2021 AAYLC Program Info

In observance of the directive from our State, City, and County officials as well as the public health guidance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 AAYLC was held on Friday, April 23rd in a virtual format while we postponed the in-person conference to 2022. The following programs were still active in 2021: Student Ambassador, Scholarship, and the Logo Design Competition. 

This year’s conference’s theme was “Together in Solidarity” and featured Katherine Ho as our keynote. Katherine is a singer/songwriter from Thousand Oaks, CA whose voice has been featured in national commercials, TV shows, and feature films. She is best known for her Mandarin cover of Coldplay’s “Yellow” by Zheng Jun (郑钧) based on the Li Wenqi (李文琦) version that was featured on the soundtrack of the hit Hollywood film, Crazy Rich Asians. She is currently a senior at the University of Southern California (USC) where she studies Human Biology and pursues her interests in a cappella and Asian culture through her involvement in Trogons, USC’s East-Asian a cappella group.

• 9:45 am - 10:00am: Opening Program 

• 10:00 am - 10:30am: Keynote Presentation - Katherine Ho

• 10:30am - 12:00pm: Together In Solidarity Workshop (AAYLC Resource Packet)

  • White Supremacy and Racism in the AAPI community

  • Generational Gap, Voting Trends, & Importance of Voting

• 12:00pm - 12:45pm: Lunch

• 12:45pm - 1:00 pm: Social Circle

• 1:00pm - 1:45pm:  Student Choice Workshop Round 1 (see below for details)

  • Alex Chiu: Telling your own Story and Why it is Important

  • Yin J. Li: The Context of Asian American Mental Health

  • Gloria Lee: Gerrymandering and Voting

  • Paul K. Leung: Mental Health and Asian Youths

  • Shawna Peterson, Clarissa Reichblum, Monique Alcala: Vote with your voice - ACTivism, Turn your voice into a hundred votes

• 2:00pm - 2:45pm: Student Choice Workshop Round 2 (see below for details)

  • Yin Li: Befriending your Emotions

  • Project Lotus: Fighting AAPI Mental Health Stigma

  • Shawna Peterson, Clarissa Reichblum, Monique Alcala: Vote with your voice - ACTivism, Turn your voice into a hundred votes

• 2:45pm - 3:15pm: Closing Program

Student Choice Workshop Round 1

Workshop Title: Telling Your Own Story and Why it is Important

• Workshop Description: This workshop will introduce simple ideas on how to tell your own personal story through artwork.   Some techniques will include recognizing your personal strengths, identifying personal struggles, and understanding family history.  We will explore public artwork that explores these ideas. The hope is that students will understand that their story matters and helps to inspire others who share similar life experiences.

• Workshop Presenter: Alex Chiu - Painter and Muralist

• Presenter Bio: Alex Chiu is a Chinese-American painter and muralist currently living in Portland, OR. His current art practice is an exploration of fatherhood, Asian American identity, and cultural representation. Over the past few years, he has worked with schools, businesses, and community organizations in public mural projects. His art practice involves directly engaging with community members in conceptualizing and executing these murals. To learn more about Alex’s work, you can visit his website at alexdoodles.com or follow his instagram @artbyalexchiu

Workshop Title: The Context of Asian American Mental Health

• Workshop Description: While Asian Americans are a pan-ethnic group encompassing diverse ethnicities with varying levels of income and education, there is a shared set of experiences that leave Asian Americans vulnerable to chronic stress and mental health challenges. It's not only who you are but what has happened to you and in what context. This workshop will focus on East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian experiences but welcome student participation from all ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds. Let’s explore together.

• Workshop Presenter: Yin J. Li (she/her), Psychotherapist. Asians Do Therapy

• Presenter Bio: Yin is a  licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice. As a child of working class immigrants, I understand the shame and stigma of struggling and needing support from a therapist. Yin started AsiansDoTherapy, a resource and podcast to help normalize therapy and mental health in Asian communities.

Workshop Title: Gerrymandering and Voting

• Workshop Description: After the census, voting districts are redrawn. What is gerrymandering and how does that impact representation and voting?

• Workshop Presenter: Gloria Lee – Board Member;  Chinese American Citizens Alliance Portland Lodge

• Presenter Bio: Gloria Lee is Executive Director of The Giving Tree serving low income housing residents. She brings 15 years of experience in growing non-profits and 25+ years in senior management with SYSCO. In 2000, Gloria became Executive Director of Portland's Chinese Garden, now Lan Su. She also fell in love with mission driven organizations and thrives on growing successful non-profits. At The Giving Tree, Gloria combines her passion for building community using arts and culture as foundational cornerstones in connecting diverse populations to each other. Besides gardening, cooking and reading, Gloria believes in giving back. She has served on the boards of Cedar Mill Library, Travel Portland and Northwest China Council and Old Town Chinatown Community Association. Currently, she serves on the board of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Portland where she leads the civic engagement program.

Workshop Title: Mental Health and Asian Youths

• Workshop Description: The presentation will focus on the prevalence of mental health problems with Asian youths in America. Attention will be given to understand and dealing with depression.

