WHIAAPI Weekly Highlights May 20, 2011

Welcome to the WHIAAPI Weekly Highlights. Read below for details, including blogs by AAPI Obama Administration appointees, events happening across the country, and important announcements from our federal agency partners.

Seeking Nominations for the 2011 President Citizens Medal

Presidential Citizens Medal: Last year, President Obama honored an amazing individual from the AAPI community with the nation’s second-highest civilian honor, the Presidential Citizens Medal. Betty Kwan Chinn suffered homelessness as a child in China, but when she came to America she sought to help the homeless here. Today, Betty provides meals twice a day to the homeless and the hungry. Visit http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/citizensmedal/2010 to watch Betty’s inspiring story.

For the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal we are asking you to look into your community and nominate those everyday heroes who have performed exemplary deeds of service, including those who have demonstrated commitment to service in their own communities or in communities farther from home, who have helped their country or their fellow citizens through one or more extraordinary acts, whose service relates to a long-term problem, or whose service has had a sustained impact on others’ lives and provided inspiration for others to serve. Last year over 6,000 incredible leaders were nominated for their service, which often times goes unrecognized. The Presidential Citizens Medal offers a chance to thank those extraordinary stewards of service from across the United States. For more information on the Citizens Medal as well how nominate an outstanding citizen, please visit WhiteHouse.gov/citizensmedal to watch the announcement video.  To nominate someone for the 2011 Citizens Medal, please review the criteria for this year’s medal at http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/citizensmedal/criteria.

White House Blogs: This month, WHIAAPI is posting a new blog a day highlighting the work of the administration, its impact on the AAPI community, and the personal motivation behind these efforts by our Administration officials. Learn more about the people, policies and actions that have a direct impact on you. Here are the blogs and their authors that have been posted this month:

• Gary Locke, Commerce Secretary and WHIAAPI Co-Chair: www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/02/kicking-asian-american-pacific-islander-heritage-month
• Chris Lu, Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/03/contributions-aapis-federal-government
• Tina Tchen, Assistant to the President, Chief of Staff to the First Lady and Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/04/engaging-communities-and-supporting-families
• Dr. Raj Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/05/across-asia-reaching-out-hand-support-development
• Preeta Bansal, General Counsel & Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Management & Budget: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/06/making-government-work-better-unleash-ingenuity-american-people
• Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Health, US Dept. of Health and Human Services: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/09/achieving-health-equity-asian-americans-native-hawaiians-and-pacific-islanders
• Dr. Seiji Hayashi, Chief Medical Officer, Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/10/papa
• David K. Mineta, Deputy Director of Demand Reduction for the Office of National Drug Control Policy: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/11/working-together-reduce-drug-use-america
• John Trasviña, Assistant Secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/12/let-s-put-end-housing-discrimination
• Ana Ma, Chief of Staff at the U.S. Small Business Administration: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/13/helping-aapi-entrepreneurs-and-small-business-owners-create-jobs-and-win-future
• Sharon Wong, Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) (on detail) at OPM, and Diversity Officer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/16/launched-life-diversity
• Ivan K. Fong, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS): http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/17/dhs-s-commitment-and-engagement-aapi-community
• Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser to U.S. Department of State: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/18/fighting-new-global-slave-trade
• Audrey Buehring, Senior Advisor on Intergovernmental Affairs for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders:  http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/19/toward-green-nail-salons
• Howard K. Koh M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services onNational Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/19/national-asian-and-pacific-islander-hivaids-awareness-day
• Neal Katyal, Acting Solicitor General of the United States: http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/05/20/confession-error-solicitor-generals-mistakes-during-japanese-american-internment-cas

President’s Obama’s proclamation on Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is available here

Upcoming Events and Announcements

On May 21, the Association for Asian American Studies (www.aaastudies.org) will convene a policy roundtable in New Orleans, Louisiana. WHIAAPI Deputy Director Christina Lagdameo will speak about WHIAAPI’s role in addressing research and data issues concerning the AAPI community. Also on May 21, the DC Chapter of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA-DC) (www.apalanet.org) will hold a hearing on immigrant worker exploitation and workers’ rights to organize. A panel of workers will testify about their experiences, and WHIAAPI Advisor Miya Saika Chen will provide remarks.

Did you know in the United States, approximately half of the 1 million persons with chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders? The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces an Action Plan to Prevent and Treat Viral Hepatitis.  To read the plan, visit http://www.hhs.gov/ash/initiatives/hepatitis.

HHS announces $102 million in Community Transformation Grants authorized by the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund. Information including the Funding Opportunity Announcement is available at: www.cdc.gov/communitytransformation.

• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will hold a conference call prior to the deadline for submitting Letters of Intent to apply for funding. Call-in information: May 25, 2011, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (EDT). This conference call can be accessed by calling 1-888-972-9343. The leader for this call is Lori Elmore and the passcode is 8899773.

If you have friends or family that would like to join our efforts, please have them click here.