The Organization of Chinese Americans Greater DC Chapter (OCA-DC) will celebrate its 35-year milestone with an Awards Gala on Sunday, December 7, 2008 from 5:30 to 9:00 pm in the New Fortune Restaurant, 16515 S. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Three accomplished Asian American leaders will be honored at the awards gala, including keynote speaker and Trailblazer Award recipient Frank H. Wu, Leadership Award recipient Jayne Park, and Community Service Award recipient Helen He.

“We are thrilled to have Frank Wu, one of our country’s most renowned scholars on race relations and Asian Americans, to be the keynote speaker of our 35^th year anniversary gala and the recipient of the Trailblazer Award,” says OCA-DC president Lily Qi. “We’re also very proud to highlight the extraordinary leadership and commitment of Jayne Park and Helen He, who have found their niche serving the Asian American communities and are exemplary in their qualities as bridge builders.”

Frank Wu is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, and co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment. A former professor of Howard University Law School of Washington, DC and dean of Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, Professor Wu is a much sought-after speaker whose numerous media appearances including the Oprah Winfrey Show, Now with Bill Moyers, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, the O’Reilly Factor, and the National Public Radio, etc.

Jayne Park, former Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, which provides free legal services to the area’s low-income Asian population, was the recipient of such prestigious awards as Washingtonian of the Year 2005 and Meyer Foundation’s Leadership Award. She currently serves as Co-Chair of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s Asian American Advisory Group and works for Montgomery County’s Community Foundation that provides grants for emerging community-serving nonprofits.

An immigrant from China, Helen He is the president of the Coordination Council of Chinese American Associations, a relatively new but large and fast-growing organization made of primarily immigrant Chinese Americans in the region. Helen has been instrumental in leading the new Chinese immigrant community on many large-scale community service projects in disaster relief, clothing drive, voter registration, and cultural heritage promotion.

Other highlights of the evening include special recognition for visionary leadership for Dr. Michael Lin and Ginny Gong, who will be leaving their respective posts as the Executive Director and President of OCA National at the end of 2008, and an overview of a comprehensive study on Chinese Americans by Dr. Larry Shinagawa, director of University of Maryland’s Asian American Studies’ Program.

To register for the OCA-DC 35^th Anniversary Awards Gala, please visit www.ocadc.org.