Photo by Luke Vu

According to Minh Pham, a senior at North Quincy High School and Director of Media Outreach for the newly-formed QARI (Quincy Asian Resources, Inc) Youth ServiceCorps, volunteering can feel “like being in prison.”

That feeling comes from offering one’s time and services and in return being told what to do and where to go, says Pham.

But things are different at the ServiceCorps, started in October 2011, according to the three members that sat down to speak with the Sampan – Minh Pham, Luke Vu, and Juliana Ng (all seniors at North Quincy High School).

Not only do the high school students plan and then execute their own events and activities but as members of the Youth Corps Board members have assigned roles, such as being in charge of communications and outreach, to ensure leadership and quality.

With hundreds of volunteers and many festivals and events in need of help, the ServiceCorps handles a lot of responsibilities.

“We decided to structure the volunteer organization a little bit more,” said Pham. “It’s still the same in that high school volunteers sign up but it’s more structured. We have a board of 12 high school seniors and they run the organization.”

“Before we just had the volunteer coordinators handle everything, but now we have high school seniors that run the Youth Corps along with Youth Reps which are high school juniors, and this gives [juniors] a chance to develop leadership skills and give to the community,” Pham added.

Along with volunteering at the two largest Asian celebrations in Quincy – the Lunar New Year and August Moon celebrations – the Corps is planning an ‘Elders’ Day’ in June which will show appreciation to immigrant elders who travel with their families to the United States. Also, the ServiceCorps arranged a college workshop where students and parents had the opportunity to talk to admissions officers from different colleges to learn more about taking the step into higher education.

Photo by Luke Vu

And though each volunteer has their own reasons for offering their time to the ServiceCorps, one of the great things about establishing a more organized program is the potential progression that the students can make during their time at QARI, according to John Brothers, Executive Director at QARI.

“A volunteer can start very young, as a freshman, and by the time they are a senior, they can be a leader,” said Brothers. “But the ServiceCorps also allows volunteers who are very active in their own communities, but not so active in the ServiceCorps, to just be regular members, too.”

“Since its run by high school students, we have the ability to express our concerns within the community and what we would like to give back to the community,” said Pham.

It was the freedom and responsibility of volunteering own his own terms that attracted the current ServiceCorps Board President, Luke Vu, to take up the position.

“I first join QARI in 2010 as I needed volunteer hours,” said Vu, President of the Board of the Youth ServiceCorps. “But I really grew to like the organization and volunteering so I joined the Youth Board last year. I saw it as a way to develop my leadership skills and get more involved with my community.”

“I used to just go the festivals and celebrations and just be another volunteer,” Vu added. “But then this opportunity came up to get into the developmental process of all these events and it was just interesting for me to do. I wanted to learn more.”

Despite different reasons on why they started to volunteer, members feel a sense of togetherness and teamwork at the ServiceCorps, and combine this with a desire to give back to the people and places that contributed to their upbringings.

“At first I joined because my friends joined, and I thought of it like a hang out area,” said Ng, who serves as the Director of Communications for the Service Corps. “But I soon developed a feeling for QARI, like a feeling of family… For some of us, [the ServiceCorps] is a way to develop our passion for giving back to our community.”

And with already over a couple hundred volunteers taking part in the ServiceCorps, the program is anticipated in grow “in depth and the number of activities the Corps is engaged in,” said Brothers.

When Kollaboration made its way to Boston for a weekend in April, excitement among the Asian American community in this region began bubbling.

Competitors for this year’s show were acapella group K-Soul, vocalist Yui Mugino, Boston University dance troupe Fusion, Hip-hop violinist Justin Chiou, dance troupe UPrising, dance troupe CONcept ARTists, and folk singer Andy Kim. Every finalist auditioned prior to being chosen to compete on the show.

Kollaboration began as an arts and entertainment nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting positive and accurate perceptions of Asians and Pacific Islanders by providing a platform for young artists to showcase their talents. Started as single show in Los Angeles, Kollaboration now produces 15 shows across 13 cities in North America. Each year, Kollaboration involves hundreds of volunteers and performers, tens of thousands of live audience members, and millions of viewers online.

This year’s show began with a performance from Kollaboration Boston’s founder and Korean talent show, MBC Star Audition, contestant Eric Nam. Performing two songs, John Legend’s Ordinary People and Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You, Nam showcased his vocal talent that earned him a top-5 finish in the Korean talent show, and legions of fans worldwide.

After Nam’s performance, last year’s winners, step team Blackout performed a routine that incorporated their hands and feet making rhythmic sounds with which they danced to.

Special guest performers for the evening included Paul Ross and Lydia Paek, both rising Asian American stars in the entertainment industry.

After a night of performances, this year’s eventual winner Justin Chiou, whose hip-hop violin routine garnered ruckus applause from audience members, took home the $1,000 winner’s prize. Second-place ended in a tie between acapella group K-Soul and dance troupe CONcept ARTists.

