Last night, I attended a meeting where Greg Macabenta shared his vision for a national organization that would advocate for Filipino and Filipino American interest in the United States. Greg is the newly-installed National Chair of The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA). For those of us out of the loop, NaFFAA is a group whose main mission is to bring us Pinoys into the loop on a national level.
Filipinos, Pilipinos, Pinoys, Fil-Ams, (whatever we want to call ourselves)- WE are the second largest Asian subgroup in America. There are about 4 million of us in the US. 1.5% of the United States population does not seem much but I urge you to look around. You cannot go to a hospital without hearing Tagalog being spoken in the hallways. Have you been at a cafeteria of any Los Angeles City or County facility lately? Who is cooking the President's food in the White House? Name an industry (be it entertainment, business, fashion, labor, sports, etc.) and it would not be too hard to name Pinoys who have made significant contributions to this country. Now, we are increasingly at every school in LAUSD, teaching. LAUSD, being the second largest school district in America has over 800 schools! Nationally, there are Pinoy education groups all over the place, yet we don’t know about them and they don’t know about us.
Given our numbers and positions in key areas, how successful have we been as a group in influencing local, state and national agendas? What about in our own school districts?
Consider this... when policy makers such as board members, civic and business leaders, Senators, etc., want to engage a particular group there is always a group that they can call on. Here are a few examples, think of NAACP for Blacks and La Raza for Hispanics, and OCA for the Chinese. These groups have organizations available to them (often in multiples) through which their specific agendas are carried and their interests protected. When someone like the President wants to talk about issues that pertain to Filipinos and Filipino Americans, who or what group would he turn to? We are here yet we are invisible to them and as a result, we along with our interests are marginalized. Like leaves floating on water, we go with the flow. Most of often than not, the result is to our own detriment.
FAEALA welcomes the opportunities that the National Federation of Filipino American Associations presents. Education is high on the priority list and no other group knows more about teaching and learning than the educators themselves. FAEALA looks forward to a future where we can make a significant contribution to this effort and intends to be an affiliate member. We believe that together with other Pinoy groups, organization and associations out there, we can be a force to be reckoned with. We cannot be the only group that multiplies by division.
Filipinos, Pilipinos, Pinoys, Fil-Ams, (whatever we want to call ourselves)- WE are the second largest Asian subgroup in America. There are about 4 million of us in the US. 1.5% of the United States population does not seem much but I urge you to look around. You cannot go to a hospital without hearing Tagalog being spoken in the hallways. Have you been at a cafeteria of any Los Angeles City or County facility lately? Who is cooking the President's food in the White House? Name an industry (be it entertainment, business, fashion, labor, sports, etc.) and it would not be too hard to name Pinoys who have made significant contributions to this country. Now, we are increasingly at every school in LAUSD, teaching. LAUSD, being the second largest school district in America has over 800 schools! Nationally, there are Pinoy education groups all over the place, yet we don’t know about them and they don’t know about us.
Given our numbers and positions in key areas, how successful have we been as a group in influencing local, state and national agendas? What about in our own school districts?
Consider this... when policy makers such as board members, civic and business leaders, Senators, etc., want to engage a particular group there is always a group that they can call on. Here are a few examples, think of NAACP for Blacks and La Raza for Hispanics, and OCA for the Chinese. These groups have organizations available to them (often in multiples) through which their specific agendas are carried and their interests protected. When someone like the President wants to talk about issues that pertain to Filipinos and Filipino Americans, who or what group would he turn to? We are here yet we are invisible to them and as a result, we along with our interests are marginalized. Like leaves floating on water, we go with the flow. Most of often than not, the result is to our own detriment.
FAEALA welcomes the opportunities that the National Federation of Filipino American Associations presents. Education is high on the priority list and no other group knows more about teaching and learning than the educators themselves. FAEALA looks forward to a future where we can make a significant contribution to this effort and intends to be an affiliate member. We believe that together with other Pinoy groups, organization and associations out there, we can be a force to be reckoned with. We cannot be the only group that multiplies by division.
