Kaleo o aapi AsiAn AmericAns and PAcific islanders 1

Transcription

1 Kaleo O AAPI Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 1

2 AUGUST 8 th, 2008 this week s CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE AAPI VOTE DIRECTOR AAPI FEATURE: BARACK OBAMA ON THE ECONOMY THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS: SENATOR OBAMA UNVeIlS ENERGY PLAN MAYA SOETORO NG S MESSAGE TO THE AAPI COMMUNITY INITIaTIVE ENDORSES SENATOR BARACK OBAMA AAPI SPOTlIGHT: PREETA BANSAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTIoN INVESCO TICKETING PROCESS community Events STAY CONNECTED WITH AAPI CONTACT INFORMATIoN

3 MESSAGE FROM THE AAPI VOTE DIRECTOR Charmaine Manansala Dear Friends, The general election has just begun. Let us work to ensure that the Asian American and Pacific Islander community s voice is heard in this election. Each one of us can make a difference in this election. We can make a difference not just in casting our vote, but in registering your friends and neighbors to vote and informing them about Senator Obama. In the weeks to come, we are counting on your participation. In this week s issue, we have spotlighted Senator Obama s views on one of the most important issues facing AAPIs and all Americans the economy. Senator Obama plans on giving a $1,000 tax cut to working families and additional rebates to help families handle soaring prices. In addition, he will encourage small business creation. Two weeks ago at the AAPI Fundraiser in Washington, D.C., Senator Obama proudly pronounced, I consider myself to be an honorary AAPI member, and I think I ve got some pretty good credentials. It was an exciting to hear Barack discuss our issues and show that he understands our community. It is evident that in November, we must elect Barack Obama and bring into office a leader with deep ties to the AAPI community. Thank you for all you do! Working together, we can energize our community and bring change to this country. Thank you, Charmaine Manansala 3

4 AAPI FEATURE ON BARACK OBAMA & THE ECONOMY This week s newsletter features Barack Obama s views on one of the most important issues facing AAPIs and all Americans the economy. At a time when many Americans are experiencing hardship in making ends meet in a slow economy and are confronting the challenges of unemployment and soaring mortgage prices, Barack Obama has a plan to assist struggling families to improve their financial livelihood and get our economy back on track. His leadership and vision will help develop an economic agenda that will support job creation, invest in small business entrepreneurship, and appropriate support to working families. Below we have outlined how Barack Obama plans to encourage job creation, support small business and provide adequate assistance to working families in this time of economic distress. Job Creation AAPIs make up 5 percent of the population, and are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in America. While AAPIs have a much lower unemployment rate than the general population, the real median household income for Asian American and Pacific Islander families has fallen $2,157 since At the same time, the number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living in poverty has grown by 244,000 people. Barack Obama will invest in a strong economy for all Americans. He will double federal funding for basic research, expand the deployment of broadband technology, and make the research and development tax credit permanent so that businesses can invest in innovation and create high paying, secure jobs. As president, Obama will make long term investments in education, language training, and workforce development so that Americans can leverage our strengths our ingenuity and entrepreneurialism to create new high wage jobs and prosper in a global economy. 4

5 Small Businesses More than 1.1 million small businesses are owned by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Asian Americans are more likely than any other ethnic group to own a small business. Barack Obama will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public private business incubators. Business incubators facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start up companies by offering help designing business plans, identifying and addressing problems affecting all small businesses within a given community, and giving advice on a wide range of business practices. Business incubators will engage the expertise and resources of local institutions of higher education and successful private sector businesses to help ensure that small businesses have both a strong plan and the resources for long term success. Barack Obama will also strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide capital to minority owned businesses and work to reduce duplicative, complicated and unnecessary regulations that adversely affect small businesses. Help for Working Families Barack Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they deserve. Obama will create a new Making Work Pay tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. This refundable income tax credit will provide direct relief to American families who face the regressive payroll tax system. It will offset the payroll tax on the first $8,100 of their earnings while still preserving the important principle of a dedicated revenue source for Social Security. The Making Work Pay tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. The tax credit will also provide relief to self employed small business owners who struggle to pay both the employee and employer portion of the payroll tax. The Making Work Pay tax credit offsets some of this self employment tax as well. 5

