great love for this country," he said.

The fundraising efforts of Tran and Quach follow a well-worn playbook that has worked in other ethnic communities, USC's Jeffe said. For example, former Gov. George Deukmejian sought support for his 1982 race from ethnic Armenians; state Treasurer Phil Angelides, a veteran Democratic officeholder, has long networked among ethnic Greeks, she said.

"The Vietnamese American community is following the pattern that most underrepresented groups have followed to be players in the political arena," she said.

(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-viet22oct22,1,7383653.story)

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October 22, 2004

VIETNAM: ATTACK ON MENNONITES HIGHLIGHTS RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

(New York) – Vietnam’s recent demolition of a Mennonite chapel in Kontum province highlights the country’s intensifying campaign against religious freedom, Human Rights Watch said today. A new law expected to go into effect in November bans any religious activity deemed to threaten national security, public order or national unity.

The recent attacks on the Mennonites, a Protestant denomination not recognized by the government, occurred against a backdrop of a crackdown on independent religious groups, in particular members of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and ethnic minority Protestants in the northern and central highlands. During the last year, several protestant pastors and independent Buddhist monks have been detained and their places of worship shut down, cordoned off, or placed under surveillance. At least two Catholic priests and one Catholic layperson are serving long prison sentences for holding training courses and distributing books or leaflets.

The Vietnamese government bans independent religious associations and only permits religious activities by officially-recognized churches and organizations whose governing boards are approved and controlled by government. The Mennonite Church is not officially sanctioned by the government “Bulldozing a Mennonite chapel is just one aspect of the Vietnamese government’s crackdown on freedom of religion,” said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. “Whether through legislation or through violence, the government has shown it is increasingly unwilling to tolerate religious practice outside its strict control.”

On the morning of September 24, more than 200 officials, including paramilitary police from Unit 113, descended on the chapel and home of Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh in Kontum province. Pastor Chinh is superintendent of the Mennonite churches in the Central Highlands. The attack marked the second time the chapel was destroyed this year. On January 16, authorities bulldozed the same chapel, which doubles as Pastor Chinh’s residence.

In the September 24 attack, government officials confiscated Chinh’s property and farm animals, set fire to the house and chapel, and then used two bulldozers to flatten the remains. Chinh was out on a pastoral visit at the time, but his wife and children were arrested by officials and detained at Vinh Quang district headquarters from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm that day. Mrs. Chinh, who is seven months pregnant, reported being hit in the stomach and stepped on while in custody. Chinh reportedly went into hiding after returning to the scene briefly after the destruction was complete.

“All that remains of the Mennonite chapel in the Central Highlands is a cement floor,” wrote Pastor Chinh in a letter dated September 25. “Many questions about this action await answers by leaders in Vietnam and abroad – this action which so seriously violates our human rights and religious freedom in a brazen way.”

A new Ordinance on Religious Beliefs and Religious Organizations, passed by Vietnam’s National Assembly last June, is expected to go into effect in November. Its first article, quoting Vietnam’s Constitution, pays lip service to freedom of religion, but most of the remaining articles restrict that freedom and expand government controls over religion. The Ordinance also bans religious activities based on vague standards of national security. (To read the Ordinance, please see: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/21/vietna9551.htm.)

The Ordinance, which applies to all religious activity in Vietnam, requires religious leaders to follow the principle of “national unity” and to educate their followers about patriotism.

“The proposed ordinance on religious beliefs formalizes the serious restrictions already imposed on religious practice in Vietnam,” Adams said. “This legislation impermissibly imposes the government’s political goals on religious practice in Vietnam.”

In late September, leaders of Vietnam’s unregistered house church organizations, including some of the Mennonite churches, petitioned the head of the National Assembly and other top officials about their strong concerns that the new legislation will provide a legal basis to permanently outlaw their organizations.

“Thousands of Vietnamese citizens are being persecuted simply because they want to worship outside government restrictions,” Adams said. “The government has not made any credible charges that the Mennonite church constitutes a threat to national security – this is just about control over public life.”

