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Advocacy

Telling Our Stories, Building a Powerful Voice


National CAPACD aims to “tell our stories” by forging an AAPI community action research and policy agenda around the housing, community and economic development needs of low-income AAPIs.  We engage in policy advocacy and promote participatory action research to increase the influence of AAPI communities nationally to obtain equal access and equitable resources.

Working with our broad base of member organizations, as well as with institutions whose efforts have traditionally not included AAPIs, National CAPACD facilitates partnerships with academic institutions in order to produce more applied research about our communities and advocates for policy and legislation to address the housing and economic development needs of low-income AAPIs.

Current Campaigns and Action Alerts


Government policies shape and define what housing can be built and where.   Those policies also impact which neighborhoods thrive and which fail; which become destinations and which become mere right of ways for others to travel through.  Like other minority communities, Asian American and Pacific Islanders have for too long been either ignored by policy makers or have become the victims of the agendas of others.  National CAPACD seeks to provide a forum for fostering greater participation in the policy making process and to support policy reform that advances building a more inclusive nation.

Click here to view current and past Campaigns.

Click Here to view current and past Action Alerts.

Policy Priorities

The four broad issue areas that ground National CAPACD’s programmatic and policy efforts are:
Access to Housing - Low-income AAPIs face a lack of quality, affordable housing in our communities and a significant homeownership gap. Homeownership rates of AAPIs continue to lag behind the national average of 66.2 percent. In addition, the presence of large families with low incomes mean that many AAPI households face difficulties in finding housing that is both large enough and affordable.

Data Policy - Low income AAPI communities are underserved by federal and other national housing, community and economic development programs because data about our diverse communities is not funded, not collected, not disaggregated by ethnic group or not included in the analysis. Despite significant housing, community and economic development needs in AAPI communities, many Americans, including government agencies and funders, mistakenly believe that all AAPIs are well-educated and well-off in comparison with other people of color, and hence need little support.

Economic Justice - Income inequalities are increasing in the U.S., creating even greater challenges for low-income AAPIs, immigrants and those who are limited English proficient. AAPIs are among those who have the highest income and those who are the lowest wage earners. Although the median AAPI income is higher than the national median, incomes for some specific ethnic groups are substantially lower than the national median. AAPI poverty rates are also higher than the national median, with poverty especially high among specific ethnic groups.

Community Preservation and Revitalization - Neighborhoods that were historically Asian enclaves are disappearing and are threatened by major commercial developments and gentrification. At the same time, there are burgeoning Asian American and Pacific Islander business districts that appear to be thriving. Many AAPI-serving community based organizations and arts are cultural organizations are still not connected to many of the programs and initiatives that support sustainable small business growth and invest capital into low-income and minority communities.

Click here for National CAPACD Policy Agenda.

Coalition Partners


Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus - The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), founded in 1994 by then Congressman Norman Mineta, is comprised of members of Congress (both the House and Senate) who have strong interests in promoting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) issues and advocating the concerns of AAPIs. CAPAC is non-partisan and bi-cameral.

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans - The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), founded in 1996, is a coalition of twenty-eight Asian Pacific American organizations around the country. Based in Washington D.C, NCAPA serves to represent the interests of the greater Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander communities and to provide a national voice for Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander issues.

Coalition of HUD Housing Counseling Intermediaries - The Coalition of HUD Housing Counseling Intermediaries is a national network of HUD- approved nonprofit organizations that provide housing counseling, education and community reinvestment programs. The coalition partners seek to improve their effectiveness by working together to create a stable and lasting infrastructure to develop communication, provide access to state of the art resources, and develop real field collaboration that builds long-term success for the housing counseling industry and ultimately benefits underserved individuals and communities.

Accomplishments


Some of our advocacy accomplishments include:

  • Supporting the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus’ efforts to launch a Task Force on Housing and Community and Economic Development.  Chaired by Congressman Al Green, the Task Force engages with AAPI communities to ensure that AAPI perspectives are included in housing and community development legislation.
  • Working with a national coalition of AAPI organizations to pass the Asian and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions Designation in 2007, and continuing to work with federal agencies to ensure successful implementation. 
  • Advocating with Congress, federal agencies and national intermediaries to increase visibility for and data about AAPI communities in the foreclosure crisis and ensure access to federal resources. 
  • Mobilizing successfully to defeat an amendment to HR 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA), which would have limited HUD’s authority to require recipients of federal funds to translate documents for LEP persons, drastically undermining Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on national origin. 
  • Supporting the efforts of the Save New Orleans East Coalition to shut down the controversial and potentially hazardous Chef Menteur landfill, built only one mile from the Vietnamese community in New Orleans East.

Reports and Policy Briefs

National CAPACD produces original research reports and policy briefs on a variety of topics relevant to the community development needs of AAPI families at the local, state and national levels.  These publications form the empirical basis for much of our advocacy work.  In addition, National CAPACD regularly produces policy analyses focus on issues such as language accessibility, data policy in housing and community development programs and funding allocations for community development projects in AAPI communities.

Reports

AAPI Nexus: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Policy, Practice and Community: Special Issue on Community Development (2003) - National CAPACD serves on the editorial board for AAPI Nexus, a journal published by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.  This inaugural issue included an article co-authored by National CAPACD: An Agenda for AAPI Community Economic Development.

Economic Needs of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Distressed Areas: Establishing Baseline Information (2002) - This report provided research and established baseline census data on 17 poor AAPI neighborhoods.  Its publication raised visibility regarding the housing needs of AAPI families in Congress and with federal agencies who have never addressed these issues.

Building Capacity:  Challenges and Opportunities of Asian Pacific American Community Development (2000) - National CAPACD’s first research publication, this report focuses on organizations supporting AAPI families, the resources available to them and the challenges and opportunities of supporting community development in AAPI communities.

National CAPACD Policy Agenda
Economic Needs of Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders in Distressed Areas

Policy Briefs

Access for LEP Persons Needing Community and Economic Development Assistance
Need for Data to Support AAPI Community & Economic Development
Supporting Community Development Organizations Serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

 

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