6 THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS: SENATOR OBAMA UNVEILS ENERGY PLAN Monday, August 4, 2008 Chicago, IL Barack Obama announced his New Energy for America Plan, which aims to provide financial relief for Americans struggling with high gas prices. The Obama campaign unveiled a new ad, one that illustrates the clear choice in this election between an approach that keeps us sending billions to oil companies and foreign governments and one that gives middle class families a $1,000 rebate funded by a windfall profits tax on the oil companies and stimulates five million new green jobs. The ad highlights that for far too long, we ve had an energy policy that has worked for the oil companies. Barack Obama believes it s time we had an energy policy that works for the American people and vows to make energy independence a priority. To watch the Pocket TV ad, visit my.barackobama.com/page/content/pocket_ad 6

7 MAYA SOETORO NG S MESSAGE TO THE AAPI COMMUNITY Monday, August 4, 2008 Chicago, IL Watch Maya s message to the AAPI community! Maya Soetoro Ng, Barack Obama s sister, sent a positive and enthusiastic message about her brother s candidacy to our community. She acknowledged Barack s personal connection and understanding of the issues and experiences that impact the AAPI community. Check out the video, visit 7

8 80-20 INITIaTIVE ENDORSES SENATOR BARACK OBAMA Saturday, August 2, 2008 The Initiative announced at its Endorsement Convention it will back Senator Barack Obama s candidacy works to unite Asian American voters in supporting one presidential candidate, and strives to raise awareness of inequities facing AAPIs in such areas as the media, the workplace, the federal court system, and in the educational system. According to a press release from Initiative, the group supported Sen. Obama for various reasons including that: He gave unequivocal commitments to give Asian Americans equal opportunities to rise to the top in workplaces through the enforcement of Exec. Order He also committed to give Asian American legal professionals equal opportunity to be judges at all levels of the Federal Courts. To read more about the Initiative s endorsement, please visit 8

9 AAPI SPOTlIGHT: PREETA BANSAL Preeta D. Bansal is a partner in a major law firm in New York City. She previously served as the Solicitor General of the State of New York ( ), where she helped manage 600 lawyers in the New York Attorney General s office. She was also a special counsel in the Clinton White House and Justice Department ( ) and a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens ( ). She is the senior policy advisor and a national co chair of the Asian American Finance Committee, and is involved in the campaign s foreign policy, law and immigration policy groups. She is also on the Tri State Finance Committee, AAPI National Leadership Council, Women s Leadership Council, and leadership committee of Lawyers for Obama. A pledged delegate from New York, she was profiled as part of Obama s Inner Circle by the National Journal in March 2008, and named by the New York Observer as one of Obama s early New York supporters. The National Law Journal named her one of the Fifty Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America in 2008, and she received the Woman of Power and Influence Award from the National Organization of Women in She is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard Radcliffe College and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was Supervising Editor of the Harvard Law Review. 9

10 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTIoN INVESCO TICKETING PROCESS Wednesday, August 6, 2008 The credentialing process for Senator Barack Obama s acceptance speech at Invesco Field was released. Please visit to follow the four step process. The process involves contacting the Campaign for Change via a phone number. After submitting some contact information, you will be contacted by the campaign starting August 12th to see if you were selected. If you are selected, you can then pick up your credential at a Campaign for Change HQ in your state. Then you just have to figure out how to get to Denver. The website has the most comprehensive information right now for the credentialing process. All delegates, alternates, guests, and pages (those who have been credentialed to be inside the Pepsi Center) will be credentialed for Invesco. More than half of the credentials will be allocated to Colorado. Nearly 2/3 of all credentials will be allocated to the Mountain West Region (this number includes the Colorado allocation). The remaining credentials will go to states across the country and be distributed by the Campaigns for Change. 10

