| JACL Weekly Digest June 18, 2024 Please note: JACL Offices will be closed tomorrow, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth. JACL staff will be back in the office on Thursday, June 20. |
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| | | Register Now for the 2024 JACL National Convention! Ends Today! |
|  | Registration closes on June 18th, 2024! Sponsorship information, committee forms, and volunteer registration are all available online now! Click the button to take you to the convention page below! The tentative convention schedule is also now available to view! |
| | | |  | |  | | Special Events Coming to the 2024 JACL National Convention! |
|  | JACL is thrilled to offer additional Special Events at this year's convention:
• Phillies vs. Dodgers Baseball Game
• Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) at Shofuso Japanese House & Garden
IMPORTANT INFO - Please note that full convention registrations only include access to Natsu Matsuri and do not include bento boxes at Natsu Matsuri or baseball tickets.
- Baseball Game tickets are first come first serve. To best ensure you get the number of tickets you would like, please fill out this form no later than June 23.
- Your Natsu Matsuri registration is only confirmed if you fill out this form no later than July 1.
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| | | JACL Applauds New Family Immigration Policies |
|  | 6/18/2024 Today, as it celebrated the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Biden Administration announced new immigration policies that look to support American families and strengthen our workforce. The first policy supports undocumented immigrant spouses and children of U.S. citizens who have lived in the U.S. for 10 or more years to apply for green cards, without fear of deportation. The second policy enables DACA recipients or Dreamers who have graduated college and are offered U.S. employment to more easily obtain work visas, especially in high-demand professions. |
| | | Minidoka + Lava Ridge FEIS - Community Meeting Tonight! |
|  | From Friends of Minidoka- Friends of Minidoka along with community partners have been fighting for nearly three years to preserve the solemn and reflective cultural landscape of Minidoka National Historic Site from a massive commercial wind development. Last week, the Bureau of Land Management issued its Final EIS for Lava Ridge. The proposed alternative will mar the sanctity of Minidoka National Historic Site. Here is Friends of Minidoka’s and National Parks Conservation Association’s joint press release and press kit. Read more on our Lava Ridge webpage. We will be holding a virtual community meeting alongside community partners JACL National Office and Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee to discuss our response. Our community has 30 days to respond to the Final EIS before the BLM issues the Record of Decision. |
| | | Mike Masaoka Congressional Fellowship Application Now Open! |
|  | The Mike M. Masaoka Fellowship Fund was established in 1988 to honor Mike M. Masaoka (1915-1991) for a lifetime of outstanding public service in promoting justice, civil rights, and human dignity. The Masaoka Fellowship is designed to develop leaders for public service, particularly at the national level, and provides fellows the unique opportunity to be placed in a Congressional office where they gain firsthand knowledge of policy creation. The fellowship is housed in the D.C. office of a member of the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House of Representatives. The length of the fellowship is decided upon by the selected fellow and by the Congressional office and can last from 6 months to over a year. Specific duties in the office vary depending on the Congressional office and on the Fellow’s experience and knowledge of Congressional functions. Priority Deadline: July 1, 2024 at 11:59 PM HST. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
Program Dates: Start August 2024 or later. This fellowship term is variable, lasting from 6 months up to a year or more. It is dependent on the office in which you are placed. |
| | | Daniel K. Inouye Fellowship Application Now Open! |
|  | The Daniel K. Inouye Fellowship is named for the late United States senator from Hawaii. The fellow will monitor key legislative initiatives of importance to the JACL mission, and design and implement JACL-sponsored programs among other tasks and duties. The fellowships provide the opportunity to work on advocacy at a national level through the National JACL office based in Washington, D.C. As a fellow, you will become a key component of the D.C. team. In this position, you will be working with JACL staff, other fellows, and the executive director to mobilize and inform local chapters. As part of this D.C. branch of National JACL, fellows are integral in establishing a voice for JACL and its members within D.C. and the various networks. This voice is critical regarding policy issues affecting our communities and collaborating with other organizations to establish a stronger collective voice. Priority Deadline: June 24th, 2024 at 11:59 PM HST. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
