January is behind us and the Year of the Snake has officially arrived. We continue to lend our hearts and hands to those impacted by the wildfires as we look for ways to help our communities rebuild and rebound. We took time out to welcome in the new year at the Monterey Park Lunar New Year festival and of course followed that up with some delicious eats!
Our Lunar New Year celebrations continued in Culver City where we participated in the second annual Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Night Market. We raised funds by selling spam musbubi, furikake Chex mix, pandan and black sesame rice krispies and more! Special thanks go out to our wonderful student volunteers from DaVinci Communications and Santa Monica High Schools. We SOLD out of musubi with their help!
It was an amazing event sponsored by the Culver City AANHPI Parent Affinity group -- there was a variety of AANHPI vendors serving up treats and selling crafts. Plus, Culver City students from several schools proudly paraded their dragon and lion art projects It was a really great community celebration.
The end of January brought with it concerns about how new policies might impact the AAPI community. We had a healthy conversation about this over brunch at our favorite spot Simpang Venice. Although the AAPI community is not directly targeted, efforts against any immigrant population are of concern to all of us. If you know of people on H-1B visa's or who may have not yet naturalized, please be sure all documentation is current and check out the resources Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California has put together here: https://ajsocal.org/immigration The Safety Preparation Toolkit provides helpful information for everyone. As stories start to circulate about citizens being asked for documentation, we want to be prepared, but not overly worried; so please check it out.
AAPI Alliance will continue to support and promote our cultural heritage with the aim of empowering our students to reach their full potential. As such we'll continue to raise funds throughout the year in hopes of awarding our first scholarship! If you're able please donate and support mission.
Hope to see you at our next event -- a trip to LACMA to see the Imagining African Diasporas: 21st Century Artists & Poets exhibit in honor of Black History Month.
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