• Workshop Presenter: Paul K. Leung, M.D., Professor and Medical Director of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Undergraduate medical education at Medical college of Virginia (1977 - 1981). Psychiatry residency at OHSU (1981 - 1985). OHSU Psychiatry faculty (1985 - current).

• Presenter Bio: Dr. Leung has been with IPP for more than 30 years devoting his time to provide mental health care to the immigrant and refugee communities of Oregon. He has also started the mental health clinic at the Asian Health & Services Center in the mid-eighties, a clinic focuses on the mental health care for Chinese and Korean immigrants. Dr. Leung is a recognized expert in cross-cultural and Asian mental health in America. He had published multiple related articles in professional referred journals and chapters in textbook in psychiatry. He was the recipient of the 2011 American Psychiatric Association - Asian/Asian American Psychiatrist Award. Dr. Leung is fluent in several languages including Vietnamese, Mandarin, and Cantonese Chinese.

Workshop Title: Vote with your voice - ACTivism, Turn your voice into a hundred votes

• Workshop Description: Many people want things to change for one reason or another, but don’t know where to start. Let’s discuss the questions: What is activism? What does it have to do with me? Should I get involved? What can I do? 

• In this workshop we will cover why it is important for young people to get involved in activism, figuring out what’s important to you and how to move forward to make a positive impact, providing tips and actionable items to take back to your community to start making a difference TODAY! Find out how to use YOUR voice from three women who have made it their lifelong passion and career path.

• Workshop Presenters: Shawna Peterson - Executive Director of Oregon NOW, Clarissa Reichblum - State Board member of Oregon NOW, Monique Alcala (featuring guest speaker) - Chief of Staff for The National Organization for Women. 

• Presenter Bios: 

  Monique Alcala is the Chief of Staff for the National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. Prior to joining NOW, she served as the Coalitions Director for the Biden-Harris campaign in the Commonwealth of Virginia. During this historic election, her team organized hundreds of voter contact, messaging, and GOTV events, focusing on lifting up and engaging communities that have been historically underrepresented in democratic elections. Monique has extensive experience in strategic outreach, coalition building, political fundraising, and project management. She is a longtime advocate for diversity and inclusion in politics. Throughout her career, she has worked with diverse communities from both rural and urban areas and advised progressive nonprofits, including CASA (formerly CASA de Maryland). She currently serves as an advisory member of the Virginia People’s PAC, an initiative that aims to diversify campaign staff in senior-level roles. She is also a Political Partner at Truman National Security Project. Her area of expertise is race/ethnicity, inequality, and political participation.

  Shawna Peterson is currently the Executive Director for the Oregon Chapter of the National Organization for Women and an on-camera live social justice reporter for RealProgressives.com She has lived all over the United States working in various fields of business but the one thing that has remained a constant is her activism.

  Born to a young mother that she watched adapt into a force in activism, Shawna attended rallies, marches, and political events with her mom from a young age learning about civil rights and social justice in real-time/place rather than just from school books. At the age of 17 Shawna began seeking volunteer and activist opportunities and has remained committed to furthering equality for women, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and working for politicians that had the same or similar Progressive causes. Remaining socially involved, Shawna has found many activist opportunities and positions. She is excited to put her skills to good use making the world equitable for all!

  Clarissa Reichblum (she/her) is an At-Large Board Member for NOW Oregon. She has been an advocate and organizer for most of her life, starting at age 9 holding "Honk for Obama" signs on the street corner with her mom. Since then, she has worked for local campaigns in Vermont, Planned Parenthood, The Feminist Majority, and The Democratic Party of Wisconsin. After working on the 2020 election in Wisconsin, Clarissa began working at FreeWill - a social venture on a mission to move $1 Trillion into high-impact nonprofits. Clarissa is incredibly passionate about women's issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, access to healthcare, access to education, and dismantling systemic racism which permeates every social issue in this country. In her current role at FreeWill, she is actively working with nonprofits to help them with their development and fundraising so that they are able to continue the work they do for decades to come. As a board member with NOW Oregon, Clarissa is focused on engaging and working with activists in local communities to advance the key issues that NOW is fighting for.

Student Choice Workshop Round 2

Workshop Title: Befriending your emotions

• Workshop Description: The quality of your mental health depends on your relationship to your emotions. So let’s befriend it. We will explore your beliefs about emotion, the nature and language of emotions. And, what to do with them. 

• Workshop Presenter: Yin J. Li (she/her), Psychotherapist. Asians Do Therapy

• Presenter Bio: Yin is a  licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice. As a child of working class immigrants, I understand the shame and stigma of struggling and needing support from a therapist.  Yin started AsiansDoTherapy, a resource and podcast to help normalize therapy and mental health in Asian communities. 

