DHS Asian American Pacific Islander Network (AAPIN)
Monthly BoardMeeting
MINUTES

Friday, December 11, 2015
12:00p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Call-in: 1-888-858-2144 (Code: 7927939)

In attendance:

Darlene Bouma, NPPD

Kevin Chan, USCG

Eugene Donato, USCIS

Katy Leung, USCIS

Melissa Lin, USCIS

Liz Shepard, USCIS
Okhee Shim, USCIS

Emily Su, TSA

Peter Suh, FEMA

David Tu, USCIS

Mike Villareal, USCIS
Cici Williams, TSA

Juan (?), USCIS

Minutes:

  1. Roll Call (Darlene)
  2. Approval of Minutes (Darlene)
    The Boardapproved the Novembermeeting minutes.
  3. Finance Report (Emily)
    AAPIN funds are currently at $634.97 in the bank (minus $178.28 spent on mugs).
  4. Membership Report (Melissa)
    Three new members joined since our last Board meeting:
  • Jasmine Farnsworth, USCIS
  • KC Lee, USCG
  • Pauline Lim, FEMA

In addition, three members renewed membership.

  1. Recent Events
  2. FAPAC-sponsored Career Fair(Darlene)
    AAPIN had a booth with other DHS agencies at the career fair. At these career fairs, HR recruiters typically attend to answer questions and promote agencies and the variety of work available. Darlene reported a great turnout, from high school students to candidates with decades of experience (evenly divided). Darlene was able to collect resumes from some people interested in cybersecurity and passed them on to HR contacts in her office (NPPD) and elsewhere in DHS. FAPAC may host another career fair in April or May, so will try to see if AAPIN can be involved then as well.
    The group expressed interest in learning more about what the Department is doing to increase diversity through recruitment and retention efforts. Okhee mentioned that there is a working group developing to address these issues, and that she could provide regular updates to the group, if any.
  3. Meeting with USCG FAPAC (Kevin)
    AAPIN met with USCG AAPI group to discuss the forthcoming AAPI Heritage Month event. (USCG recently joined FAPAC to they now have a FAPAC group represented in their agency.)
    In 2016, AAPIN will support USCG’s May Heritage Month in lieu of an AAPIN-produced event. AAPIN can primarily provide support by identifying and obtaining keynote speakers for the event. USCG is able to arrange the Color Guard and a food sampling.USCG also has funds earmarked for this event.
    Kevin asked if it was realistic to request S1 or S2 to provide opening remarks. Darlene suggested asking an Advisory Board member to submit a request. (In 2015, AAPIN was able to get Norman Mineta as a keynote speaker through informal channels; Darlene approached him at an event they were both attending and asked him.)
    Yesterday, USCG FAPAC met and discussed considering non-government speakers for the Heritage Month event since last year, they had a government keynote speaker. Darlene requested everyone to brainstorm potential keynote speakers for discussion in January.
  4. Debrief on WHIAAPI Conference(Emily)
    Emily recently attended a White House Initiative on AAPIs (WHIAAPI) national conference in Seattle, WA as a representative of the Region 3 network (Philadelphia, DC, Virginia). Emily was the only person formally representing Region 3 and suggested growing Region 3 membership through AAPIN and other local groups like FAPAC and AAGEN.
    Topics included:
  • How to find and assess data on the AAPI community. Disaggregating data shows the extent of the Model Minority myth (that AAPIs are healthy, wealthy, and wise). Although AAPIs are the fastest growing minority population, they are largely not targeted for needed public services (e.g. few mental health services despite highest rate of suicide among Asian women). Even where there are programs available, AAPIs may not take advantage of them (e.g. DACA assistance for undocumented immigrant youth). WHIAAPI focuses a lot on how the federal government can better serve the AAPI community, so this data is especially troublesome.
  • How to talk to the media or publicize your events, so you can draw attention to needs that people don’t know about.
  • Region 3’s strategic planning for upcoming year: (1) increasing membership in Regional Network 3; (2) Partnering with AAPI groups to increase workforce diversity and AAPI leadership in the federal government; and (3) Helping small businesses with grants and access to federal government contracts.

Katy mentioned that she had suggested providing USCIS resources in more Asian languages to help them access benefits. Emily said that WHIAAPI could help support these efforts, if needed.

  1. Upcoming Events
  2. AAPIN Holiday Party(Emily)
    The holiday party will be Saturday, Dec. 12 at noon at Thaiphoon in Pentagon Row (Pentagon City, VA). AAPIN is expecting approximately 20 attendees.
  3. AAPIN Professional Development Event -- How to Get Into the SES with Speakers Anh Duong and Fred Lau – Jan. 14 at S&T (Darlene)
    Darlene is looking for a backup for Paul since he will be out-of-pocket in December/January. Melissa volunteered to help coordinate but cannot attend the event in-person. Okhee may have started a flyer for the event.
  4. Ongoing Projects
  5. AAPIN Mugs(Darlene) – After speaking with a tax attorney, Darlene does not believe AAPIN could sell mugs for more than they cost because the organization might have to pay taxes. Kevin mentioned that the USCG FAPAC group is also making similar inquiries and will update the group if he learns any new information.
    However, perhaps people could purchase the mugs at cost and then add a donation of their choosing on top. Someone asked whether we could provide a suggested donation amount? At the last meeting, the group decided to set the price of the mug at about $7. So the suggested donation amount could be $7, which would cover the cost of the mug.
    Emily will bring some mugs to the AAPIN Holiday Party.

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Friday, January8 at 3:30pm ET

RED = FOLLOW-UP ACTION REQUIREDPage 1

UNDERLINED = DECISIONS MADE BY BOARD VOTE