MOAPIA Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs Meeting

Start date: 
Nov 18, 2024 6:30 pm
End date: 
Nov 18, 2024 7:30 pm
Location: 
One Judiciary Square
441 4th St NW

This meeting is governed by the Open Meetings Act. Please address any questions or complaints arising under this meeting to the Office of Open Government at opengovoffice@dc.gov.

Materials: 

October 2024 Meeting Minutes

 

Swearing In

Deputy Director Vida Rangel swore in Commissioners Watanabe, Uipi and Hara.

 

Call to Order

Director de Guzman started the meeting to order at 6:40PM

 

Introduction of Commissioners and Quorum – quorum was not present. Director de Guzman gave an icebreaker.

 

Commissioners In Attendance

Jennifer Hara (by phone)

Martha Watanabe (in person)

Sina Uipi (in person)

Yilin Zhang (by phone at 7:20 pm)

 

Not present: Nir Adhikari, Jennifer Anderson, Jeff Duong Le, Aneysha Bhat, Artisha Naidu, Krishna Godiwala, Karen Kwok, Mike Park, and Moh Sharma

 

MOAPIA Staff in Attendance

Ben de Guzman, Director

Lavau Nalu, Public Information Officer

Akina Harada, Director of Operations

 

Approval of Agenda – The agenda was not approved as we did not have quorum.

 

Approval of June Meeting Minutes – The June, July, August and September minutes were not approved as we did not have quorum.

 

Executive Reports and Business Items

Director de Guzman gave his Director’s report. The office still has two open positins for a Community Outreach Specialist who speaks Korean and another for Vietnamese or Chinese.

 

MOAPIA has continued its community outreach engaging with AAPI small business owners and assisting them with their diverse challenges and needs. Between August 31–September 27, MOAPIA assisted 50 businesses and provided case assistance and resources regarding issues such as Business Grants, Permit, Building inspection, Business license, Small business resources, DC Façade Improvement Program, Tax, Clean hands certificate, etc.

 

MOAPIA continues to ensure that LEP/NEP AAPI residents can access resources in their language when they interface with the District government.

 

MOAPIA is reaching out to residents and small business owners through its rigorous community outreach and joint public safety outreach with MPD. Between August 31–September 27, MOAPIA conducted 2 resident outreach and 19 business outreach and connected 132 victims with DC resources such as Security Camera Rebate Program, Crime Victims Compensation Program and other MPD and law enforcement resources. MOAPIA also continues to play a lead role in the Chinatown Safe Commercial Corridor Hub by staffing the outpost of government and law enforcement services on H Street. MOAPIA serves as lead city government staff at the Hub three days a week.

 

During the month of September there were quite a few successful events including the Asian Night Market Pop-Up, the Korean Movie night, and the MOLA Fiesta DC Parade with the Mayor. Earlier this month, the MOAPIA team participated in DDOT Open Streets on 7th Street, NW. The partnership with Fiesta DC has spurred an interest in doing a more frequent night market in Chinatown.

 

Sub-Committee Updates: Both of these sub-committees have been on the back burner but there are a lot of opportunities coming up.

 

  • Pacific Islander Task Force: Potential opportunities for Kristina Tsai’s going away and the end of the year holiday events.

                                                                                 

  • National Network of AAPI Local Agencies: Recent activities from the WH Initative pending reconnecting with the California network.

 

FY 2025 Overview

Outreach: Director de Guzman and PIA Nalu are thinking about how to do better with outreach to the community. The office does have over 9,000 names in the database but thinking about other ways to reach the community.

 

Language Access: Some ongoing challenges given that MOAPIA has five different languages that the team has to work in.

 

Grant Program: The program has increased interest as we have 13 applicants this year.

 

Signature Events

  1. Diwali – October 30
  2. Holiday Event – December
  3. Lunar New Year – last week of January; technically CCBA’s event (parade)
  4. AANHPI Heritage Month – May; thinking about doing quarterly events and including Foodelicious
  5. Immigrant Heritage Month – June; Chinatown Park activities
  6. Summer Series – movies, tai chi, etc.

 

Commissioner Connections – looking for ways to better connect the Commissioners to the work of the community, the office, and beyond

  1. Current Programs
  2. Events
  3. Education/ Awareness

 

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 7:26 pm.