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About NCVA
Founded in 1986, the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community advocacy organization working to advance the cause of Vietnamese Americans in a plural but united America – e pluribus unum – by participating actively and fully as civic minded citizens engaged in the areas of education, culture and civil liberties.


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NCVA eREPORTER - February 22, 2005

In this NCVA eReporter:

Events

EVENTS

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

TIPS/RESOURCES

NEWS

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 EVENTS

SEMINAR FOR NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

Being a Successful Executive Director: Core Competencies & Strategies for the Beginning Executive Director

”Being a Successful Director," offered by the Council of Community Services of New York State, is a knowledge enhancing and skill development seminar for nonprofit executive directors with less than five years experience in that role. The seminar is designed to introduce, through practical application, the many and varied functions and competencies necessary for a successful ED to master. An intensive emphasis is placed on several of the most critical, multi-disciplinary "real world" elements of executive leadership, management, and problem-solving. The seminar will be held April 6-8, 2005, in Saratoga Springs, NY.

(http://www.ccsnys.org/edtraining.htm)

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TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CONFERENCE FOR FAITH AND COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Faith and Community-Based Organizations' Technical Assistance Conference

The Faith and Community-Based Organizations' Technical Assistance Conference, "Fundamentals of Effective Nonprofit Leadership & Management," presented by the Black Christians Against Substance Abuse in collaboration with the Center for Community-Based & Nonprofit Organizations at Austin Community College and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, will take place on April 7-8, 2005, in Austin, TX. The conference includes sessions on grantwriting, program evaluation, nonprofit governance and board roles, and nonprofit financial management, as well as a funder's forum. Faith- and community-based organizations participating in this training must have been in operation for 1-3 years, have an operating board of directors, have articles of incorporation and by laws filed with the respective state, and must focus on one of a variety of community services including substance abuse treatment, transitional housing, mental health services, prevention services, HIV/AIDS services, high-risk youth, and recovery support services.

(http://www.austincc.edu/npo/BCASA/indexbcasa1.htm)

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FEDERAL EMPLOYEE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FEDERAL CAREER ADVANCEMENT SUMMIT

DATE:  Tuesday, May 3

WHERE:  Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC

INFO:  www.apasummit.gov

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Department of Labor's Office of the 21st Century Workforce at (202)  693-6490.  You can also e-mail us at 21stworkforce@dol.gov.

Description:
On May 3, 2005, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, in partnership with the Office of Personnel Management, and in  conjunction with the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC), will host the fourth annual Asian Pacific American  Federal Career Advancement Summit at the Washington Convention Center.

Please visit our Web site at www.apasummit.gov for more information on this one-day, free training event.  We have an  exciting program planned for this year, including inspiring speakers and skills-enhancing workshops.  Online registration  will be available beginning March 1.

SPECIAL BREAKFAST EVENT:
This year's Summit will include registration and continental breakfast at the DC City Museum, located at Mt. Vernon  Square, directly across the street from the Convention Center.  Start your Summit experience by networking with your  federal colleagues and learning more about the rich historical and cultural tapestry of our Nation's capital.  The two featured exhibits are "The Making of the Mall to the World War II Memorial" and "A Washington DC Perspective."  Learn  more about the City Museum at http://www.citymuseumdc.org.

TRANSPORTATION:
The Convention Center and the City Museum are served by the Mt. Vernon Square/7th St. Convention Center stop of  DC's Metro subway system. Attendees are STRONGLY urged to take Metro to the Summit.  There is no public parking at  the Convention Center.

Washington, DC is served by Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA), Dulles International Airport (IAD), and Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI).  Directions to the Convention Center by Metro and by car from major airports and other points of origin are located at http://www.dcconvention.com/directions.

ACCOMODATIONS:
Hotel accommodations will be available at the government rate at two boutique hotels near the Convention Center - the Henley Park Hotel and the Morrison-Clark Inn.

The government rate is $153 per night for a Standard single room and $173 per night for a Standard double room.  (Commercial rates for these rooms are $289/single and $309/double.)

The toll-free reservation line for both hotels is 1 (800) 222-8474. Request the "Department of Labor" or "APA Summit"  room block for this special government rate.  You must make your reservations by March 29 to receive this rate.  Any  reservations made after March 29 are not guaranteed this rate; it may, however, be honored if space permits.  If you wish  to cancel your hotel reservation, please do so at least 24 hours before your scheduled arrival to avoid being charged one night of your reservation.

Henley Park Hotel
926 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 638-5200
www.henleypark.com

Morrison-Clark Inn
Massachusetts Ave. & 11th St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 898-1200
www.morrisonclark.com

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Department of Labor's Office of the 21st Century Workforce at (202)  693-6490.  You can also e-mail us at 21stworkforce@dol.gov.  We look forward to seeing you on May 3, 2005!

(www.apasummit.gov)

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5th NATIONAL LOW-INCOME IMMIGRANT RIGHTS CONFERENCE

June 16-18, 2005

Washington, DC

"Standing for Justice in Challenging Times"

A limited number of scholarships are available to assist with conference registration fees and/or transportation costs for advocates from small community-based or grassroots organizations who would otherwise be unable to attend.  We will take organization budget and geographic and organizational diversity into account when making scholarship awards.

