News

Dear NAAAP Members,

From all of us on the NAAAP Philadelphia leadership team, we hope you and all of your loved ones are well during the stay-at-home order. The impacts of COVID-19 are being felt worldwide and we have heard from many of you. Our thoughts are with those who are or have family and friends affected by this virus.

Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our members and our community. That is why we moved quickly to postpone many of our events beginning in March. We at NAAAP Philadelphia are still here to serve you virtually.

We are excited to share that we will be extending your NAAAP Philadelphia membership by one year. Additionally, to do our part to further support students during these uncertain times, we expanded our scholarship program. We are reviewing applications and we will announce the recipients of our $1,000 grants soon.

Furthermore, we are working on new resources and virtual programs that we believe you will find helpful during these challenging times. Stayed tuned and we’ll share more information soon.

Lastly, we are still committed to supporting Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) and their annual Reach & Raise grassroots fundraising event that historically commences with a yoga class and live music on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This year the event will take place virtually on Sunday, May 17th and we urge all of you to join us and support LBBC in its ongoing efforts to provide resources to people impacted by breast cancer. We hope you will support NAAAP Philadelphia’s team to raise $1,000 for LBBC. Please take a minute to visit NAAAP’s unique page for more information and to make a donation. If you have any questions regarding this event, feel free to email us at yogawithnaaap@naaapphilly.org.

Don’t forget that you can always stay connected with us by checking NAAAP Philadelphia’s website or any and all of our social media platforms: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

We appreciate your support and being a member of the NAAAP community. As always do not hesitate to reach out if we can be of service.

We are looking forward to a time when it’s safe to resume public gatherings. We wish you and your family good health.

With Warm Regards,

Ping Cao, President, and Cindy Ng, Executive Vice President
NAAAP Philadelphia

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May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: NAAAP National will host four free webinars every Wednesday in May starting on May 6^th. Join to recognize and celebrate APA culture, traditions, and contributions. For more information and to register visit http://www.naaap.org/apahm2020/.  

Save the Date: While we – NAAAP Philadelphia – are known for hosting large in-person events, during this time we are working on a number of virtual events. Join us on Thursday, May 28^th for a “Lunch and Learn” live webinar with marketing leaders Min Park, Senior Director of Marketing at WuXi Advanced Therapies, and Shawn Samuel, Senior Manager of Marketing at Comcast. They will share insights into marketing and elevating your brand. Kevin He, Manager of Marketing at WuXi Advanced Therapies will moderate this one-hour interactive discussion. 

Supporting Our Asian Communities: We are so proud of these nonprofits who have been active in supporting our Asian communities around the Philadelphia area. We urge you to check out their websites and further support their work.

During these difficult times with COVID-19, SEAMAAC, one of the oldest and largest refugee-founded agencies based in South Philadelphia, has been focusing on fighting hunger among the community. SEAMAAC’s headquarters on Broad Street (near Morris Street) has become a city-sponsored food distribution site. The tireless staff is donating over 1,000 boxes of food a week, in addition to 400 to 500 bags of groceries to seniors in the area. SEAMAAC prides itself on serving people waiting in line with dignity and hopes its extraordinary efforts to address hunger continue long after the virus subsides. General donations to support SEAMAAC can be made here: https://www.seamaac.org/donate/.

Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia(AACCGP) serves businesses in the Delaware Valley. To celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May and support Asian and Pacific Islander owned businesses in the Greater Philadelphia area, AACCGP has launched Asian Eats (#PhillyAsianEats). The newly developed site lists and will continue to add Asian restaurants and grocery stores open for business during the stay-at-home order offering take-out and delivery services. Please consider supporting one of these businesses by ordering food and/or groceries. A list of businesses can be found at https://asianchamberphila.org/asian-eats/.


Talk to Us! How are you coping with the stay-at-home order? What’s your tip(s) for handling work and family obligations especially if you have kids? In our next e-newsletter, we’ll share insights from some of the NAAAP leadership team and we’ll include some of your helpful tips too. Please email kevinhe@naaapphilly.org to share how you are doing and what advice you want to offer other NAAAPsters.

