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Washington, D.C. – As a self-described "social activist," one of 19 year-old Tiffany Lam's first observations of the Conference for Asian Pacific American Leadership's (CAPAL) opening event for interns was the surprising amount of people who are also interested in law and policy "that are Asian."  Her colleagues sitting next to her agree.

"As a computer science major, my Asian friends definitely don't talk about politics," said Hahn Liu, 21, of University of Virginia. "And I'm studying international relations," said Shirley Pan, 21 of Johns Hopkins, "and it's the same for me too." 

All three agree that they are interested in careers that will have a "human impact." Pan, who is a first generation-American is interested in immigration issues. Lam is interested in the environment and women's issues.

All three are also interested in going to law school. "I think I can make a bigger impact as a lawyer," explained Liu.

While summer brings a flood of interns to Washington, D.C., CAPAL's mission is to bring more AA's into all sectors of public service. " While Asian American and Pacific Islander representation has increased in the federal government, their representation in senior leadership roles is still low," CAPAL’s Chair of the Board of Directors David Lee explains. Lee hopes that attendees of CAPAL’s Washington Leadership Program (WLP) will enter public service - and those who choose to work in the federal government and other sectors of public service will stay on to advance in their positions.

Lee's concerns are not an overstatement. Nationally, while AA's are getting more civically engaged, the majority of young AA's follow a community service route rather than a political or government route. The most recent Federal statistics produced by OPM in 2007 show that Asian Americans are barely over 5 percent of the federal civilian workforce. On Capitol Hill, the National Journal's most recent demographic report in 2007 shows just 3 percent of staffers are of Asian descent.

Community service, rather than electoral politics, seems to be the choice for young AAs. According to a 2008 report released by the LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute (APA PPI), the percentage of freshmen who engaged in volunteer work prior to college rose steadily over the past two decades from 43.7 percent in 1987 to 70.7 percent in 2006 and it concludes that today’s AA young adults are more likely to be engaged in volunteerism than other racial/ethnic groups.

However, the same report also finds that the number of Asian Americans in the 18- to 24-year-old age range participating in electoral politics through voting remains relatively low, especially compared to the numbers of Asian Americans in that same age category who are engaged as organizers, activists, and volunteers in local communities. The lack of political involvement is further supported by the AA population at large. Data from the 2008 National Asian American Survey found that right before the '08 general election 35 percent of AAs did not affiliate with a political party. 

“Young AA leaders tend to be community organizers,” said Reimar Marcaranas, manager at the non-profit LA-based Leadership Education for Asian Pacific Americans (LEAP). Groups like LEAP are training young people to be grassroots activists. "LEAP helps young people gain skills to organize their local groups, and they do things like hold rallies on community issues."

According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), a leading source on trends in youth voting, an estimated 23 million or about 52 percent of young people under the age of 30 voted in the 2008 presidential elections, an increase in about 4 to 5 percent from the 2004 election. While CIRCLE does not disagregate for what percent are AA in the 2008 election, in 2004 it reports that 32 percent of AA's between 18-29 voted: the same amount as the 2000 election.

"[Young Asian Americans] may see community service as a more accessible way to make a difference in a venue that's closer to them, or they just see many immediate needs in the communities around them," said Dr. Julie Park, co-author of the article "Asian American College Students & Civic Engagement," that appeared in the 2008 APA PPI report. However, the 2008 election seems to have increased political involvement. "A lot of people have been energized by Obama's call to service [and] his past as a community organizer."  

Nicole Varma, 23, chair of the Asian American Caucus of the Arlington Young Democrats has  been active in partisan politics locally and nationally. "In college I was very involved in community service, but I was not involved with politics other than voting," she said.

"It was my love for service and the work I was doing that got me involved in politics." Varma got involved in the 2008 presidential campaign, with the hope of helping the 8th graders that she mentored on Tuesday Nights. "I hoped that they and children across the country would have access to the education and health care that they deserved and needed," she said. Despite her political involvement, Varma eventually wants to be in non-profit management rather than politics. "I'll be able to see the impact more tangibly," she said. 

Lee observes that this year, more young people are appear to be interested in public sector careers, specifically in the federal government, as opposed to the private sector. "This year, because of President Obama's historic race, many young AAPIs seem re-energized to serve in the government."  But he also cites that the economic downturn and a more competitive private sector may also explain young people's motivations.  



By providing young AAPIs with a paid internship and seminars by real professionals, he hopes CAPAL’s programs will attracts them to public service.

"More AAPI's need to get into positions of public leadership so that they can make a more profound and lasting impact on the nation and the AAPI community and address persisting inequities."

How to Get Politically Involved Locally
Arlington Young Democrats has an Asian American caucus that is open to all, visit: arlingtonyoungdems.org.
CAPAL runs an open-to-the-public Washington Leadership Program throughout the summer and a Professional Development Program for young professionals, visit: www.capal.org.
KAYA will be holding weekly seminars for interns in the city this summer, visit: filipinosforobama.org.
Young Republicans of Arlington & Falls Church, are also active locally, visit: afcyr.org