Scholarship applications must be received by March 14, 2005. Awards will be made by April 29.

For more information, send an email to scholarship@nilc.org

NILC Conference 2005
c/o The Event Professionals
P.O. Box 597
Lanham, MD  20703-0597
(301) 577-6940, phone
(301) 577-6946, fax
email: 2005conference@nilc.org

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a national support center whose mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their family members.  NILC staff specialize in immigration law, and the employment and public benefits rights of immigrants.  The Center conducts policy analysis and impact litigation and provides publications, technical advice, and trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community groups, and pro bono attorneys.

NILC maintains offices in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.

(www.nilc.org/DC_Conf/dc-conf2005/index.htm)

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ASIAN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (AAJA) 17TH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION

August 17-20, 2005
Twin Cities, MN

Join us this year in the Twin Cities of Minnesota!  Check out www.aaja.org/programs/convention for information on convention registration, career fair, programming, Media Institutes, accommodations and much more! Convention registration is now available via downloadable pdfs.  On line registration will be available shortly.  Members can expect to receive the registration brochure in the mail in early March. See you in the Twin Cities!


AAJA Convention Student Projects
August 14-20, 2005
Twin Cities, Minnesota

Application Deadline:  March 7, 2005

About the Projects
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is accepting applications for our student media projects for the 2005 National Convention being  held in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota from August 17-20, 2005.  A total of forty students will be chosen to work on one of four student projects:  New Media (AAJALink), Newspaper (AAJA Voices), Radio (The Beat), and Television (AAJA News Now).  The week-long internships give students an opportunity to practice daily journalism, network with professionals from major news organizations and gain valuable career-building experience.

Interns work at the convention as reporters, editors, graphic designers, photographers, anchors, and programmers.  The week-long projects also give students an opportunity to attend a career fair that may lead to an internship or a full-time position at a media outlet.

For more information and how to apply, download the application form here: http://www.aaja.org/programs/for_students/internships/studentprojects.pdf

(www.aaja.org/programs/convention)

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 FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

GTECH PROVIDES COMPUTER LABS FOR AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS

GTECH After School Advantage Program

The GTECH After School Advantage Program provides state-of-the-art computer labs to nonprofit organizations in inner-city communities where GTECH's offices are located. GTECH donates up to $15,000 of computers, on-line technology, computer software, and volunteer hours to after-school programs targeting minority and at-risk children aged 5 to 15. Nonprofit community agencies with existing after-school programs in need of a computer lab in jurisdictions in which GTECH does business are eligible to apply. Eligible states include Arizona, California, Washington, DC, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Applications are accepted throughout the year.

(http://www.gtech.com/about_gtech/after_school.asp)

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INTERNATIONAL PAPER SUPPORTS EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY NEEDS

International Paper Company Foundation

The International Paper Company Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that address existing and emerging educational needs, as well as short-term, critical civic needs within the communities where International Paper has operating facilities. The Foundation's primary focus is education, including specifically environmental education and literacy programs for children and minority career development in forestry and engineering fields. The Foundation also provides seed money on a one-time basis for critical community needs in areas where we operate. Nonprofit organizations serving communities with company operating facilities located in the states of  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin are eligible to apply. Application deadlines vary for each local facility.

(http://www.internationalpaper.com/our_world/philanthropy/index.asp)

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SUPPORT FOR YOUTH PROJECTS TO CROSS SOCIAL BOUNDARIES

Southern Poverty Law Center: Mix It Up Grants Program

The Mix It Up Grant program, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Study Circles Resource Center, provides grants of $500 to youth-directed activist projects that focus on identifying, questioning and crossing social boundaries in schools and communities. Preference is given to projects that show youth leadership; collaborative efforts across social boundaries; and continuing efforts to identify, cross or challenge social boundaries. Applications are accepted year-round from youth groups and organizations throughout the U.S.

(http://www.tolerance.org/teens/grants.jsp)

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SUPPORT FOR A JUST, SUSTAINABLE AND PEACEFUL WORLD

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund promotes social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. The Fund offers grants through programs focused on four areas: democratic practice, with a focus on civic engagement, effective government, access and inclusive participation, and transparency and accountability; sustainable development, including combating global warming and protecting ecosystems and biodiversity; peace and security, with a focus on responsible U.S. global engagement and mutual understanding between Muslim and Western societies; and human advancement. The Fund makes grants to nonprofit organizations globally, nationally, and locally in its home city of New York. Geographic focus varies with each area of interest. Most of the Foundation's grant programs accept applications throughout the year.

(http://www.rbf.org/)

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CITIZENS BANKS SUPPORTS COMPANY COMMUNITIES

Citizens Financial Group Community Giving Program

The Citizens Financial Group Community Giving Program provides grants to community-based organizations serving local residents in the states where Citizens Bank does business. Priority consideration for grants is given to programs that develop innovative responses to basic human needs; promote affordable housing; encourage community-based services targeted to low - and moderate-income families and individuals; support community development initiatives that are catalysts for economically distressed areas; and promote new ways to address issues of economic self-sufficiency. Nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island are eligible to apply. Applications are accepted throughout the year.

