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Weekly Digest
December 19, 2023 Please Note: JACL Offices will be closed from December 23rd, 2023 to January 2nd, 2024 in observance of the holidays. If you need immediate assistance during this time, please email policy@jacl.org |
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Help Support JACL This Holiday Season with Annual Giving! This holiday season, words like purpose, community, and togetherness come to mind when we reflect upon JACL and the Pacific Citizen’s most transformative moments this year. Join our holiday campaign, "Celebrating Connections", and invest in our work that has touched countless connections with members, partner organizations, teachers, youth, veterans, and communities all over the nation. |
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This Friday (12/22) is the Last Day to Gift ALL Memberships! |
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Update: we reached our goal of 100 gifted memberships! Thank you to those of you who gifted memberships to friends and family, we truly appreciate you. Want to participate? It’s not too late! This Friday, 12/22 is the last day to order all gifts. |
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2024 JACL/OCA Leadership Summit Applications Due Tomorrow! |
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Applications are Due Wednesday, December 20th at 11:59pm HST! Saturday, March 9th through Tuesday, March 12th in Washington, D.C.! Established by JACL in 1984, the four-day annual leadership summit program introduces community leaders from across the nation to the national policy-making arena. Co-convened with OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates since 1994, the JACL/OCA Washington, D.C. Leadership Conference is structured to provide a broad overview of the decision-making process at the federal level, including meetings and briefings by public officials, key policymakers who serve in Congress, the White House, federal agencies, advocacy organizations, and the media. Participants also will be briefed on legislative issues affecting AAPI communities and will examine the role Asian Pacific American civil rights organizations, such as JACL and OCA, play in affecting public policy and pursuing civil rights legislation in the nation’s capital! The 2024 program will again take place in person in Washington, DC, with the application of programmatic and government COVID-19 guidelines to promote a safe event. We will require all participants who are able to be vaccinated. Both JACL and OCA will be closely monitoring the COVID-19 numbers in the coming weeks, and if necessary may alter the program including the possibility of shifting to a virtual event, postponement, or cancellation. | | |
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JACL Files Amicus Brief in Support of Fearless Fund Management LLC |
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Last week, JACL filed an Amicus Brief in support of Fearless Fund Management LLC in a court battle which is the latest attack on race conscious programs that benefit BIPOC and other communities. The brief goes into different programs that have supported the Japanese American community and how similar programs are beneficial to supporting underserved and underprivileged communities throughout the United States and our nation's history. |
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JACL National Board Announces New Members to National Investment Policy Committee |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NATIONAL BOARD ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS
December 18, 2023.
The JACL National Board announces the appointment of former National President David Lin and Mr. Kirk Tambara to the National Investment Policy Committee (NIPC). Their terms on the NIPC are for three years. The NIPC was established as a Standing Committee of the National Board to supervise and
administer the prudent investment of all assets of the JACL, and to advise and make
recommendations to the National Board and National Council regarding these investments.
For more information please contact National Secretary Treasurer Jonathan Okamoto at
jokamoto@jacl.org |
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JACL Honolulu’s QUILT Fellowship Program: Building Innovative Leaders of Tomorrow |
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JACL Honolulu’s QUILT Fellowship Program’s inaugural cohort will begin gathering in January 2024. Through the QUILT Fellowship, selected fellows will connect with civil rights advocates, social justice activists and other community leaders. Fellows will attend workshops from January 2024 to April 2024 where they will learn skills in board service, community organizing, grant writing, and project implementation. Fellows will work closely with JACL facilitators to prepare detailed plans for capstone projects. They will then work on individual or group projects, 3-12 months in duration, to forward the JACL Honolulu chapter’s commitment to civil rights and social justice. Fellows will receive a monthly stipend for their participation in the fellowship as well as funding for their individual or group projects. Individual and group projects will be presented at the 2024 JACL Honolulu annual gala. How can you help? We welcome your support of our efforts to build the next generation of community leaders. You may make a donation at Givebutter or by emailing us at JACLHon@gmail.com. This program was made possible in part by long-time supporter, social justice advocate, and textile artist Ellen Godbey Carson. She has donated one-of-a-kind quilts, pictured here. These beautiful quilts were lovingly designed and made from dozens of vintage kimono silks and fabrics she collected. More information on how to obtain these one-of-a-kind quilts will be provided at the 2023 Distinguished Service Awards Gala, Saturday, November 18, 2023; by emailing JACLHon@gmail.com or at our Givebutter site. ***Each quilt has a sleeve on the upper back side to easily hang the quilt. For longevity of your quilt, keep it out of direct sunlight and do not wash it (dry clean only). |