Background on Crackdown on Mennonites in Vietnam

The Mennonite Central Committee, which is the social service arm of the Mennonite Church, was one of the very few western charitable organizations to continue work in Vietnam in the immediate aftermath of the communist victory in 1975 and the reunification of the country shortly thereafter. However, members of the banned Mennonite church have come under increasing pressure from the government in recent years. On May 15, 2004, authorities arrested Mennonite Pastor Ksor No, head of the congregation in Ia Grai district, Gia Lai. The reason for his arrest is not known; authorities presented no warrant or document to his family to inform them why he had been arrested.

In June, Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, an outspoken Mennonite church leader in Ho Chi Minh City, was arrested after publicly criticizing the government for detaining four Mennonites three months earlier. Quang, who is trained as a lawyer, has defended farmers’ land rights cases, spoken out against the arrests of religious and political dissidents, and publicized the plight of minority Christian churches in the Central Highlands. Many of his critical writings have been disseminated on the Internet in both Vietnamese and English.

In 2002 and 2003 Human Rights Watch received several reports about police ransacking the homes of Mennonite believers and confiscating Bibles in Kontum. Officials have withheld the residence permit (ho khau in Vietnamese) of Pastor Chinh and other Mennonites, which makes it difficult to legally find work, travel, and rent or own a home. In addition, local vigilantes in Kontum have reportedly beaten Mennonite workers and arranged hit-and-run motorcycle “accidents” to intimidate members of the church and pressure them to renounce their faith.

In September 2004, the US State Department designated Vietnam as a “Country of Particular Concern” because of what it called Vietnam’s “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” The European Union and Japan have also expressed concern about repression of religious and political rights in Vietnam. In October, more than 100 members of the European Parliament called on the EU and EC to highlight Vietnam’s human rights record during meetings of the Asia-Europe Economic Summit (ASEM) held in Hanoi. During the meetings the Dutch Foreign Minister, on behalf of the EU, called for the release of political and religious prisoners.

(http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/22/vietna9552.htm)

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October 23, 2004

LOCAL COALITION FORMED TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Seattle a potential hot spot for dealing in forced labor, sex slaves

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

A campaign to help identify human-trafficking victims kicked off yesterday with federal officials announcing the creation of a local coalition of social service groups and law enforcement agencies devoted to combating the problem.

"All of us should be reaching out to rescue and restore victims," said Wade Horn, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's assistant secretary for children and families.

Federal officials estimate that between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are brought into the United States each year to become forced laborers or sex slaves.

But few victims have so far been identified despite new laws that allow trafficking victims to apply for special immigration visas and despite assurances from President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft that this is a national priority.

In this state, about 14 victims have obtained special visas from the Department of Homeland Security, Horn said.

About 550 have qualified for those visas nationwide.

Seattle is one of 10 cities in the country targeted for the public awareness campaign because as a port city it is believed to be a potential hot spot for trafficking.

The federal government has set up a 24-hour toll-free hot line to assist victims. That number is 888-3737-888, and operators can arrange for translators in up to 150 languages.

The Refugee Women's Alliance in Seattle will coordinate the local anti-trafficking coalition, which includes 19 social service organizations that work with immigrants.

Federal financing for four other programs was also announced yesterday: $50,000 to the Refugee Women's Alliance to help Russian and Somali domestic violence survivors; $75,000 to Seattle Children's Home to work with street youths who are victims of abuse; and nearly $50,000 to the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, to help disabled victims of domestic violence.

The fourth grant of $1 million was awarded to Pioneer Human Services of Seattle to pay for a 16-bed secure shelter for children who are detained by immigration officials because they are illegal aliens and have no adult supervision.

(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/196542_trafficking23.html)

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October 23, 2004

VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM CLOSES

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTEREY, Calif. -- In a sign of shifting global priorities, the Defense Language Institute has graduated its last class of Vietnamese majors because there is less need for military specialists who can speak the language.

The Monterey institute, the nation's premier language training center, has discontinued the Vietnamese program it launched in 1954.

The program produced more than 23,000 graduates. At its height in 1969, 4,887 students were enrolled; by 1973, the year of U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam, the program had dwindled to 421 students.

The final class, which graduated during a low-key ceremony Thursday, included three Vietnamese language students and five students who specialized in Thai. The audience included alumni and former generals of the South Vietnamese Army.