Dear NAAAP members, friends, and sponsors:

We are pleased to share NAAAP Philadelphia won two awards! On Monday, Feb. 24, at the PHL Diversity Business Opportunity Luncheon, NAAAP Philadelphia received the Nonprofit Business Award for its advocacy and community service that have positively impacted Philadelphia’s multicultural community. The Nonprofit Business Award was sponsored by The Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia, and their President, Nick Shenoy, presented the award to our President, Ping Cao. The event was held at the Millennium Ballroom at Loews Philadelphia Hotel and attended by nearly 500 individuals from around the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

On Saturday, Feb. 22, at the NAAAP National Leadership Academy, the Philadelphia chapter – out of 30 – was honored with the NAAAP Award of Excellence for Chapter of the Year. Last year, under the direction of the new President, Cao; the new Executive Vice President, Cindy Ng; and a new leadership team of 30 professionals, the Philadelphia chapter increased membership by 50 percent, produced 12 multifaceted events to further enrich its members’ experience, and added 20 new sponsors.

“We’re delighted to be honored with these two awards,” said Cao, President of NAAAP Philadelphia. “We have an amazing team of dedicated volunteers working tirelessly to organize programs and events that provide skillsets helpful to our membership of professionals. We are grateful to our many sponsors for their support and partnership, enabling NAAAP Philadelphia to grow and give back to our community.”

In case you missed it, NAAAP Philadelphia had a fun networking event on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at the Spectrum Show Room on the 14th floor of the Mellon Bank Building in downtown Philadelphia. Approximately 175 professionals from a wide range of backgrounds attended the event, representing over 25 organizations based in and around Philadelphia. In addition to good company, foods and drinks, attendees were surrounded by beautiful furniture and space.  Please see highlights of this event:

Check out pictures HERE.

Don’t miss out on the next gathering.

One of the benefits of being a NAAAP member is access to exclusive events with senior leaders and leadership teams from many different companies and organizations.  

Our end of year holiday celebration is on December 4th at 5 p.m. 
Click HERE to RSVP.

For more information on NAAAP Philadelphia and to join as a member please visit http://phl.naaap.org/ or email NAAAPPHILA@gmail.com.

Living in the poorest big city in America, many of Philadelphia’s residents struggle to locate, afford, and prepare healthy food. From seed to supper FOOD MOXIE works with some of Philadelphia’s most underserved children, students, parents, caregivers, and families to ensure that they have access to the skills and resources to grow, cook, prepare, eat, and–perhaps most importantly–to celebrate healthy food. We do this by activating growing and learning spaces with partner organizations, and by offering structured learning programs and home & community initiatives that engage community members by utilizing culinary, garden and nutrition education.

We look forward to rolling up our sleeves alongside members of the Comcast community to care for FOOD MOXIE program sites located in the “Awbury Superblock” (City of Philadelphia 2035 Comprehensive Plan, Upper Northwest) on May 4, 2019. Register here to volunteer (click on the red “Volunteer” button).

Schedule on May 4, 2019

7 am: Comcast event organizers arrive to begin set-up
8 am: Volunteers start to arrive and receive their assignments to a group (breakfast available)
8:30 am-9 am: Orientation and welcome by Comcast, FOOD MOXIE
9 am – 1 pm: WORKDAY WITH GROUPS, see below
1 pm – 2 pm: Lunch Celebration with program participants from Stenton and MLK (Volunteers support games, face painting, and pizza)
2 pm – 3 pm: Breakdown and Clean-up

Projects

RED Group of 25 will either walk or drive to Awbury Community Garden, 6336 Ardleigh Street, with Mr. Eldridge Ragsdale to work in the community garden that is part of Awbury Agricultural Village. (Lead – Dan Marut)

GREEN Group of 25 will work in the Stenton/MLK Hope Garden complex on supporting weeding, trash pickup.

BLUE Group of 25 will support special projects* including the raised bed placement and filling at minimum, 20 people working on filling beds. (Pre-Build Lead – Kevin Corbusier) (Day of – Se Kwon)

There will be a separate project prior to May 4 to build the beds. I will announce the date/time once I am certain the supplies are available.

YELLOW Group of 25 will support trash and recycling pickup on Crittenden, Tulpehocken and Washington Lane headed towards Awbury Arboretum (Lead – Allie Wiegel)

ORANGE Group of 25 will support trash and recycling pick-up on MLK grounds and then Stenton Avenue headed south.

PURPLE Group of 25 will support trash and recycling pick-up on MLK grounds and Stenton Avenue headed north.