The journey to start an AAPI social justice and service organization in the OC to

address disparities in health

About Mary Anne

Family immigrated in 1861

Racism, poverty, rural isolation

Empowerment

Journey to The OC

The Real OC

About Asians and Pacific Islanders in OC

• Orange County has the third largest AAPI population in the nation making up 21% of the entire county

• Orange County has the third largest number of AAPI owned businesses in the United States bringing in nearly $21B in revenue and almost 100,000 jobs

Why OCAPICA

7/18/2014

Oh, I killed a Jap a while ago. I stabbed him to death at Tustin High School. . . Then I stabbed him in the side about 7 or 8 times. He rolled over a little, so I stabbed his back about 18 or 19 times. Then he layed flat and I slit one side of his throat on his jugular vein. So I stabbed him about 20 to 21 times in the heart . . . Here’s the clippings from the newspaper and we were on all the news channels. [I’m] having a ball in Tustin. Wish you were here.—Lindberg in a letter to his cousin

Why1992 - Police Mug Files of Asian-

Americans HitOrange County Leads California In Anti-Islamic

Hate Crime Complaints – 9/2014

Hate crimes in O.C. up 14% in 2011, panel reports

“Asians are the good immigrants, driving Mercedes and BMWs, they take care of

their own.” “Big Refugee Rip-Off”“Your people don’t vote, why should I

listen?”

Influences to the community’s well being

• Economy• How a community/neighborhood is planned• Environment, housing, stores/markets• Resources for a school • Resources for a city• Who’s in power and do they understand the needs• Culture and family background• Health• Laws and policies• Racism, discrimination, equity, etc.

Community Needs• Poverty – homeless, living in rooms or motels,

garages, working several jobs, can’t meet basic needs, dropping out of school to help family

• Many AAPI populations underserved and low representation in college – can’t afford college

• Undiagnosed health and mental health needs

• More AAPI youth in foster care, juvenile justice, and homeless

• Language barriers

Cases• M.N. 14-year old Vietnamese female• A.N. 16-year old Vietnamese male• T.P. 17-year old Thai male• M.X. 15-year old Hmong female• S.K. 48-year old JA business exec

About OCAPICA

Established in 1997 with the mission to build a healthier and stronger community by enhancing the well-being of Asians and Pacific Islanders through inclusive partnerships in the areas of service, education, advocacy, organizing, and research.

About OCAPICA Staff• 106 staff members

representing the diverse communities of Orange County

• We speak 26 different languages and American Sign Language

• 6 offices (Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Buena Park, Lake Forest, Irvine, and Anaheim)

Populations Served• OCAPICA annually serves more

than 40,000 individuals.

Program Areas

• Health• Mental Health• Youth Education and

Leadership• Policy and Advocacy• Workforce

Development

HEALTH Cancer Prevention Obesity, physical

activity, nutrition Diabetes Child injury

prevention Children’s health Cultural

competency

Mental Health

• Full Service Partnership/Wraparound– Intensive case management and therapy– Wraparound services – “Whatever it takes”

• Prevention and Early Intervention– Outreach and engagement– Short term outpatient therapy/counseling– Supportive services– Training and supervision program

YOUTH• Afterschool Tutoring

and Mentoring• College Preparation• Leadership

Development• Career Development• Mental Health• Scholarships• APAC class

Education

• Developing AAPI education curriculum

• Training more than 1,500 teachers on AAPI education issues

Workforce Development

Financial Literacy for Youth and Adults

Workforce development with paid experience

Working with homeless families to obtain housing

POLICY

• Voter Mobilization

• Census Outreach and Education

• Redistricting• Legislative

Education

Addressing Disparities in Health

• Systemic and policy change – ultimately having a voice – voting

• Strengths based approaches, resiliency and recovering, trauma focused – not victim blaming

• Leadership development and mentoring• Addressing the entire environment and

determinants of health• Impact in the economy – financing, investments –

not band-aids• Courage to be visionary, rather than scare tactics,

threats, fear based

T.Y.’s Story

Every story has

a beginning

…

Mine starts out in the middle of a fight. I was nine years old…

I cried a lot, got angry a lot.

Everything about me was bad…

Then came my Case Manager…

I started therapy.

I bloomed.

I got into art school.

I bloomed.

I made friends.

I bloomed.

I feel complete.

They saved my life…

It can really change a person. I’m different now.

I’m better.

Thank you Katie & everyone…