During the Vietnam War, 295 of the program's graduates were killed in action. Their names were listed in Thursday's program.

Vietnamese still will be taught to small groups at the DLI's Washington, D.C., office.

(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=BRF+Vietnamese+School)

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October 24, 2004

For a true friend, a big lie
'UNCLE' BEN'S FACE-SAVING FIB SATISFIES VIETNAMESE TRADITION AND SEALS A STORYBOOK ROMANCE

By Ben Stocking

On one of the most solemn days in the life of any Vietnamese family -- the wedding of a daughter -- I stood before the sprawling, earnest Vu clan and told them a big, fat lie.

The bride's mother wanted me to do it. And under the circumstances, telling a whopper seemed like the only civilized thing to do.

``I am Benjamin's uncle, and I'm here to represent his parents, who couldn't be here due to illness,'' I said. ``We are so proud that our two families are joining together. We wish Benjamin and Thao eternal happiness.''

The happiness part was 100 percent true.

But I am not Benjamin's uncle. I have never met his parents. And they did not send me to Vietnam as their family envoy.

I was engaging in the sort of concealment that is common in all manner of social and business settings here: a lie meant to prevent hurt feelings or embarrassment.

In Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, where ``losing face'' is the ultimate humiliation, such ``white lies'' are necessary lies.

Benjamin Reich, a native of New York's Upper West Side, and Vu Phuong Thao, who grew up in a northern Vietnamese farming village, had a real-life storybook romance. If a touch of fiction was necessary on their wedding day, I was happy to oblige.

Vietnamese weddings are heavy on ritual -- and the participation of both families is essential. Failure to participate would suggest that the groom's family doesn't approve or is somehow suspect.

Benjamin's parents, Chuck and Julie Reich, were deeply disappointed when Julie's illness -- severe vertigo -- forced them to cancel their trip. His brother, a Ph.D. student and new father, couldn't afford the journey.

As Benjamin's oldest friend in Vietnam -- he's 28, I'm 45 -- I was drafted to play the role of Uncle Ben. Only a handful of family members were in on the secret -- Benjamin, Thao, her mother and her brother. No one else in her home village of Dong Hung, about 75 miles southeast of Hanoi, would know.

On Oct. 8, a sunny day in the rice-growing province of Thai Binh, I stood before Thao's family, a fraud in a nicely tailored brown suit.

``Benjamin and Thao have made this momentous decision after a long period of reflection,'' I said. ``My family is proud to offer them our full support.''

Before I came to Vietnam two years ago, I probably would have regarded my behavior as an outrage. A lie is a lie, I thought, and it cheapens the fool who utters it.

There are other lies my Vietnamese friends tell that still make me uncomfortable, no matter how well-intentioned. Friends who learn their mother or father has a terminal illness, for example, may hide the news from their parent -- with the full participation of the doctor.

Of course, the parents may well suspect that the truth is being concealed from them. That's another aspect of Asian fibbing etiquette that can be confusing to a Westerner -- sometimes everyone is in on the ``secrets,'' sharing a silent understanding that the lies help everyone avoid touchy, complicated subjects. In a work setting, for example, a CEO who has already conceded something in a negotiation might pretend to his colleagues that he has not, even though he knows they soon will learn the truth. Denying the concession allows him to maintain the appearance of strength.

But the lie about being Benjamin's uncle felt great.

I trotted out my fib four days before the big event, at the an hoi, or asking ceremony -- a traditional meal where the bride and groom symbolically ask their elders for approval.

The men looked genteel in their white shirts and ties, the women splendid in their brightly colored tunics and flowing pants, or ao dais.

Trinh thi Chat, Thao's mother, was overjoyed to see me. She clasped my hands and bowed her head. ``Cam on! Cam on!'' she said, thanking me over and over again.

The groom's family and friends arrived at the bride's house bearing gifts in lacquer boxes -- betel nuts, cigarettes, tea, rice cakes and a roasted pig. Some were placed on the family altar as offerings to ancestors whose spirits are forever alive. At the center of the altar was a picture of Thao's father, Vu Van Ly, who died three years ago.

