LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAM
LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAM
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The purpose of the Legislative Education Program (LEP) is to create a team of C.A.C.A. members who are ready to effectively communicate our interest with Congress in Washington, DC.
For many years, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance National Board invited members to Washington, DC. to inform and educate US legislators on issues and legislation that impacted the Chinese American community. The success of the LEP was evident with the highly successful effort in 2017 through 2018 by the C.A.C.A. to gain Congressional support to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Chinese American Veterans of World War II.
During COVID, this program was put on hiatus. In 2024, National Vice President for Civic and Public Affairs, Rick Eng revitalized the program. Recognizing the need to create a larger pool of members to draw on to communicate with Congress, NVP Eng expanded the program opportunities to local lodge members and especially college aged members.
The C.A.C.A. will continue the LEP to develop a rich team to help educate Congress of our issues and concerns. Using the National LEP model, C.A.C.A. plans work with local lodges nationwide to create local LEPs that will focus on interactions with State Legislatures.
Legislative Education Program Trips
Legislative Education Program Trips
Executive VP Kin Hui led the Fall 2024 LEP team, which consisted of one member who had some prior experience and four members who had no prior experience in interacting with Congressional members. Of the four new members, one is a graduate student, and another a college freshman. The Fall 2024 LEP team were given homework to prepare for the trip. When the team convened in DC. in September 2024, they practiced their presentations that included “Hallway” and “drop by” meetings with each other. The Fall 2024 LEP team had 13 meetings with Members of Congress, Senators, and Congressional Staffers. After the team returned home, they followed-up with emails to the people they met in DC. To learn more about the issues, see the report here.
In May of 2024, VP Rick Eng led a team of National Board members to Washington, DC to exercise our processes. The Spring 2024 team included experienced National Board members and a college student who had not been to DC prior. With lessons learned and refined processes from Spring of 2024, the C.A.C.A. opened a call for the Fall 2024 LEP team. To learn more about the issues, see the report here.
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