(http://www.citizensbank.com/community/outreach/cmnty_corp_giving.asp)

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APRIL 1 DEADLINE FOR PROGRAMS SERVING YOUNG CHILDREN

Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation Children's Initiative

The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation Children's Initiative provides funding for local programs that strengthen the social, physical, intellectual, and emotional functioning of young children in significant and measurable ways. The Initiative will consider programs that serve children from the pre-natal stage to six years of age; deliver services to children in non-office or non-traditional settings; and involve parents or guardians in the planning, delivery or evaluation of the program. All proposals must demonstrate that the project meets all three of the above elements. Nonprofit organizations throughout the U.S are eligible to apply. The deadline for submitting letters of intent is April 1, 2005.

(http://www.wfamilyfoundation.org/)

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CHILDREN’S TRUST FUND OF OREGON 2005 RFPS NOW AVAILABLE

Children’s Trust Fund of Oregon's 2005 RFP is now available on the Fund’s website. The mission of the Children's Trust Fund of Oregon Foundation is to support the establishment of community-based direct service programs designed to provide primary prevention programs which reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect and promote healthy, safe families. Proposals are due April 1, 2005.

(http://www.ctfo.org/)

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR TARGETED ANALYTIC GRANTS

The California HealthCare Foundation has announced a Request for Proposals for its Step by Step Initiative. Under this Initiative, the Foundation will fund small, short-term projects that analyze existing data sources to provide timely information targeted to the needs of local coverage programs under development in California. The application deadline is March 18, 2005.

(http://www.chcf.org/grantinfo/rfps/index.cfm?itemID=108994)

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SECTOR SKILLS ACADEMY

The Sector Skills Academy is designed for organizational leaders with direct responsibility and authority to implement a sector strategy. Sector Fellows, will be selected based on demonstration of leadership competencies, a commitment to social and economic justice, and ability to design and implement a sectoral employment initiative. Only 20-24 individuals will be selected to participate in the academy each year. Applications must be received by April 1, 2005.

(http://www.sectorskillsacademy.org/)

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 JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

SMITHSONIAN PROGRAM FOR ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDIES

Position Available:  Researcher/Writer

Closing date:  March 15, 2005

The Smithsonian Institution Asian Pacific American Program (APA Program) seeks a scholar of Vietnamese American History and Culture to provide leadership in planning an exhibition on that topic. The exhibit will be primarily two-dimensional but include some artifacts in approximately 3-4,000 square feet. This person will be hired as an independent contractor beginning on or about April 15, 2005 to October 15, 2006, a period of 18 months.  Maximum compensation is $60,000 for the 18 month period.  This is a contract position with no benefits.

Duties of the Contractor include reviewing appropriate resources, including scholarly and popular literature, moving images, archives, museums, community group leaders and collections and any other appropriate sites. The contractor will develop themes and prepare drafts for the exhibition script.  Other duties include research, writing press releases and other media relations, community liaison, briefings to museum and academic colleagues. Some travel will be required. Contractor will provide weekly progress reports to the Director of the APA Program and coordinate occasional meetings with academic, museum, and community advisors.

Minimum Qualifications: Ph.D. or equivalent in subject matter; knowledge of and established relationships with Vietnamese American specialists and communities; excellent verbal and writing English skills; ability to speak and read Vietnamese.

Desirable Qualifications: museum experience; professional relationships with Vietnamese American academic and community groups.

To apply for this position, please send a cover letter with your resume to Franklin Odo, Director, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, A&I, Room 2467, MRC: 440, Washington, DC 20013-7012.  All applications must be postmarked and/or received by the closing date.

For more information, please call the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program at (202)786-2409.

(http://www.ncvaonline.org/archive/prj_VAExhibit.shtml)

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR – MBA FELLOWS PROGRAM

The U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, is pleased to announce the Department is now accepting applications for the Fourth Class of MBA Fellows.

Since the launch of the program in June of 2002, the Department has hired a total of 45 MBA Fellows.  We anticipate hiring an additional 15 Fellows in June 2005.

The Department offers the opportunity for applicants to apply on-line for the program.  Applications for the MBA Fellows Program will be accepted beginning January 17, 2005 through March 11, 2005.  Applicants may apply by visiting the Department of Labor's website at www.jobs.dol.gov/mba which also includes detailed information on the program and the application process.

I hope you will help us spread the word on this very important initiative, and we look forward to working with your institution in providing opportunities to a new generation of leaders.

If you need additional information, please contact us at 202-693-7740 or by email @ MBA-Fellows@dol.gov.

