ASIAN AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF
FLORIDA HOLDS SUMMIT IN MIAMI
Miami, FL –
August 30, 2010
On June 7 and 8, 2010, the Asian American Federation
of Florida (AAFF) held its Statewide Summit
at Miami’s Doubletree
Hotel and Exhibition Center in conjunction with 9th Annual
Summit of the Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition (FMCRC)
and first Let’s Do Business Florida (LDBF) Summit. Close to 100 Asian
American community leaders across the State of
Florida met to follow up on their strategic
plans aimed at empowering their community, and to discuss government and
corporate initiatives aimed at
addressing Asian community needs
in Florida
including health care reform, community development programs, financial
strategies, and more.
Winnie Tang, Census
Partnership Specialist and Leilani Fontanilla, member of the
Governor-appointed Sunshine Census Committee gave a brief report on the
results of initiatives undertaken by AAFF to promote the 2010 Census.
Megaan Schraeder, Legislative
Aide to Rep. Kevin Rader (Florida House of Representatives District 78),
explained the procedures and timeline for proposing, supporting a
legislative bill that would successfully repeal the Alien Land Law.
Christina Lagdameo, Deputy Director of
the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,
talked about government initiatives affecting the Asian American
community in Florida , especially in light of the oil spill that had
also reached the Gulf coast
regions of
Florida.
Lisa Hasegawa, Executive Director of the National Coalition of
Asian Pacific American Community Development spoke about the nationwide
initiatives directed towards addressing the current foreclosure crisis
and economic downturn, as it relates to Asian American community.
Al Pina, FMCRC Chairman,
talked about the Community Revitalization
Model and Small Business and Community Economic Development
projects that will affect the Florida Asian community.
Dulce Galindo,
Vice President and Citibusiness Relationship Manager at CitiBank,
outlined the
potential avenues for collaboration between Citibank and the AAFF
relative to our community development programs in Florida, while Dr.
Antonio H. Wong,
Medical Director of
Doctors Plus, introduced a
strategic plan that would benefit the Asian community,
relative to the recently approved Health Care
Reform initiatives.
The Asian Summit was
capped by a discussion and review and amendment of the AAFF
Bylaws, followed by election of
its new officers.
At the Summit, LDBF and FMCRC introduced
some of the most common tax credit
investments used to satisfy the CRA Investment Test, such as the Low
Income Housing Tax Credit, New Markets Tax Credit and Community
Development Financial Institution (CDFI) investments. New innovations in
community economic development capital were also presented by various
panelists. FMCRC is a 501(c )(3)
advocacy group that aims to
empower low-income and minority communities by attracting investments
for health, education, home ownership, employment, and minority
entrepreneurship using a holistic advocacy approach.
“We are identifying market-based growth
opportunities in minority communities through research, education,
policy development/advocacy and programs that will lead to a paradigm
shift in the approach of inner-city community economic development for
minority communities of Florida,” says Al Pina,
FMCRC Chair. “And this Summit is one of the major venues by which we
can educate our community.”
The Summit was highlighted by the empowering
keynote speech by Ms. Kerry Kennedy, Esq., one of the nation’s foremost
human rights activist and the daughter of the late Senator and U.S.
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Leilani Fontanilla,
Founding President and Advisor of the
Bayanihan International Ladies Association of Central Florida
and Auditor of the Asian American Federation of Florida
was among the chosen few who received the
2010 Builder of Community and Country award.
The AAFF-FMCRC Summit in Miami certainly proved to be an empowering and historic
event for the widely diverse Asian-American communities in the State of
Florida.
For more coverage on the
AAFF-FMCRC-LDBF Summit, go to:
