Civic Leadership USA
Empower Communities & Impact Tomorrow
United Chinese Americans (UCA) is a nationwide non-profit and nonpartisan federation of organizations and individuals dedicated to empowering Chinese American communities through civic participation, political engagement, heritage sharing, and youth development for the wellbeing of all Americans.
Sponsored by the Civic Leadership USA (CLUSA) and other future grant-giving institutions, Civil Leadership USA (CLUSA) aims to train Asian Americans to fully participate in America’s civic and political life by creating a pipeline for its leaders for a representative democracy and a just society. Traditionally, Asian Americans have been underrepresented in the political sphere on both the local levels and national stages. It is therefore critical for each of us to be part of the solution by developing such future leaders. Our goal is to unite our community across the country, to empower our civic and political leaders. We hope to light the fire, rally the troop, and march on to build better communities and more perfect Union of both today and tomorrow.
In the fall of 2017, with the generous support from the CLUSA, UCA successfully organized four Civic Leadership USA conferences in Milwaukee, Twin Cities, Chicago and Salt Lake City, based on the understanding that what Chinese American community need most is much more civic engagement. These events drew a combined total of 250 community activists, civic leaders, and youth. In 2018, 4 more forums are planned for Iowa, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and Texas. UCA will continue to engage our community nationwide on this fundamental issue as one of its highest priorities.
Key Deliverables
- Increase civic leadership pool: Introduce CLUSA to the broader Asian American community and include local CLUSA participants to the CLUSA contact database.
- Build up communal intelligence: Video record of forums, for on-line training library in the future; training material so prepared.
- Impact future: Build stronger pipeline for civic and political leaders.
- Benchmark/Measurement:
- Number of registered CLUSA participants and partner organizations involved;
- Number of people rising up from audience to run for office, get trained to run for office, and to gain political and judicial appointments.
To bring a CLUSA conference to your community, please contact:
- Lily Chen, Lily.chen@ucausa.org
- Chaoyu Xie, Chaoyu.xie@ucausa.org
Civic Leadership USA (CLUSA): civicleadershipusa.org
Brief on Past CLUSA Conferences
Sponsored by CLUSA, UCA Successfully held four sessions of Civic Leadership USA Conferences from September to the end of 2017.
Milwaukee CLUSA Conference
On September 30, the first forum was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Several Asian-American representatives, who have made outstanding contributions in public affairs in Milwaukee, were invited to share their own stories and experiences in their election campaigns, their journey of serving the community, and their efforts of exploring where to engage Asian Americans and how to increase their abilities and scopes in civic participation.
Twin City CLUSA Conference
On October 7, hundreds people from Twin City, Minnesota ,walked into the second, four hour long Civic Leadership USA forum. The forum invited nine speakers including Minnesota Federal Judges, Senators, legal scholars, state legislators and leaders of local organizations. It focused the discussion on basic concepts, rules, and methods of civic participation and engagement. Legal professionals and experts shared their experiences in legal practices, demonstrated methods of civic participation and discussed topics that are profoundly concerning Chinese American community.
Chicago CLUSA Conference
On October 15, the third forum was held in Chicago. It focused on two topics of “why” and “how” to conduct citizens’ civic participation. The forum specially invited 10 guest speakers including representatives from the State Assembly of Illinois, state legislators, leaders from Chinese community organizations. It successfully provided the audience with a dialogue platform through keynote speeches and Q&A discussions.
Salt Lake City CLUSA Conference
On November 4th, the fourth forum was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. It invited Utah’s famous Chinese judge, the first Chinese congressman, the first Asian Senator, and the former candidate of the Deputy Governor of California. They covered the topics of Chinese American history in Utah and share their experience in running for public office.