Sara E Clemente
HR Specialist
Office of Workforce Planning and Diversity
202-693-7635

(www.jobs.dol.gov/mba)

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VOTING RIGHTS UNITS – STAFF ATTORNEY

Asian Pacific American Legal Center / 1145 Wilshire Blvd., 2nd Fl., Los Angeles, CA  90017 / (213) 977-7500 / f: (213) 977-7595

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Staff Attorney - Voting Rights
Posted February 16, 2005

Job Summary:
For over two decades, Asian Pacific American Legal Center has engaged in advocacy, community education and poll monitoring to secure the voting rights of Asian Pacific Americans guaranteed by law.  In particular, the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) protects racial and language minorities against discrimination in order to ensure their full and meaningful participation in the voting and electoral process.  In addition, the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and many state and local laws provide additional protections against election irregularities.  The Staff Attorney would be responsible for:

Responsibilities:
* Develop vision for effective advocacy on and engagement by Asian Pacific Americans in the electoral process;
* Monitor and advocate for voting rights access at the local, state and federal levels;
* Oversee poll monitoring efforts and other voter engagement activities in Southern California, during major elections;
* Train APA community-based organizations in Southern California and other targeted regions in California on the bilingual assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act;
* Work with the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium and local and state coalitions to promote access to and participation in elections; and
* Potential supervision of staff in the voting rights project. 

Qualifications:
* Minimum one year voting rights experience. Knowledge of voting rights laws and policies.
* Strong oral communication and writing skills; experience working collaboratively. 
* Familiarity with Asian Pacific American community
* Law degree and member of California State Bar; strong oral communication and writing skills; experience working collaboratively.
* Driver's license, proof of liability insurance and access to a vehicle.
* Willingness to travel.
* Demonstrated policy advocacy experience highly desirable
* Demonstrated ability to take initiative and be creative preferred
* Prior supervisory experience including experience with volunteer recruitment and coordination preferred demonstrated ability to take initiative and be creative.

Compensation:
Starting salary $41,000 per year depending on experience. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, retirement, and parking.

Application Process:
Interested applicants should send cover letter, resume, 3 references, and writing sample to:

Human Resources
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
1145 Wilshire Blvd., Second Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 977-7595 [fax] - no phone calls, please

An equal employment opportunity employer, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California was founded in 1983 as a private, non-profit organization providing legal services, community education and civil rights advocacy on behalf of Asian Pacific Islander communities in Southern California.

(www.apalc.org)

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 TIPS/RESOURCES

STATE YOUTH POLICY: HELPING ALL YOUTH TO GROW UP FULLY PREPARED AND FULLY ENGAGED

Over the last decade, many working in the alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention field (as well as in other "prevention" fields) have begun framing their work not only in terms of what they wish to prevent, but also in terms of what they want to promote. State Youth Policy: Helping All Youth to Grow Up Fully Prepared and Fully Engaged documents ways states are putting this philosophy into action.

(http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/issues/policyresources.htm)

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 IRS DETAILS RULES ON FOUNDATION LOBBYING, FUNDING

The IRS, in a letter to the advocacy organization Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI), clarified the boundaries and legality of foundation funding for 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, PNN Online reported Feb. 4.

The letter distinguishes between the advocacy rights of community-based and other nonprofits and those of private foundations. Community foundations are given broadest leeway, able to fund nonprofits that lobby as well as engage in lobbying themselves, while private foundations may fund lobbying groups as long as those funds do not come from grant money. The IRS letter also tells private foundations how they may engage in their own activities to influence policy.

"This letter from the IRS makes abundantly clear that foundations may fund nonprofits that lobby," said Thomas A. Troyer, Esq., chairperson of CLPI.

The ability to fund nonprofits that lobby to support their interests is important for smaller foundations, where direct or indirect lobbying can amplify the impact of limited funding in critical interest areas such as health, drug policy, research, and education.

For more information, read the full IRS letter online in pdf format.

(http://www.clpi.org/)

(http://www.ncna.org/_uploads/documents/live//clpi%20Foundations%20IRS%20Ltr.pdf)

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February 4, 2005

CHARITIES RECEIVE ONLY ONE-THIRD OF TELEMARKETING REVENUE

A mere one-third of total telemarketing grosses raised in charitable drives actually went to charities in 2003, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer found in his annual Pennies for Charity report.

Of the $187.4 million raised by telemarketers in New York, only $63 million found its way back to the charities themselves; the remainder was spent on the campaigns and telemarketer's expenses. Few fundraisers satisfied the standard set by the Better Business Bureau of 65 percent returns to charitable organizations; only 42 of 592 campaigns met this criterion.

In light of these findings, Attorney General Spitzer called upon nonprofit and charitable organizations to be "actively engaged in their organizations' fundraising decisions … [with] an obligation to ensure that their organization's income for charitable purposes is maximized."

(http://www.oag.state.ny.us/charities/pennies04/penintro.html)

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 NEWS

February 16, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Anne Johnson, Director of Communications, (202) 523-3240, ext. 27

VIETNAM: USCIRF WELCOMES PRIME MINISTER’S “INSTRUCTIONS ON PROTESTANTISM”
Calls for Additional Action to End Rights Violations for all Religious Groups

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Khai’s new instructions on Protestant religious organizations, but remains concerned that the Prime Minister’s instructions only affect one segment of the Vietnamese population. Vietnam is in the midst of consultations with the U.S. over its designation as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act for egregious abuses of religious freedom. The consultation period ends on March 15, 2005. If Vietnam does not respond to U.S. government concerns, the CPC designation carries statutory penalties.

