For Immediate Release
April 22, 2004
Contact:
Eric Jensen, (703) 868-8325,
eric.jensen@capava.org
COALITION OF
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS OF VIRGINIA TO HOST VIRGINIA ASIAN
ADVISORY BOARD’S PUBLIC FORUM IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA DURING ASIAN HERITAGE
MONTH
The Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia (CAPAVA) announced
today
that it is cosponsoring an historic public forum in northern Virginia
on
Saturday, May 15th, 2004 with the Commonwealth’s Virginia Asian
Advisory
Board (VAAB) to hear public testimonies from Asian Pacific American
community
representatives.
The public forum will be held Saturday, May 15th at the
George Mason University Arlington campus at 3401 North Fairfax Drive,
room
244, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. * (Lunch will be served.)
The Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans, CAPAVA, is a non-partisan
pan-Asian
statewide organization created to help advocate the grassroots issues of
Virginia’s Asian Pacific American (APA) communities.
Eric Liang Jensen, President of CAPAVA, announced “This is the first
time that
the Commonwealth has held a public forum to hear from the Commonwealth’s
Asian
Pacific American communities about their issues and concerns.” “There
will be
witnesses from the various Asian Pacific American communities that will
address
health, social service, citizenship service, voter registration,
business
assistance, international trade, education and criminal justice issues,”
Mr.
Jensen said.
The Virginia Asian Advisory Board is a citizens’ body created by state
legislation to provide advice and guidance on the Commonwealth's policy
affecting Asian Pacific American communities and on commerce between the
Commonwealth and Asian nations. VAAB is comprised of 18 advisory board
members
and is chaired by Liu-Jen Chu of Richmond, with Robert Colorina of
Chesapeake as
Vice Chairman.
CAPAVA Chairman Toa Do said: “We are very excited that VAAB will be
coming to
northern Virginia for its first-ever field hearing. Our APA communities
are
looking forward to dialoguing with the Governor’s appointed board to
tell them
what our issues and concerns are.”
Rose Chu, CAPAVA Vice Chairperson, said we are very pleased that CAPAVA
is able
to bring its resources to help the VAAB produce data and information
necessary
to assess the state of the Commonwealth’s APA communities. CAPAVA is
doing its
best to help out all the APA communities statewide.”
At the May 15th public forum, VAAB will receive information from two
panels of
witnesses and comments from the public from 10:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. A VAAB
public
business meeting will follow the hearing. In the evening, CAPAVA will
sponsor a
reception from 5:30-7:30 at Café Asia, located at 1550 Wilson Boulevard,
Arlington, Virginia.**
Governor Mark Warner, Lt. Governor Tim Kaine, the northern Virginia
delegation
of elected members, and state and local officials have been invited to
attend
the public forum as well as to celebrate Asian Heritage Month at the
evening
reception.
For updated information on the public forum or reception, go to:
www.capava.org.
*Nearest metro stop: Virginia Square on Orange line. Parking on street
and on
campus. For directions to and map of campus, click on
http://www.arlingtonsbdc.org/contact_us.asp.
**Reception cost is $25. The public and press are invited. Contact C.M.
Liu,
cmliu98@yahoo.com, and (202)
274-7615 or
(703) 846-9628 to rsvp. | 