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Call for Day Of Remembrance Events! |
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As we're coming up on Day of Remembrance, JACL is once again asking all of our chapters and supporters to send us information on any events that you know of so that we can share it with the wider membership and Japanese American community! Please send any information you have on your DOR events, including date(s), times, any website/social links, and images/flyers you might have! We'll continually update the listing so if you currently only have some information and are still waiting on more, send us what you have and we can update the event page. The event page and calendar will be made available later. Send any program information you have to Education Programs Manager, Matthew Weisbly at mweisbly@jacl.org |
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UC Berkeley Announces New Japanese American Oral History Project |
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The Oral History Center is proud to announce the launch of the Japanese American Intergenerational Narratives Oral History Project, featuring 100 hours of oral history interviews with 23 Japanese American narrators who are survivors and descendants of two World War II-era sites of incarceration: Manzanar in California and Topaz in Utah. Using healing as a throughline, these life history interviews explore identity, community, creative expression, and the stories family members passed down about how incarceration shaped their lives. |
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2024 JACL National Scholarship Program Applications Available Now! |
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2024 JACL Chicago Chapter Scholarships Available Now! |
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Apply to be a White House Fellow! |
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The Class of 2024-2025 application is now open through 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday, January 5, 2024. Apply now. | Founded in 1964 by Lyndon B. Johnson, the White House Fellows program is one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. White House Fellowships offer exceptional emerging leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal government. Selected individuals typically spend a year working as a full-time, paid Fellow to senior White House Staff, Cabinet Secretaries, and other top-ranking government officials. Fellows also participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with leaders from the private and public sectors, and potential trips to study U.S. policy in action both domestically and internationally. Fellowships are awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis. | |
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Fundraiser to Build a Museum for Nisei Veterans in Bruyeres, France |
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From Heroes of the Vosges Museum, We are less than a year away from the eightieth anniversary (October 2024) of the liberation of the Vosges communities of Bruyères, Bellmont, Biffontaine and the near miraculous rescue of the Lost Texas Battalion. We are again reminded of the sacrifice made by the young Nisei men of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team in October 1944. With each passing day, fewer of these heroic soldiers are left to tell their story and it is essential that we create a lasting exhibit that will carry their story to future generations. Where better to have such an exhibit than on the very ground made sacred by the Nisei sacrifice? With the agreement and support of the Mayor and City Council, the town of Bruyères is working to create a start-up museum to commemorate the Nisei and the members of the French Resistance who helped liberate these communities. To that end, we are seeking artifacts associated with the Nisei soldiers and donations to create a small museum that will preserve these artifacts and stories for future generations. We have created a website at vosgesheroes.org and have obtained non-profit (501 (c) (3) status (93-3459043) for the museum fund. The website also offers a children’s book called Marie of Bruyères that tells the story, in both English and French, of a little girl who meets one of the Nisei liberators. All donations and proceeds for the sale of the book are deposited in the Museum Fund. Please go to vosgesheroes.org and make a generous donation and buy the book. Please also see hill555.org that describes our earlier effort to create the Torch Monument dedicated in 2017. For additional information, please call Carl Williams, the U.S. Volunteer, at 916-233-8069 |
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Looking for a Match for Kaiya! |
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Fundraising for WWII memorial stone at Miramar National Cemetery, San Diego |
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In honor of our Japanese American World War II Veterans who are buried in Miramar National Cemetery, the San Diego JACL is raising funds to donate a stone memorial currently being designed by award-winning architect Dennis Otsuji. If you are interested in making a donation, please visit our gofundme page (QR code and link in the attached flyer) or send a check to the SDJACL, 2317 Mica Rd, Carlsbad, CA 92009. Thank you in advance for your generosity! Fundraising will conclude December 31, 2023. |
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See Omoiyari a Song Film by Kishi Bashi! |
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