The Prime Minister’s new instructions would allow Protestant “house churches” in the Central Highlands and northwest provinces to operate if they renounce connections to groups that Hanoi has accused of organizing anti-government protests. The instructions also “outlaw” forced renunciation of faith efforts by government officials. The government’s pronouncement came a week after prominent democracy, free speech, and religious freedom advocates, Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Dan Que, Nguyen Dinh Huy, and Thich Thien Minh were released from prison in a Tet New Year amnesty.

“These are positive steps,” said Commission Chair Preeta D. Bansal. “The new instructions are an attempt by the government of Vietnam to address some of the concerns that, for the first time last fall, placed Vietnam on the State Department’s CPC list. But the instructions remain qualified and vague and open to interpretation by local government officials and public security forces. Many of last year’s most serious religious freedom abuses could still have occurred under these guidelines. We need to wait and see what concrete actions accompany the new instructions.”

In addition to the opening of churches and meeting points in the Central Highlands and northwest provinces closed since 2001, the Commission has recommended additional actions such as ending harassment and detention of United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) leaders and other religious figures and establishing a legal framework for the UBCV, the Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and others to register with the government and operate independently with leaders of their own choosing. Other recommendations can be found in the Commission’s annual report (http://www.uscirf.gov/reports/12May04/finalReport.php3).

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.

(http://www.uscirf.gov/prPages/pr0264.php3)

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February 17, 2005

PROJECT SOON TURNED POLITICAL
Kelly's offers of financial aid upset Hmong clans

By Robert Ingrassia
Pioneer Press

An effort to build a new Hmong funeral home in St. Paul — a seemingly straightforward endeavor that enjoyed broad support when it got started in earnest several years ago — quickly became enmeshed in ethnic politics and clan rivalries.

Desires within the Hmong community for more funeral space began coalescing in 2002. The Hmong United International Council of Minnesota, a coalition of 18 clans, became a natural forum for early proposals and discussion.

Mayor Randy Kelly, who had narrowly won election in November 2001 with strong Hmong support, pledged to put his weight behind the project. In fall 2002, Kelly proposed a deal to help subsidize the project, but only if the 18 clans stuck together.

Kelly and city officials tried to tread lightly. The operators of the only two Hmong funeral homes in the Twin Cities, one in St. Paul and another in Maplewood, already had put Kelly on notice that they would oppose the city's providing aid to a competitor.

The mayor — through Sia Lo, at the time a deputy city attorney — pressed Hmong leaders to band together on a project that could be portrayed as a community good, as opposed to a private venture benefiting one clan over another. The FBI is now investigating a claim that Sia Lo, who moved to the mayor's office last year, solicited a bribe from a Hmong funeral home builder, people with knowledge of the accusation have said.

In late 2002, Vang Pao stepped in. Widely revered within the Hmong community, and in some cases feared, the former general of a CIA-backed army in Laos made a personal appearance before the Hmong council.

Vang Pao proposed that his Vang Pao Foundation would raise funds and build the project. An unidentified Hmong council representative later told a city official that Vang Pao demanded the other clans back off.

"General Vang Pao, himself, spoke to the entire council of 18 and told them in no uncertain terms, 'This is my project. Stay out of it,' " a city planning and economic development official, Kurt Schultz, stated in an e-mail briefing in 2004 to his boss, then-economic development director Martha Fuller.

The council then voted to drop the mayor's proposal and back Vang Pao's idea, according to Sai Lee, a Ramsey County social worker who was the council's chairman at the time.

The project's sudden shift into Vang Pao's hands upset several Hmong community activists. In particular, some Hmong immigrants weren't happy to see Vang Pao's son, Cha Vang, handling the project. Cha Vang was working for Bridgecreek Development, a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based firm run by Frank Jao, whose roots as a native of North Vietnam sparked unease among some Hmong people in St. Paul.

What should have been widespread financial support for the funeral home never materialized in the Hmong community, in part because of Cha Vang's ties to Frank Jao, said Nkaljo Vangh, a state worker and Hmong developer in St. Paul.

"It was a matter of trust," Nkaljo Vangh said. "People didn't want to invest in a company owned by a North Vietnamese."

The suspicions about Frank Jao's background were a legacy of fighting between U.S.-backed Hmong forces and North Vietnamese soldiers in Laos during the Vietnam War. Frank Jao has told reporters he was born to ethnic Chinese parents and grew up in North Vietnam.

Cha Vang, who is leading the Vang Pao Foundation's funeral home efforts, has not returned calls seeking comment about the project.

By June 2003, Kelly was expressing concern about how long fund raising was taking. He apparently floated the idea to the Vang Pao Foundation of contributing city funds. That offer worried Schultz, a mayoral appointee in the city's economic development department, who was acting as the point person on the project.

"I think there is some risk for the mayor to tick off all concerned by intervening and trying to speed up the process," Schultz wrote in a June 2003 e-mail released by the city Tuesday under the state's open records law.

"He also has the potential to tick off the other members of the council of 18 because the financial support from the city was promised only if they all came together on this project. This offer may very well look like a backing off of that earlier commitment and playing favorites."

The pitfalls of Kelly appearing to back one group over another continued to dog the project. In March 2004, Schultz again warned his boss, Fuller, that city aid to the Vang Pao Foundation could cause political trouble.

"It should also be noted that people in the Hmong community would be miffed if the mayor ever did come forward with financial assistance to make this project work," Schultz wrote. "They know that the offer was based on joint ownership, and they were told by the general that they couldn't be joint owners. So if we come forward later with offers of money, a number of folks would be ticked off."

The complexities deepened in April 2004 when Cha Vang's house in Maplewood was destroyed by arson. After the fire, Schultz wrote an e-mail to Deputy Mayor Dennis Flaherty stating that Vang Pao adviser Steve Young had left him a message suggesting that the "implications are serious."

Even after Cha Vang cut a deal in fall 2004 with St. Paul-based JB Realty for the firm to build the funeral home and then sell it to the foundation, the political twists continued. Schultz wrote a message in January expressing concern that Cha Vang would fail to raise the money to buy the funeral home and would ask Kelly for a sizable handout.

If the foundation couldn't find the funds, Cha Vang could put "public pressure on the mayor and the city to come up with up-front money (probably a grant) and in a larger amount than had been previously discussed. This could prove to be unpleasant," Schultz wrote.

City officials have been weighing the possibility of a $500,000 low-interest loan to aid the Vang Pao Foundation in buying the funeral home when it is completed this summer or fall. Kelly said Tuesday he now opposes city aid for the project but said he would consider any request for a subsidy and potentially submit a proposal to the City Council or the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

Robert Ingrassia can be reached at ringrassia@pioneerpress.com or 651-292-1892.

(http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/10918603.htm)

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February 17, 2005

SLAVERY OF SEXUAL TRAFFICKING FINDS ITS WAY INTO MINNESOTA

Wendy Suiter

Minnesota fosters an environment ripe for modern-day slavery, more commonly known as human trafficking. In 2003, the National Institute of Justice named the Twin Cities as one of the most vulnerable areas for sexual trafficking of women in the United States. As a native Minnesotan, I never thought of Minnesota as a major destination area for human rights violations such as sexual trafficking. I was wrong.

What is sex trafficking? The State Department defines trafficking as "the recruitment, harboring, transportation and provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act." Trafficking is typically characterized by the trafficker's use of force, abuse, coercion and imprisonment of victims. Human trafficking includes forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor and mail-order brides.

In Minnesota, trafficking victims are prone to sex trafficking. Minneapolis and St. Paul have dangerously high street prostitution activity, a large number of saunas, strip clubs, escort services and dwellings for quick prostitution called "chicken shacks."

Minnesota police report a growing prevalence of Russian women in strip clubs, Korean-run massage parlors and saunas, and Vietnamese, Hmong and Spanish-speaking underground sex industries. In Greater Minnesota, there are reports of forced prostitution of Mexican women in migrant farms and Native American prostitution in Duluth's port area.

Why should we care? The magnitude of the problem is alarming. Although its covert operations make trafficking difficult to quantify, the U.S. government estimates that 45,000 to 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States annually. Human trafficking is a threat to U.S. national security. It is a transnational organized crime, linked to other crimes such as drug trafficking, illegal firearms and black-market operations.

Trafficked victims typically are recruited in areas plagued by poverty and instability. Traffickers prey on the inability of these vulnerable populations, especially women, to protect and provide for themselves. They offer promises of employment, money, travel and better lifestyles to lure these women to other countries such as the United States.

They commonly obtain letters of employment along with fraudulent visas and passports for their victims. The fees for these documents are so high that many victims remain indentured to their traffickers.

Many victims do not speak English and have little education, no contacts in the United States and little access to law enforcement personnel. These abused victims do not trust authority figures such as the police. Further, the victims are traditionally prosecuted as criminals, when in reality they are victims of trafficking.

What troubles me is the lack of concern for sexual trafficking in the United States. Many Americans do not see this as "their" problem. They think the issue of trafficking is something that affects "other" people in other parts of the world. Few want to admit that within the most powerful country in the world, people are suffering from the atrocity of slavery. But the reality is that we provide an environment where traffickers can make a large profit from the sex industry. The trafficking industry has made substantial profits from the resale of people. The UN calls the trafficking industry the fastest growing segment of international organized crime, generating billions of dollars a year for traffickers.

The unfortunate reality is that the demand for the sex industry has capitalized off of the vulnerability of oppressed people. Traffickers sell a person's right to human dignity by objectifying her into a commodity. Traffickers make higher profits from selling people than selling tangible goods.

As both Minnesotans and Americans, we must take action to uncover and expose sexual traffickers within our borders. The Minnesota House of Representatives will discuss proposed legislation to strengthen the punishment for traffickers.

The war on terror presupposes that we, as Americans, believe in the right to life, liberty and freedom of all people. We call for the liberation of Iraqis, but neglect to address the freedom of enslaved people in the United States.