Saturday, April 30 marked an important day this year in Chinatown – Spring Cleaning. More than ten local organizations and over 100 volunteers set off early in the morning in an effort to clean the neighborhood.

Members of the Boston Chinese Drum and Dulcimer Ensemble provided entertainment as guests made their way into WGBH’s Yawkey Studio for a presentation by Val Wang and a question and answer session with a four-member panel made up by AKA Bistro Executive Chef Chris Chung, managing editor at America’s Test Kitchen Christine Liu, Chef Shruti Mehta, and Val Wang. Liz Cheng, general manager of WGBH World Channel, served as host and moderator for the talk. Jon Abbott, President and CEO at WGBH, provided opening remarks.

Wang, a writer and multimedia documentarian, discussed her new project, Planet Takeout. The project aims to turn local Chinese takeouts into spaces for storytelling through the use of innovative digital technologies which allow patrons and business-owners, alike, to record their memories and stories of Chinese take-out experiences.

The Q&A session began with each of the panelists describing how they got into the food world. Chef Mehta, who grew up disliking the art of cooking, mentioned that she got into professional cooking as a result of neighbors wanting to learn more about Indian cuisine. Chef Chung, on the other hand, decided he wanted to become a professional chef at the age of eight and took up an internship in a kitchen at the age of 15. Liu, who writes about food for America’s Test Kitchen, told the audience about her realization that she had a passion for food after reading her teenage diary. Finally, Wang described her early despise of rice, and also told the audience about the difference in eating culture between the United States and China, where she worked for several years at a news organization.

After taking questions from the audience, which ranged from short stories of personal cooking experiences to inquiries about the best way to cook crab legs, attendees filed out into WGBH’s foyer to watch Mesma Belsare, an internationally acclaimed classical Indian dancer and visual artist, perform a routine.

Following the dance performance, attendees were treated to complimentary dinner, catered by Kowloon Restaurant and One World Cuisine.

PHOTO BY KANE CARPENTER - (L to R) Chau-ming Lee, Executive Director of AACA, Eleanor Lee, wife of Chau-ming, Mary Chin, President of AACA, Pin Tai, Exectutive VP and General Manager at Cathay Bank (East and Midwest Region), Grant Pattison, First Vice President and Manager of Commercial Lending at Cathay Bank (Massachusetts Region), Veronica Tsang, Senior Vice President of Branch Administration at Cathay Bank (Eastern Region), Paul K. Chan, Director of Development at Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation

Cathay Bank celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 4 with a party at the bank’s Chinatown branch.

“It’s a very big event for us, because right now it is very difficult for the banking industry,” said Pin Tai, Executive Vice President and General Manager for the East and Midwest Regions at Cathay Bank. “Yet when we look back we’ve done very well. The reason why we have done very well is because we support our community. We try to help our community grow and prosper and we look forward to continuing in the future.”
More than 35 community members and leaders attended the event. Attendees were shown a presentation of Cathay Bank’s progress over the past five decades.

Cathay Bank’s first branch was founded in Los Angeles, and today, there are 30 branches in California and 50 branches worldwide, according to Grant Pattison, First Vice President and Manager of Commercial Lending in the Massachusetts Region for Cathay Bank.

Statistics and Factual Information provided by Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.

With an Asian population reaching 24 percent of the total population of Quincy in the 2010 census, Section 203 implementation will dramatically alter voting dynamics in the jurisdiction. Due to the rapid growth of the Chinese population in Quincy, Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act (1975) requires that voting material, most notably ballots, must be offered in Chinese. In addition, oral assistance should be provided at polling sites.

More than 5% of voting-age citizens in Quincy belong to a single language minority who identify as Limited English Proficient (LEP). In addition, the illiteracy rate of citizens in the language minority community is higher than the national illiteracy rate. Both qualities of Quincy’s population qualify the jurisdiction for bilingual voting mandates under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act (1975).

It is imperative that Section 203 be implemented in a diligent manner because a shocking gap exists between Non Hispanic White voters and Asian American voters. Statistics from the 2008 election demonstrate that only 55.3% of Asian American voting-age citizens were registered to vote. Even among those who did register, not everyone turned out to vote when Election Day came. With the Presidential Election on the horizon, it is imperative to inform voters that language assistance will be available.

If election officials partner with community based organizations, it is possible that we can work together to extend voting rights to Asian American citizens who don’t come to the ballot box because of existing language barriers. Karen Narasaki, President and Executive Director of the Asian American Justice Center and Member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice declared that, “In covered jurisdictions, Asian American voters have increased participation where Section 203 has been properly implemented and language assistance has been effectively provided.” Section 203 implementation in Quincy will decrease the language barrier for Asian American voters in upcoming elections.

The Asian American Civic Association has been selected by the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice to monitor polling sites in Quincy. Our goal is assist elections officials in the effort to close the Asian American voter gap by providing quality control of translated materials, translating additional voter information, and distributing information about Section 203 to prominent community leaders and CBO’s . Our hope is that with these efforts, we can ensure higher quality language assistance for the Chinese speaking population to close the voting gap.