After I delivered my speech, it was time to head off to a local restaurant, eat a small feast and wash it down with gallons of Vietnamese beer.

When Benjamin's and Thao's wedding day arrived, I delivered my fraudulent speech a second time.

The event drew about 250 people. Benjamin and Thao led them on a procession to a restaurant for another round of eating and drinking as well as speeches and songs.

Benjamin and Thao sang a traditional song about forbidden love. Two young lovers sneak off at night to an isolated bridge and exchange their shirts -- then return home and lie to their parents about their tryst.

Unlike the protagonists in the song, Benjamin and Thao didn't hide their love from anyone.

They met in May 2000, when Thao was a university literature student and Benjamin was teaching English in Hanoi. Thao worked in a CD shop, selling music and movies. Benjamin used to check his e-mail at an Internet cafe across the street.

He had seen lots of beautiful Vietnamese girls, but he'd never seen any like Thao, who had a warm, down-to-earth quality that made him melt. ``I swear, it was like being struck by a bolt of lightning,'' Benjamin said, recalling the first moment he saw her.

He suddenly felt a need to expand his CD collection. He started hanging out in Thao's shop, where they talked about life and literature. ``I could see that he liked me,'' Thao said.

She was already being swarmed by suitors, but Benjamin, the persistent New Yorker, eventually fended them off.

On their first official date, Benjamin played the gallant knight and kissed Thao's hand. They rode home under the stars on his Honda Dream motorbike. Dressed in a blue ao dai, Thao sat sidesaddle on the back and sang romantic songs.

They had a torrid, three-month romance before Benjamin had to return to the United States. There was a tearful goodbye at the airport, followed by a year of passionate letters and poems.

And then Benjamin came back to Vietnam, with no doubts about his objective.

Thao, 26, now works as a freelance journalist. Benjamin, whose spoken Vietnamese is nearly flawless, recently won a one-year fellowship that will allow him to perfect his command of the language.

To gain official approval for their wedding, the young couple had to endure the sort of bureaucratic nightmare for which the Vietnamese government is infamous. While Thao's family welcomed Benjamin into their own, weddings between Vietnamese and Westerners remain rare. Official suspicion of foreigners runs deep in a country that was ruled by outside invaders for much of its history.

Benjamin and Thao had to wade through pages of extra pre-marriage paperwork because theirs was a hon nhan co yeu to nuoc ngaoi -- a wedding with a ``foreign factor.''

Local officials sent them back and forth to dozens of offices, where everyone issued conflicting edicts and suggested that a small bribe would make the wheels of government spin more efficiently.

As she recounted the tale, Thao seethed with anger. But at the wedding, joy prevailed.

Thao's mother and I visited every table, where we clinked beer glasses with all the guests. Not sure that Julie Reich's illness sounded serious enough, Chat began telling people that the mother of the groom had been rushed to the hospital with a grave heart condition.

I have lived in Vietnam for two years now and have learned enough Vietnamese to have a friendly chat. After one toast too many, ``Uncle Ben'' blew his cover and started speaking Vietnamese with the guests.

Lubricated with beer, drunk with happiness, nobody seemed to find it strange that this ostensible newcomer could speak their language. And if anyone suspected I was an impostor, they simply joined the charade.

It was the polite thing to do.

BEN STOCKING (bstocking@mercurynews.com) is chief of the Mercury News Vietnam Bureau.

(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/10003176.htm)

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October 26, 2004

FEAR OF DYING MOTIVATES VOTERS

Congressional Daily

There is one more entry in the world of analysis and opinion about what motivates voters: fear of dying. With reminders of death before they were asked to choose among three candidates, students overwhelmingly picked a charismatic candidate vowing to conquer evil over the task-oriented or relationship-oriented variety, according to a study to be published in the December issue of Psychological Science. "This research is based on the idea that reminders of death increase the need for psychological security and therefore the appeal of leaders who emphasize the greatness of the nation and a heroic victory over evil," the American Psychological Society said in a release. So what should voters do? The society offers, "They may need to monitor efforts by candidates to capitalize on fear mongering and make a greater effort to vote with their heads, rather than with their hearts."

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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.