We need to create stricter punishments for traffickers and work to uncover these covert operations. By working to abolish the enslavement of people, we can elicit greater international support for the anti-trafficking movement, protect our national security, and serve as a model for other countries.

Suiter of Minneapolis is a candidate for a master's degree in public policy at the University of Minnesota.

(http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/10917264.htm)

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February 18, 2005

VIETNAMESE CLASH OVER ART

By Tan Vinh
Seattle Times staff reporter

In many Vietnamese-American communities, touring pop singers and artists from Vietnam often face protests because of their country's communist regime. But a University of Washington professor thought Seattle would be an exception when he brought three artists from Hanoi last week to showcase their work.

Instead, some Vietnamese community leaders yesterday announced they would protest the "Viet Nam Now" exhibit at the Billy King Showroom, 95 Union St., near Pike Place Market. It opened last Saturday and is scheduled to run through March 14.

Earlier, an Asian social-service agency declined to endorse the show, fearing a backlash from the local refugee community.

And the artists, whose abstract and impressionistic paintings depict life in Vietnam, were glared at and disparaged by diners when they lunched in the Chinatown International District earlier this week.

"If they protest, they protest. What can you do?" said assistant professor Jonathan Warren, who is sponsoring the artists. "But maybe this will prompt a discussion into why there are hard feelings and these political divisions."

For many Vietnamese refugees here, communism remains a highly charged issue, much like the antipathy Miami's Cuban exiles harbor toward Fidel Castro's regime. Their animosity is also fueled by Vietnam's poor human-rights record and restrictions on free speech.

Refugees think the touring artists support communists because the Vietnamese government approved their trip to the United States. The artists say their work is apolitical.

"Some Vietnamese in this country were imprisoned up to 14 years after the fall of Saigon," said Jeffrey Brody, a professor at California State University, Fullerton, and an expert on Vietnamese-American issues. "They are angry at the government that defeated them in battle and that has a stranglehold on the country."

In California, home to the world's largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam, shows featuring singers and artists from Hanoi have been protested and boycotted. Refugees who have attended have been called traitors, spit on and even punched.

Similar protests, though without violence, occurred in Olympia in 2002, when students at South Puget Sound Community College hung the flag of Vietnam as part of a larger international display to honor foreign students. Hundreds protested, and the school was barraged with angry e-mails, some equating displaying the communist flag with flying the Confederate battle flag. There are an estimated 50,000 Vietnamese Americans in Washington.

Tuan Vu, a Vietnamese community leader in Olympia, expects refugees, especially war veterans, to protest the Seattle exhibit. However, some refugees fear protests would draw more publicity to the exhibit; others fear protests could become violent.

Trong Tang, of Seattle, president of the Vietnamese American Community of Washington State, a coalition of 24 Vietnamese business, social and community groups, called Vietnam's communist officials hypocrites for encouraging some artists to express their views while imprisoning many religious leaders, writers and other artists who have views with which the government disagrees.

The Seattle exhibit is the brainchild of Warren, director of Latin American Studies at the UW, who became a fan of Vietnamese contemporary art while researching a book in Hanoi in the past two years. He decided to curate the exhibit, with lectures on culture and the arts at Benaroya Hall and the Seattle Art Museum.

He said he approached a social-service agency in the Chinatown International District to help him promote the project, even offering to donate some of the proceeds from sales of paintings. But the agency, which he would not name, declined, fearing protesters might firebomb its office. In California, the homes and businesses of people accused of supporting the communist regime have been threatened.

The show features the work of five Hanoi artists, three of whom made the trip to Seattle: expressionists Cu Cong Nguyen and Hoa Dang and abstractionist Hai Pham.

When they ate at a Vietnamese pho noodle restaurant earlier this week, their presence offended some patrons, who saw them "as having been responsible for their exile and losing their land and property in Vietnam," Warren said. "It was not an engaging or warm embrace. They [the artists] were surprised to encounter such hard feelings."

The artists declined to discuss the incident.

Dang, one of Hanoi's leading artists, was picketed during a solo exhibition in Boston in 1994. He told those protesters that he had no political agenda and that his art was not government propaganda.

His seven paintings on display in Seattle are self-portraits that reflect his search for the meaning of life, he said in Vietnamese earlier this week. "I am not a politician. I do not work for the government. I am an artist, an abstract painter."

Vietnamese entertainers and artists who tour the United States must first get approval from the Vietnam government. Some refugees think that seal of approval implies the artists must be loyal to the communist regime or have agreed to promote communism through their work.

Among those who hold such sentiments are former soldiers who fought to save South Vietnam from communism or those who were imprisoned and forced to memorize communist doctrine.

"If the artists were not pro-communists, the government would have never allowed them to come to the United States," said Vu, a former soldier.

The 64-year-old Olympia man has persuaded a dozen cities, including Olympia and Puyallup, to either ban the communist flag at international events or to fly the flag of the defunct South Vietnam government instead. He said his ill will comes from having heard that many fellow countrymen were tortured. He refuses to meet the three touring artists.

