Shirley Shia and CAPA-BC preparation group (Feb 2023)
After the first "Letter to Baltimore Chinese Americans" was sent out (seen in the first issue of the CAPA Baltimore public account), our initial donation goal was reached in just one evening and we could feel the support and trust from everyone, even through the phone screen. This fully demonstrates everyone's recognition of our organizational goals, that is, to promote the participation of Chinese Americans in local affairs and in the operation of American society. We cannot thank you enough, so we can only repay everyone's kindness by doing something practical!
Now, we will summarize the preparation work of the Chinese American Parent Association of the Baltimore Community (CAPA-BC) and our future activities for everyone. We hope that everyone will participate in our activities and build our community together!
In mid-January this year, Harvey CAPA's Jing Xu suggested that I revive CAPA-BC and apply for funds from some Chinese American organizations. An organization in Washington, Civic leadership in USA (clusa.org) set up some fund application projects to promote Chinese American participation in mainstream American social affairs. Last year, the organization granted the opportunity for teenagers to intern in elected officials' offices, and several nearby CAPAs applied for it. This organization may continue to fund youth internship activities this year, and it is very likely to fund youth to serve on local government office advisory committees. I posted a small message in the Baltimore Chinese school group chat, and several volunteers, including Zhou Zhong, Ma Li, Tina (Tian), Qiao Yan, Jessie, and Sophia, joined the CAPA-BC preparation team.
The key to applying for funds is to first establish a connection with elected officials. That year, our CAPA-BC organized students to speak at the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) Board of Education (BOE) to promote the public schools to take Lunar New Year off. Just because BCPS scheduled Lunar New Year as a teacher training day for the first time this year, we wanted to find out if it would be the same every year, so we wrote a thank-you letter to the eleven BOE officials during Lunar New Year and proposed to have a face-to-face talk with them. Ms. Maggie, our district 3 official, replied to my letter and said she could meet with us, but there was no follow-up. In mid-February, the BOE meeting was open to the public for the first time since COVID. I attended the meeting and chatted with this official after the meeting. She said she would come to our community to have a look. After several emails, we confirmed that Ms. Maggie would visit the Baltimore Chinese school on March 5th, and everyone is welcome to have a dialogue with the BOE officials this Sunday. Recently, everyone is concerned about the BCPS middle school redistricting, as this may affect local housing prices. We suggested that everyone attend the BOE meeting and even bring their children. Both adults and children were able to speak at the BOE meeting to let our voices be heard by the school managers. This activity is written on the Google form survey that we will release soon, Item A. Interested parents can sign up to participate. For information on the Baltimore County Public Schools Board of Education, please visit https://www.bcps.org/leadership/board_of_education.
When two flowers bloom, each displays its own beauty. Let’s look at one "flower" of activity. A friend helped me connect with a young American who had served as a Maryland State BOE student representative and interned with many government agencies. We chatted for an afternoon, and she provided us with a lot of information on internship opportunities with elected officials in Baltimore County and Maryland, as well as volunteering opportunities with student organizations in middle and high schools. We will contact these officials on behalf of our youth (high school and college students) to find internship opportunities. This activity is available for interested families to sign up for in Google form Item B. We will interview students and provide basic training to those who are selected. As for middle and high school students who wish to participate in volunteer activities, including helping children with special needs, please fill out Google form Item C. It should be noted that once our 501c3 application is approved, we can provide community service certificates (Social Service Hour, SSL) to children who volunteer.
More importantly, this young American introduced me to a Maryland State BOE member, Ms. Lori. Later, l spoke with Ms. Lori over the phone, asking about what opportunities were available for us to participate in. Ms. Lori informed me that there is a Blueprint project throughout the entire Maryland education department to improve the quality of public school teaching. The state does not provide funding, so each county is responsible for its own funding allocation. The Blueprint has five main points: early childhood education, increasing teacher pay, college and career readiness, community resources, and government accountability. I believe this is an opportunity for our organization to get involved in public education in Baltimore County, so I asked a friend who works in public schools to help me contact the relevant person in charge. The public school's community outreach department has already responded to me and scheduled a meeting with CAPA-BC leaders in mid-March. We will continue to report on this meeting.
Let's take a look at another "flower" of activity. In early February, the leader of Civic Leadership in USA (the organization mentioned in the second paragraph) met with CAPA representatives from various parts of Maryland. Some of our volunteers attended. Other CAPA members introduced us to how to organize various activities, and they suggested starting some youth clubs to develop children's leadership and participation skills. We came up with some activities that can be carried out locally. The main purpose of these clubs is to improve the power of youth, including the powers of public speaking, debating, writing/journalism (works can be published on our public account), and more. Additionally, senior teachers will provide teaching materials for an Asian history club led by parents, where lectures, readings, speeches, crafts, and other activities will help children of different ages (2nd-12th) understand Asian contributions to America, enhance their confidence and sense of honor. Moreover, everyone can participate in personal interest clubs, such as chess club and computer science club. We know that children are already involved in various activities at school, and their time is limited. However, our activities can provide more opportunities to train children's leadership, organizational, and communication skills. These clubs are available for selection in Google form survey Item A. You can also fill in new activities that interest your children. With 3-4 children, they can form a club. It should be noted that we hope that these clubs will be led by parents (or the children themselves). They can come up with their own ideas for activities, how often to hold them, etc. Our organization is only providing a platform for these club activities, which will mainly be held on Zoom. Face-to-face activities will be mainly held within families, while for larger activities we can rent meeting rooms at the library. For some clubs, such as public speaking and debates, we can contact teachers to give lessons based on the number of sign-ups.
Finally, I would like to present to you a "big red flower". In mid-February, I talked to the people at the library, which belongs to the county government, and obtained a myriad of information from the people. Here, I found some information about how adults can participate in the Baltimore County Government's Board and Advisory Council. Members of these groups do not need to be elected. As long as you reside in Baltimore County, you can apply and then be appointed by the County Executive to participate in discussions on relevant matters and influence the County Executive's decisions. When I checked the Baltimore County website, I found out that there are 56 advisory councils under our County Executive, including the Boards of Aging, Health, Housing, Diversity, and more. Many of these committees have vacancies and the application process is simple - just fill out personal information online, attach a resume, write a short paragraph explaining why you are interested in a particular advisory council, and then submit it. I hope parents who are interested in this will fill out Google Form Item D, and we will share relevant information with you. By joining these committees under government departments, we can learn and participate more in the operation of American society in a more efficient way and make our voices heard.
At this point, the framework of CAPA-BC has been established, and with everyone's support, we have gathered a group of community volunteers and many new forces, greatly enhancing the foundation of our organization. Because we are a parent association, our current focus is on education. Healthcare and non-partisan elections are also topics that interest us. In addition to the activities mentioned above, we also listed some topics that people are concerned about on Google Form Item D, such as CPR, Chinese American youth identity, and elderly care for the first generation immigrants. Friends who are interested in these topics can form discussion groups, collect information, and seek opportunities and resources. At the same time, we welcome experts to discuss these issues (Google Form Item E).
In conclusion, we hope that everyone can take responsibility and carry out a task according to their own interests and expertise (or those of their children). We welcome everyone to participate actively in each project listed on the Google Form, run these activities, and develop more leaders. Let us find a new batch of community volunteers and make our organization bloom everywhere, from one flower, to two flowers, to numerous (n) flowers and build our community for a long time!
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