Workshop Title: Fighting AAPI Mental Health Stigma

• Workshop Description: As AAPI youth, we know firsthand that mental health can be a difficult topic in the community. Cultural factors, systemic challenges, and lack of awareness are all things that make mental health stigma especially prevalent in our community. Join this workshop by Project Lotus to learn specific factors contributing to stigma, how to be an effective advocate, and how Project Lotus acted on these topics as youth so you can be organizers and leaders in your own communities.

• Workshop Presenters: Daniel Gu - Executive Director of Project Lotus, Aaron Li - Marketing Director of Project Lotus, Joyce Chen - Creative Director of Project Lotus, Helen Chen - Finance Director of Project Lotus

• Presenter Bios:

  Helen Chen (they/she) is the finance director at Project Lotus, a junior at Westview High School, and a policy debater. They hope to help raise awareness on Asian American mental health and help with struggles that people may face due to the stigma surrounding it. In their free time they like to watch anime and spend time with their puppy!
  Joyce Chen (she/her) is a junior at Sunset High school and the Creative Director of Project Lotus. As an Asian American youth, Joyce is driven by how we can change the narrative through culturally relevant education for the community. When not working, she can be found either painting or napping.
  Daniel Gu (he/him) is a junior from Westview High School and the Executive Director of Project Lotus, a nationwide youth-led organization dedicated to destigmatizing mental health in the AAPI  community. Daniel is passionate about opening the conversation to mental health and leading other AAPI youth to making a lasting impact on the community, and Project Lotus has been an amazing opportunity to do this. In his free time, Daniel likes playing mahjong with his friends (when it is safe to do so) and skiing. 

  Aaron Li (he/him) is a junior at Sunset High School and serves as Marketing Director for Project Lotus, where he works to destigmatize mental health in Asian American communities by directly connecting with community members. He also interns at StoveTeam International and helps local entrepreneurs in Latin America support their communities through clean cooking. Aaron’s primary motivation is to develop open, honest conversations about mental health in order to help people embrace their own. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer and is also an aspiring snowboarder.

Workshop Title: Vote with your voice - ACTivism, Turn your voice into a hundred votes

• Workshop Description: Many people want things to change for one reason or another, but don’t know where to start. Let’s discuss the questions: What is activism? What does it have to do with me? Should I get involved? What can I do? 

  In this workshop we will cover why it is important for young people to get involved in activism, figuring out what’s important to you and how to move forward to make a positive impact, providing tips and actionable items to take back to your community to start making a difference TODAY! Find out how to use YOUR voice from three women who have made it their lifelong passion and career path.

• Workshop Presenters: Shawna Peterson - Executive Director of Oregon NOW, Clarissa Reichblum - State Board member of Oregon NOW, Monique Alcala (featuring guest speaker) - Chief of Staff for The National Organization for Women 

• Presenter Bios: 
  Shawna Peterson is currently the Executive Director for the Oregon Chapter of the National Organization for Women and an on-camera live social justice reporter for RealProgressives.com She has lived all over the United States working in various fields of business but the one thing that has remained a constant is her activism. Born to a young mother that she watched adapt into a force in activism, Shawna attended rallies, marches, and political events with her mom from a young age learning about civil rights and social justice in real-time/place rather than just from school books. At the age of 17 Shawna began seeking volunteer and activist opportunities and has remained committed to furthering equality for women, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and working for politicians that had the same or similar Progressive causes. Remaining socially involved, Shawna has found many activist opportunities and positions. She is excited to put her skills to good use making the world equitable for all!
  Clarissa Reichblum (she/her) is an At-Large Board Member for NOW Oregon. She has been an advocate and organizer for most of her life, starting at age 9 holding "Honk for Obama" signs on the street corner with her mom. Since then, she has worked for local campaigns in Vermont, Planned Parenthood, The Feminist Majority, and The Democratic Party of Wisconsin. After working on the 2020 election in Wisconsin, Clarissa began working at FreeWill - a social venture on a mission to move $1 Trillion into high-impact nonprofits. Clarissa is incredibly passionate about women's issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, access to healthcare, access to education, and dismantling systemic racism which permeates every social issue in this country. In her current role at FreeWill, she is actively working with nonprofits to help them with their development and fundraising so that they are able to continue the work they do for decades to come. As a board member with NOW Oregon, Clarissa is focused on engaging and working with activists in local communities to advance the key issues that NOW is fighting for.
  Monique Alcala is the Chief of Staff for the National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. Prior to joining NOW, she served as the Coalitions Director for the Biden-Harris campaign in the Commonwealth of Virginia. During this historic election, her team organized hundreds of voter contact, messaging, and GOTV events, focusing on lifting up and engaging communities that have been historically underrepresented in democratic elections. Monique has extensive experience in strategic outreach, coalition building, political fundraising, and project management. She is a longtime advocate for diversity and inclusion in politics. Throughout her career, she has worked with diverse communities from both rural and urban areas and advised progressive nonprofits, including CASA (formerly CASA de Maryland). She currently serves as an advisory member of the Virginia People’s PAC, an initiative that aims to diversify campaign staff in senior-level roles. She is also a Political Partner at Truman National Security Project. Her area of expertise is race/ethnicity, inequality, and political participation.