Program Dates: Start August 2024 or later. This fellowship term lasts 1 year, with the possibility of being extended for an additional year. |
| | | New Membership Benefit Coming Soon! |
|  | JACL is partnering with Grouper to offer eligible members, age 65 or older, payments for staying healthy and socially active. Through participating Medicare Advantage and Supplemental plans, Grouper provides an initial $50 check and $20 quarterly payments for ongoing activities. We will send an official invite email this Thursday! |
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| | | If any JACL Chapters would like to submit stories or events to the Weekly Digest, please send inquiries to Education Programs Manager, Matthew Weisbly at mweisbly@jacl.org |
| | Silicon Valley JACL Trivia Night! |
|  | | | Greater Los Angeles JACL Free Pickleball Lesson |
|  | | | Kansha Project Culmination 2024 |
|  | Over the past eleven years, the Kansha Project has grown from a mere idea into a flagship program of JACL Chicago, sending over 100 alumni across ten cohorts to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and Manzanar National Historic Site. The Kansha Project is a transformative program that provides young Japanese Americans the opportunity to learn about our community’s history, develop unique insights about our community’s legacy, and allows participants to explore their identity with other Japanese American young adults. In addition, the Kansha Project provides an entry point for community engagement and a pathway for youth leadership that is vital to the future of the Japanese American community at large. After a brief pause due to the pandemic, the Kansha Project took two cohorts of ten participants in 2022 and restarted the ALB with nine members. This year, the trip will take place from June 6-9 and celebrate the 2024 Kansha Project cohort with Culmination in Chicago on Saturday, June 29. - Conal Abatangelo
- Emiko Akiyama Tahara
- Sai Clayton
- Mia Combs
- Amy Do
- Mariko Dowling
- Yukiko Nakano
- Sophia Saito
- Gabriela Senno
- Kei Smith
- Haruka Yukioka
We invite you to join us at Culmination to celebrate this year’s Kansha Project with the Kansha Alumni Leadership Board (ALB) and the 2024 program participants! Participants will share reflections of their experience of their trip to Little Tokyo, LA and Manzanar Historic Site and present their unique projects summarizing their experience to the community. We hope you'll join us for this celebration of community, youth leadership, and legacy. Questions? Contact JACL Program Director, Rebecca Ozaki at kansha@jaclchicago.org. Learn more at https://jaclchicago.org/programs/kansha-project/ |
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| | | | Youth Ambassador for Science Video Competition |
|  | | The “Youth Ambassador for Science” competition invites high schoolers to create and share short videos highlighting Asian American science pioneers, for a chance to win a $1,000 VISA gift card. Multiple prizes available. Winners will be recognized at the Asian American Pioneer Award Symposium at Stanford on July 27 and will have the opportunity to have one-on-one online mentoring meetings with top university professors. See the official rules at https://aasforum.org/video-competition/official-rules for full details. |
| | | |  | Okaeri Matsuri is a community festival that gathers our Nikkei LGBTQ+ community to celebrate queer joy, inspired by Japanese summer festivities! The event is free, open to all LGBTQ+ communities and friends, and will include: Matsuri Circle Dancing, Performances, Games, Food, and more!
RSVP is required, please register here. Any questions, please email us at info@okaeri.org |
| | Upcoming Events from the Japanese American Resource Center of Colorado |
|  | Saturday - Sunday, June 22-23 / Sakura Foundation and The Tri-State Buddhist Temple The 50th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival Sakura Square: Between 19th & 20th Street and Lawrence & Larimer Saturday - Sunday, June 22-23 Japanese American Resource Center of Colorado (JARCC) In conjunction with the Cherry Blossom Festival at Sakura Square JARCC's "All Things Japanese Sale" + JARCC's "International Room" THANK YOU! to all of our Generous Donors and Tireless Volunteers! Saturday, July 6, 2024 / Colorado Okinawa Association 50th Anniversary Celebration / 11:00 am - 3:30 pm / Free Admission Douglas County Event Center / 500 Fairgrounds Rd. / Castle Rock, CO see attachment for more information (thumbnail) |
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| | JACL Headquarters
1765 Sutter Street
San Francisco, California 94115
(415) 921-5225 | mbr@jacl.org |
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JACL DC Office
1612 K Street NW, Suite 1400
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 223-1240 | policy@jacl.org |
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