Save The Date! OCA-East Bay's Gala "Honoring Asian American Educators" on Thursday, September 13th

OCA-East Bay will host a Dinner on Thursday, September 13th 6pm at Oakland Asian Cultural Center.  This year's theme is "Honoring Asian American Educators". The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Frank Chong, Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges under the Obama Administration and Current Sonoma County Junior College District President.

Honorees include:

• Frank Wu, UC Hastings Law School Chancellor and Dean.
• Ling Chi Wang, Associate Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley
• Nhi Chau, Executive Director at Oakland Asian Student Educational Services (OASES)

More details to come soon on individual ticket, table and sponsorship prices.

If you would like attend or have questions please contact Chapter President Stan Kiang (skiang@yahoo.com)

OCA-East Bay Summary of Activities 2011 and 2012

Broad local support has helped OCA-East Bay make a positive impact in the community. Read the attached PDF with a summary of our activities.

OCA is a national organization which has made an impact in advocating for Asian Pacific Americans. if you'd like to contribute to its local and nationwide efforts, we encourage you to Start an OCA membership or Renew your OCA membership online. In the future OCA-East Bay plans to collaborate more with other OCA chapters in California and work with the OCA National Center, including hosting the National Center's Mentoring Asian American Professionals (MAAP) program this fall in San Francisco.

OCA-East Bay and Port AEA awarded the Frank Kiang Memorial Scholarship to Local Student

OCA-East Bay board members attended the Asian Employees Association at the Port of Oakland's Annual Scholarship Dinner on Friday, June 22nd 2012. This year OCA-East Bay Chapter Vice President Michael Lok served on the AEA Scholarship Committee.  Every year, OCA-East Bay co-sponsors the Frank Kiang Memorial Scholarship with the AEA.

About Frank Kiang Memorial Scholarship

Frank Kiang was a longtime civic activist and leader who served the community in Oakland as a mentor, business leader and advocate for Asian Americans for nearly three decades. Some of his accomplishments included founding the East Bay Chapter of OCA, founding Oakland-based Metropolitan Bank, and serving as a Commissioner and President of the Port of Oakland Board of Port Commissioners. In memory of his love for the city and people of Oakland and the Port, OCA-East Bay, the Kiang Family and the Asian Employees Association of the Port of Oakland (Port AEA) will present one high performing student with the Annual Frank Kiang Memorial Scholarship.

This year's scholarship recipient: Ratema Uch

Ratema Uch is a determined individual who wants to make an impact on a person’s life.  She is fulfilling that mission by currently serving with Oakland Youth Empowering Advocates (OYEA) as a youth board member for The Spot Youth Center and Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice (now known as Forward Together) CORE program as a youth organizer.  Ratema has also worked with Sisters in Action for Issues of Reproductive Empowerment (SAFIRE) and API Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership. She has spoken at the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference and the New Leadership Networking Initiative Conference. 

OCA-East Bay & San Francisco offering OCA's Mentoring Asian American Professional (MAAP) program this Fall in San Francisco

 OCA (www.ocanational.org) is a national Asian Pacific American advocacy organization that has 80 chapters and college affiliates across the country and a National Center in Washington, D.C. Through funding from the UPS Foundation, the OCA National Center has been offering a professional mentoring program called Mentoring Asian American Professionals (MAAP) in different parts of the country. OCA East Bay/Oakland and San Francisco Chapters are hosting the MAAP program this fall. It involves a one-on-one mentorship pairing and a few in-person large group networking convenings at San Francisco City Hall. OCA is bringing in professional trainers at the large group convenings to share helpful career development tips.

 There will be three large group networking convenings that will happen on Thursday nights at SF City Hall:

• Introductory Network Convening August 23, 2012 
• Midway Network Convening October 4, 2012 
• Final Network Convening TBA (probably early November) 

Outside of the large group convenings, mentors and mentees will be paired together and we would encourage them to get together for coffee or at least stay in contact. Program participation costs $40 coming with a one year OCA membership or it's free for current OCA members. For OCA this program is also a member recruitment tool, and there are some benefits of OCA membership as well, one of which being there thousands of OCA members across the country, many of whom will be converging on Las Vegas in August for the OCA National Convention: http://www.ocanational.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=120&Itemid

 OCA chapters host different events in the Bay Area, and membership dues feed into those local and national advocacy efforts. 

TO REGISTER: Go to http://www.oca-maap.org/maap-cohorts/san-francisco (ALL APPLICATIONS NEED TO BE RECEIVED BY AUGUST 13TH) Space is limited but please feel free to forward this opportunity to your networks.

If you have questions about the program, you can contact Clifford Yee (cliffordcyee@yahoo.com) or Mike Lok (michaeljlok@gmail.com)