By: Cao O, LMSW, Executive Director, Asian American Federation of New York (May 2006)

The Asian American Federation was created in June 1990 as the product of a two-year planning initiative of United Way of New York City. I am honored to have the unique opportunity to be part of the core team that founded the Federation and to have led the organization for almost 16 years.

At the time, the vision of the founding members was to build a broad based, influential organization that would provide effective leadership in informing policies that affect the well-being of Asian Americans and in leveraging resources to enable community organizations to meet the needs of the fast growing Asian American community.

The Asian American community in New York has experienced tremendous growth in number as well as in diversity in the past two decades. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of Asian New Yorkers more than doubled in size and made up seven percent of the city’s total population. By 2000, the Asian American population grew by another 54% and reached 11% of the city’s total population. (Note: other sources report 59.4% growth over the years; see page one.) Within that decade, Chinese and Asian Indians experienced the greatest increase in number, while Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Asian Indian, and Pakistani had the fastest population growth rate among all Asian ethnic groups.

The continued influx of new immigrants has contributed to an increasing level of service needs as well as the bimodal economic characteristics of Asian Americans. According to the 2000 Census, 20% of Asian New Yorkers, 24% of Asian children, and 24% of Asian seniors lived below poverty. Unlike the general city population, 83% of Asian children living in poverty come from two-parent families.

Challenges Confronting Member Agencies

Asian American community-based agencies fill a critical gap in the larger human service sector with respect to addressing the needs of the culturally and linguistically diverse immigrant communities. These agencies are rooted in their respective communities and operate with bilingual and bicultural personnel. However, with the exception of a few, Asian American agencies are generally small and poorly funded. For example, among the Federation’s 39 member agencies, 60% of them operate with an annual budget of less than $500,000.

While many small agencies are inexperienced with fundraising, there is also a pervasive lack of understanding of and responsiveness toward the needs of the various Asian ethnic communities among government agencies and private funding institutions. The lack of resources has seriously impacted these agencies’ ability to sustain or expand services, attract or retain experienced staff with relevant professional expertise, or develop an adequate infrastructure to support their operational needs as well as to meet certain standards of nonprofit governance and accountability that are increasingly expected of nonprofit organizations.

As a catalyst, the Federation has adopted a three-pronged strategy toward community empowerment: enable community service agencies to strengthen their capacity, conduct policy research, and cultivate philanthropic investment in the community. The Federation offers advice and strategic intervention to enable nonprofit agencies overcome barriers to their organizational development.

From fundraising strategies to fiscal management, and from technology planning to organizational planning, we work with agencies individually to help them find solutions to their capacity building needs. We promote professional development opportunities for agency staff and have awarded scholarships for social work education. Where appropriate, we facilitate linkages and collaboration among the member agencies as well as between Asian American organizations and mainstream service providers.

Research

Since 2000, the Federation has substantially increased its research role to enhance public understanding of Asian Americans, to inform appropriate service planning and development, and to impact policy decisions of concern to the Asian American community. During the past few years, we worked with several university faculty members and produced ground breaking and widely cited studies:

•  Chinatown After September 11th: An Economic Impact Study (April 2002)

•  Chinatown One Year After September 11th (November 2002)

•  Asian American Elders in New York City: A Study of Health, Social Needs, Quality of Life and Quality of Care (February 2003)

•  Asian American Mental Health: A Post-September 11th Needs Assessment (September 2003)

The first Chinatown report documented the unprecedented level of economic devastation that the community was experiencing, which received international media coverage. The report was able to effect policy changes within government entities and private relief funds, resulting in disaster relief more readily available to affected workers and businesses in Chinatown. Both reports were also instrumental in the community’s gaining substantial public and philanthropic support toward the local rebuilding efforts.

The elder report was the most comprehensive study of Asian elders in the city ever published. It significantly enhanced the field of aging and informed program planning among service providers as well as at the Department for the Aging.

The mental health report has resulted in a considerable amount of funding for community-based mental health services to families affected by September 11th while providing a longer-term planning framework to increase culturally competent mental health care for Asian Americans.

As a federally designated Census Information Center, the Federation has produced numerous census briefs to provide quick reference on the demographic profiles of Asian Americans and the various Asian ethnic groups.

A more substantial report, Economic Characteristics of Asian Americans in the New York Metropolitan Area, was released in November 2005. This report provides in-depth understanding of Asian Americans in the workforce, their earnings, income and poverty, as well as home ownership.

Promoting Philanthropy

Promoting philanthropy and volunteerism is another key strategy of the Federation. With the increasing Asian American presence in corporate America and with the growing wealth among Asian Americans, the Federation works to connect community assets to community needs.

Asian American professionals are encouraged to lend their expertise and volunteer their time with our agencies through structured activities, and Asian
American donors are encouraged to consider giving to community causes.

In addition, we also encourage greater corporate support of community programs either directly or via the Asian American Community Fund, a grant-making arm of the Federation. To date, the Community Fund has made grants in total of $2 million to the member agencies.

The Value of Social Work Training in Playing a Leadership Role

It has certainly been very challenging as well as rewarding personally to be able to make a difference in addressing some critical community issues while building the Federation from the very beginning into a nationally recognized entity.

My social work education has been invaluable and has informed my approach to carrying out the mission of the Federation. Through social work training, I learned about nonprofit management as well as working with individuals in need. I had exposure to community organizing and pursued study in social welfare policy.

These strands of social work have together shaped my perspective on the Federation’s role as a change agent, an enabler, and a facilitator. The work of the Federation involves working with individual agencies in a non-judgmental manner to help them become stronger and better managed. Our work also deals with systemic and policy issues through a reasoned, well-researched approach as well as by fostering collaborative advocacy among the agencies.

Promoting organized philanthropy is another empowering strategy to enhance Asian Americans’ civic voice and to give the community the capacity to address its various needs and concerns. Over the years, I have gained additional knowledge and skills from other fields also needed for my work. Nevertheless, social work education has given me a solid and most relevant foundation from which to grow professionally, and I am proud to be a social worker.