11 CoNTRIBUTe to THE MOVEMENT: COMMUNITY EVENTS 15th Annual Pistahan Parade and Festival Saturday, August 9 10, 2008 San Francisco, CA Come show your support and enthusiasm for Senator Obama and the Filipino American community by taking part in the 15th Annual Pistahan Parade and Festival! Filipinos for Obama is looking for supporters to take part in this two day event. Be a part of this meaningful celebration that hopes to garner support for Senator Obama within the Filipino American community. March in the parade and stay afterwards to register voters, recruit volunteers, and talk to fellow Filipinos about why you support Barack Obama! For more information regarding this event, please April Joy at FilipinosforObama@gmail.com Bay Area Filipinos for Obama Kick-Off Event Tuesday, August 19, 2008 San Francisco, CA Join the conversation and grassroots movement at the Bay Area Filipinos for Obama Kick Off Event! Help brainstorm ways to empower and mobilize the Filipino community to bring progress and hope back to our country. Hear from community leaders, mingle with other Obama supporters, and sign up to volunteer at various events that are being held in the area. The event will be held at Zebulon Bar & Restaurant, 83 Natoma Street, Francisco, CA. The cost to attend the event is free, but a donation of $25.00 or more to the Obama campaign when you RSVP or on the evening of the event, will enter you in a raffle to win a signed copy of Senator Obama s book The Audacity of Hope. The drawing will take place at the event. Please RSVP at my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/44bk9 For more information regarding this event, please filipinosforobama@gmail.com 11

12 Voter Registration Drive at the Unforgettable Tour Saturday, August 9, 2008 Atlantic City, NJ Participate in the voter registration drive at the Unforgettable Tour, the biggest South Asian entertainment event of the year! An estimated 30,000 people of all races and ethnicities will be in attendance. The voter registration drive will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, West Atlantic City, NJ. For more information regarding this event, please contact Niki Shah at or Sign up on Facebook at Voter Registration Drive at the India Day Parade Sunday, August 10, 2008 Iselin, NJ Come help register voters at the Indian Day Parade, where an estimated 80,000 people will be in attendance. Your help can make a tremendous difference in reaching out to the AAPI community and getting Senator Obama elected! The voter registration drive will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information regarding this event, please contact Niki Shah at or shahna@andromeda.rutgers.edu 12

13 Reception Benefiting the Obama Victory Fund Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Honolulu, HI Support Barack Obama at a reception at the Kahala Resort. To RSVP or for more information regarding this event, please Tammy Paster at tammy@barackobama.com An Evening with Kal Penn & Friends Tuesday, August 12, 2008 New York, NY This event will be hosted by the Asian American Finance Committee, Generation Obama, the DNC Trailblazers Council, and the DNC South Asian American Leadership Council. Kal Penn, the actor in The Namesake and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle has been touring the nation speaking to young people about why he believes in Barack Obama. Please contact Gautam Raghavan at RaghavanG@dnc.org for more information. 13

14 STAY CONNECTED WITH APPI We need your help to reach out to as many voters in our community to empower them to be involved in the campaign. Please encourage your friends and family to sign up to join the AAPI for Obama group at my.barackobama.com/aapiforobama. They will receive news and updates on what the AAPI Vote Team is planning, access our weekly newsletter, and purchase AAPI for Obama gear. 14

15 Contact Information AAPI Vote Team Contact INFormaTIon For more INFormaTIon about Obama for AmeRICa please VISIT check aapi out on facebook obama aapi vote DIRector = &ref=ts aapi student vote DIRector Opt Out of Newsletter If you wish to unsubscribe from Ka Leo, please send an to with the subject line Un s u b s c r i b e. PaID for by Obama for AmeRICa 15