In Defense of Sherry Xiafen Chen & Xiaoxing Xi
As Martin Luther King Jr. potently said, injustice to one is injustice to all. UCA takes it as one of its top priorities to make sure that civil rights to Asian Americans, indeed all Americans, are forever protected, consecrated and sanctified. It is in this spirit and with grave concern that UCA has been the leader in fighting against the Federal wrongful prosecution of Sherry Xiafen Chen, Xiaoxing Xi, and other such cases, through public and member education, working with US Congress and other government agencies, as well as with legal defense.
Civic Participation and 10/10 Project
With its extensive network and coalition nationwide, UCA will encourage its chapter organizations, community partner organizations, and other affiliates to lead robust civic participation in their community. More specifically, UCA will assist its partner groups to implement tried-and-tested programs to register Asian American voters and turn out such voters in elections.
Through public education, voter education, and community organization, UCA will work with other Chinese American organizations to reach the goal and meet the challenge it sets for the Chinese American community: to elect ten Chinese American Members of Congress in ten years (there are four of them in US Congress now), starting from 2016, or “Project 10/10”.
UCA Institute of Leadership and Internship
The nation’s capitol is a nexus and seat for the nation’s best internship and leadership training opportunities. We will provide best internship opportunities for Chinese American students, and all students of Chinese descent, through our chapter organizations, community partner organizations and other affiliates. We will also tap into Washington DC’s rich and unrivaled resources in leadership, politics, and public policy to train and prepare our next generation for a better world.
Chinese American Charitable Giving Campaign
Due to cultural handicap and other historic factors, Chinese Americans are not used to give charitable giving to “public cause” or society in general, while they could be very generous in giving to good causes in their related community or family and friends’ circles. Lacking such philanthropic tradition, whether it is charitable or political in nature, has greatly hindered our community’s capacity to act, aid and assist. It has also made our community perceived to be uncaring and weak. This has to change.
UCA will do two long-term campaigns to help change it. First, we will coordinate an annual charitable 1% giving pledge drive, from Christmas season to the end of Lunar New Year typically in February, tapping into the Christmas giving, year-end tax-exempt giving, and the Lunar New Year. More specifically, we would encourage each Chinese American family during the Lunar New Year to give minimum three “Red Packets” (Hong Bao) to three non-profits or other good causes, especially those in or from our community and the most needed in the larger society.
Another part of this campaign is UCS will recommend the most deserving causes and organization for Chinese American charitable giving. At annual UCA Convention and later during Christmas or Lunar New Year season, UCA will publish and advertise its research-based and community feedback supported study and recommendation of a list of “Ten Best Chinese American Community Organizations” that needs and deserves your help.
White Papers on Public Opinion and Demographics
UCA believes that an informed public enlightens every society. UCA will conduct annual, quinquennial, and decennial surveys on the change and state of Chinese Americans, with a focus on public opinion, values, US-China relations and demographic changes and its consequences.
Each year at UCA Convention, UCA will publish its annual “White Paper Report on the State of Chinese Americans”; every mid-point year of the decade, UCA will publish “Quinquennial Demographic Report on Chinese America Community”; and every decade after the Census report, UCA will publish its own more layered and detailed “Decennial Demographic Report on Chinese American Community”.
UCA Scholarship Fund
UCA Scholarship Fund gives out its scholarship through its extensive network of local chapters and other affiliates to Chinese American high school students of academic and moral distinction. The Fund also presents its annual scholarship awards to Latino and African American high school students with academic and moral distinction, through the partnership with the premier African American and Hispanic civic organizations.
Program “Hui Jia” (“Going Home”)
There are many summertime programs assisting Chinese American kids to go visit China while learning the culture and language. Program “Hui Jia” (Program Ancestral Homeland), however, is designed to give young Chinese American students much more rigorous academic training and equally rigorous social practice participation through top Chinese universities and in “the real world”, with a goal of fully preparing these students linguistically, culturally, mentally and spiritually for the challenging world ahead.
More specifically, Program Hui Jia (or Program Ancestral Homeland) encourages students of Chinese American descent, upon their graduation from high school, to apply for, either one semester or two, formal academic study on some of China’s best universities, delay one year or half year going to attend American or other universities (“gap year”). Students can also apply for the program during their study in post-secondary education. UCA believes these college-ready students will gain much better insight and preparedness, before they will embark on their four year study.
Program “Xun Gen” (“Finding Roots”)
UCA takes adopted children from China as part of the Chinese American family. While UCA has a strong and general interest in helping these children or young adults, it focuses on one long-term project: help adopted Chinese orphans find their biological parents or siblings. Involving a large number of these volunteer children, UCA will help set up a genetic database to match these children from China with their biological family members in China.
Lunar New Year Celebration & Committee
UCA believes that issues like heritage, culture and identity matter. Nothing in Chinese tradition and culture strengthens our community more than the Lunar New Year Celebration, which has been observed by nearly half of all Asian Americans in this country. UCA will celebrate this holiday every year with its unique nationwide initiatives, PR campaigns, Congressional Lunar New Year Celebration, community-wide coordination, reforming and renewing this most significant festival and day for our community.
To further assist our community, UCA has set up a special Lunar New Year Committee made up of community leaders and activists across the country to coordinate the holiday celebration, and help seek official recognition in all fifty statehouses, Federal government, local school boards and other public institutions or public ceremonies.
Chinese American Legal Defense Fund
Throughout its history, Chinese Americans have been subject to unfair treatment, stereotype, Red Scare and outright discrimination. From “Chinese Exclusion Act” to Wen Ho Lee case and now to the wrongful prosecution of Sherry Chen and Xiaoxing Xi. To aid and defend the Chinese American community in the long term, UCA has decided to set up this Fund to defend the rights of every Chinese American and indeed all Americans, through court challenge, public opinion campaign and legal assistance.
Annual Convention, Conference and Retreat
Beyond its signature “Chinese American Convention”, which is open to all Chinese Americans and sets the agenda for community-wide action, UCA from time to time also hosts conferences on topics of interest to Chinese American communities and manages organizational or community retreats.