National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today marks the beginning of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), a month to honor the contributions and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Originally introduced by Reps. Norman Y. Mineta and Frank Horton in 1977 as “Asian-Pacific Heritage Week,” the celebration was officially designated and extended to a month under President George H. W. Bush in 1992. May was chosen because May 7, 1843 is the date recorded as when the first Japanese immigrants came to the U.S., and May 10, 1869 was when the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. was completed due to the work of 12,000 Chinese immigrants.

To celebrate APAHM, NCAPA and our member and partner organizations will be hosting a series of events throughout the month, with the majority of events happening during the week of May 11 in Washington, D.C. 

On Thursday, May 14, NCAPA is hosting an “NCAPA 2.0” policy briefing, networking breakfast and AAPI Data Summit at the National Education Association. As we head into the 2016 election year, NCAPA is working to highlight key policy priorities within civil rights, education, health, housing and economic justice and immigration. These priorities include working with our government and community partners to support immigration action, address racial and religious profiling and improve health access and equity for our communities.

The AAPI Data Summit will be held in partnership with AAPI Data, a resource that provides accessible data and research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Representatives from federal agencies and the media will be speaking on panels and in attendance, including U.S. Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson, MSNBC & NBC anchor Richard Lui and PBS Newshour anchor Hari Sreenivasan. 

Learn more and register here: http://datasummit-apahm15.eventbrite.com/

Other APAHM events include a South Asian Women's Organizations briefing on Monday, May 11 and the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) annual gala on the evening of Thursday, May 14.

We invite you to join NCAPA, our members and partners as we celebrate APAHM. Find out more about events in D.C. here.

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The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), founded in 1996, is a coalition of 34 national Asian Pacific American organizations. Based in Washington D.C., NCAPA serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA & NHPI) communities and to provide a national voice on policy issues and priorities.