Asian American Pacific Islanders Coming Together (ACT) in Partnership with APIAVote, and Asian American Chamber of Commerce Central Florida (AACC) held a very successful Leadership event on April 28th in Orlando. The focus of this non-partisan effort was on engaging AAPI communities in electoral participation.
ACT Co-Founders, Ricky Ly, Onchantho Am, and Kam Shenai kicked off the event with stating its mission of Engaging, Educating and Empowering AAPI community to amplify our voice through voter participation.
The Founders then launched one of ACT’s key platforms, “ACT Young” to actively engage the AAPI youth in the electoral process. Vriti Shah, a high school student and an ACT Young member shared ACT Young mission, Goals, and guiding principles.
After the initial context setting, APIAVote led by Hannah Locop and Kathryn Quintin conducted the training effort. The training, developed by Norman Y. Mineta Leadership Institute teaches the foundation of non-partisan electoral campaigns, leadership skills needed to be well-rounded civic leaders as well as strategies specific to working with AAPI communities.
The training focused on three areas:
- Provide a framework for civic engagement and political organizing
- Provide participants with organizing tools to effectively build civic engagement programs
- Increase and encourage regional partnerships
The training modules were highly interactive, relevant, and educational. A special enthusiastic thank you to Hannah Locop and Kathryn Quintin of APIAVote for conducting this effective learning experience.
What made this event special was the participation of the younger generations. We had high school students, university students and even a couple of middle school students. This future generation audience brought youthful exuberance and uplifted everyone’s spirits.
This is just the beginning. Wait for future announcements and more exciting stuff. In the 2020 General elections Orange County had a 77% voter turnout. Our goal in 2024 is to hit the 80% mark and Make A Difference
As Henry Ford once said “Coming together is the beginning, Keeping together is progress, but Working together is success”