Asian Pacific American Legal Center Taps Rachanee Srisavasdi as Communications Director

Posted on 12th January 2011 in law, organizations, people
Longtime Southern California courts reporter Rachanee Srisavasdi joins the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, today as its communication director.
Srisavasdi will oversee communication activities and strategies for APALC’s work across its program areas, including impact litigation, direct legal services and policy advocacy. Srisavasdi will help ensure that communications strategies are effectively deployed to increase the impact of APALC’s work on behalf of the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community.
Since 1997, Srisavasdi has served at the courts reporter for The Orange County Register covering civil and criminal cases with widespread public impact. As a journalist, Srisavasdi broke stories on the options backdating trial of former Broadcom Corporation CFO William Ruehle, and the public corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Mike Corona.
Srisavasdi previously covered the 2007 investigation on the beating death of jail inmate John Chamberlain, which resulted in the firing of top Sherriff’s Department officials and widespread reforms at the department’s jails. She also served at the lead reporter for the The Register’s coverage in 2005 of the $100 million legal settlement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and the clergy’s abuse victims.
A former board member and co-president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, Srisavasdi holds a B.A. in American Literature with a specialization in Asian American Studies from UCLA.
“Rachanee’s extensive experience investigating, reporting and writing on court cases, as well as her demonstrated commitment to the Asian and Pacific Islander community, will be tremendous assets to APALC” said Karin Wang, APALC Vice President of Programs and Communications. “We are excited that Rachanee joins us at this critical time in APALC’s history.”
Founded in 1983, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for civil rights, providing legal services and education, and building coalitions to positively influence and impact Asian Pacific Americans and to create a more equitable and harmonious society. APALC is a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, which also includes Asian American Institute (Chicago, IL), Asian American Justice Center (Washington, DC) and Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco, CA).
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Banana 2 Conference to Bring Together Country’s Top Asian Pacific Islander American Bloggers

Posted on 5th January 2011 in community, events, media

A most wanted list of Asian Pacific Islander American bloggers from across the country will participate in BANANA 2 on February 26, 2011, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the back lot of CBS Studios in Studio City, Calif.

BANANA 2 is a follow-up to the inaugural convening in Nov. 2009 co-hosted by Lac Su, author of I Love Yous Are For White People (HarperCollins, 2009) and Steve Nguyen, a television/film producer and head of the ChannelAPA.com’s Los Angeles division, who enlisted the help of a small group of bloggers and community activists to produce an event highlighting and amplifying the online voices of Asian Americans.

“We are excited to have a talented group of established and up-and-coming bloggers from the APIA community at this second annual gathering to share their voices, knowledge, endeavors and visions with others – bloggers and non-bloggers, APIAs and non-APIAs,” said Su. “All of the bloggers expected to attend have unique views of their own community, and will share their progression as an APIA blogger.”

The conference will provide an opportunity for bloggers and their readers to build a stronger community by beginning conversations and building relationships beyond the conference. Conference panels will include topics on using blogs and social media to create meaningful social change, working with businesses and corporations and defining the role of Asian American bloggers.

The first gathering featured bloggers from Angry Asian Man, Minority Militant, 8Asians, Neaato (Network of Entertaining Asian American Talent), Hyphen Magazine, Mochi Magazine, Channel APA, Bicoastal Bitchin’, AArising, Antisocial Ladder, Nikkei View, VisualizAsian, Kimchi Mamas, Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, DVAN (Diasporic Vietnamese American Network), bigWOWO, and Sepia Mutiny.

Conference admission is $20 per person. Participants will be able to register online at http://banana-2.com now until Feb. 25, 2011. A complete schedule of panels and presenters will be announced in late Jan. 2011.

A list of articles, posts, photos and video related to last year’s gathering is available at the end of Gil Asakawa’s blog post at http://goo.gl/CwKdu. You can connect with BANANA 2 at http://facebook.com/banana2.event and at http://twitter.com/Banana2_Event.

Download a color JPG of the event logo and the text of this post in PDF and TXT formats here: http://www.box.net/banana2. Bloggers and media interested in additional information can contact Keith Kamisugi at 323-982-8119 or at banana@keithpr.com.

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Mee Moua, Charmaine Manansala Join APIA Health Forum

Posted on 4th January 2011 in organizations, people

The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum today named former Minnesota State Senator Mee Moua as vice president of strategic impact initiatives and Charmaine Manansala as vice president for strategic engagement initiatives.

Sen. Moua and Ms. Manansala will join vice president of operations Patricia Aguilera who began on October 1, 2010, in setting the strategies of APIAHF’s work. This includes all areas of substantive work across programs, in policy advocacy at the federal and state levels, and expanding APIAHF’s national profile and leadership role in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities, as well as in public health and health policy.

“Charmaine Manansala and Senator Mee Moua join us with distinguished backgrounds in health advocacy, social activism and community engagement. We look forward to their leadership and guidance as we work to influence policy, mobilize communities, and strengthen programs and organizations,” said Kathy Lim Ko, president and CEO of APIAHF. “Together, they will lead our health justice agenda and our work to address health disparities and to advance policies and programs that improve the health of all vulnerable communities.”

The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum influences policy, mobilizes communities, and strengthens programs and organizations to improve the health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

Read the complete announcement here.

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