Warren, of the UW, said protesting the art exhibit would be misguided because the paintings are about the desire for greater autonomy and self-expression — the same goals protesters seek for their homeland.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com

(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002183602_vietart21m.html)

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February 21, 2005

MULTILINGUAL STAFF CAN DRIVE UP AUTO SALES

By Chris Woodyard
USA TODAY

EL MONTE, Calif. — A stroll through the Longo Toyota showroom on a busy afternoon is like eavesdropping at the United Nations.

Buyers of all nationalities and races — many of them immigrants — flock to the dealership where the staff speaks more than 30 languages and dialects. From Vietnamese to Punjabi, the sounds of many tongues float across the cavernous, open sales floor.

Catering to multiple ethnicities has proved to be a winning formula. Longo came in first on industry tracker Ward's 2004 list of top-selling dealerships. It sold 20,320 new vehicles last year — an average of 56 cars and trucks every day — on a lot so big that it has its own Starbucks and Subway shops.

Other dealers — manufacturers, too — are realizing the value of catering to ethnic and immigrant markets across the country, mirroring changes in the communities where they sell.

They are trying to become more culturally attuned. Some dealers are adding aftermarket accessories to tailor cars to young Hispanics or seeking out feng shui experts to avoid architectural mistakes that can turn off some Asians.

And they are hiring more diverse staffs. Combined, the percentage of Hispanics and African-Americans employed by dealerships doubled from 1990 to 2004 to nearly 15%, CNW Marketing Research reports. The percentage of Asian employees was flat.

A diverse staff can make a difference. Buyers say they often develop a bond with a salesperson, something that's easier to do when they share the same cultural background. "In the Philippines, you build your business based on trust," says two-time Longo customer Peter See, 58, of Montebello, Calif., who turns to salesman and fellow Filipino immigrant Mel Castelo, a friend from church. "I know he won't sell me down the primrose path."

The immigrant population, both legal and illegal, now numbers more than 34 million, the Census Bureau says in a report today. That means almost one in eight people living in the USA was born in another country, the highest percentage since the 1920s.

Those immigrants have huge buying power. Hispanics and Asians together are a $1-trillion-a-year market. Cars are at the top of the wish list. Hispanics and Asians bought more than 3 million new cars and trucks last year out of 16.7 million sold, according to an American International Automobile Dealers Association analysis of CNW data.

Paying attention to ethnic customers "is a smart thing for anyone selling cars to do," says Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group. "It's a growing market."

Some car dealers are on the front line of seeing how attitudes toward the newcomers are changing in the heartland. When Susan Schein ran Spanish-only TV ads in 1999 to lure customers to her Pelham, Ala., dealerships, the response was overwhelming.

"Immediately, I started getting calls from people saying didn't I know this was America," recalls Schein, a Chevrolet and Dodge dealer. She found her telephone operator in tears after receiving a slew of insults.

Today, Schein says, Spanish-language ads bring shrugs. The fast-growing Birmingham metro area has seen an influx of not only Hispanics, but also Vietnamese and Chinese. Immigrant businesses have become commonplace, says Schein, who gets her nails done at the Vietnamese salon across the street. "I was just too far ahead of my time," she says.

The most successful dealers at luring ethnic customers go beyond learning the language. "It's learning about the culture, values and purchasing preferences of specific ethnic groups," says Marianne McInerney, president of the AIADA. Dealers are:

•Reaching out. Hispanics often don't just show up, says Yrma Rico, CEO of Weber BMW in Fresno, Calif. "The Hispanic buyer is not going to come to your dealership if you don't invite him in," she says. More dealers are extending a welcome.

Once a year, Fort Myers Toyota in Florida clears the sales lot for Hispanic Appreciation Day. About 2,500 visitors typically show up for the bands, talent show, food and job booths, general manager John Marazzi says. "When they show up, there's no cars and no salespeople," he says. "It's all about the event."

Rob Bennett, a Toyota dealer in Allentown, Pa., has long sold cars to local Syrian- and Greek-Americans, but wants to get to know the area's recent Hispanic arrivals, as well.

After a successful holiday party last year at a local social club popular with Hispanics, the dealership hopes to host other events at places where it can meet more Hispanics, such as cafeterias where they work. No hard sell. Just park a few new cars and trucks outside, mingle with potential customers and give a $25 gift card to the local Home Depot store to anyone who fills out a credit application.

"We noticed a lot of people were bringing interpreters with them. We sensed that we could appeal to a lot more people if we made it easy and more comfortable to do business with us," Bennett says.

•Understanding attitudes about negotiation. Some ethnic customers expect to negotiate. Others come from cultures that don't accept it.

At Wellesley Mazda outside Boston, Ukrainian immigrant Alexander Kamergorodsky, the dealer's delivery specialist, helps nurse Russian speakers through a process that can be as strange as American football. Having grown up in the old Soviet system, they often don't understand that car prices are negotiated.

After watching their eyes bulge at sticker shock, "I sit them down and say, 'Please understand. We are not trying to rob you of your money,' " he says.

At Longo, customer See says he hates to haggle about price, a practice that was shunned in his native Philippines. But Susan Tan, 37, and Gary Zhao, 44, of Arcadia, Calif., a married Chinese immigrant couple, had no qualms about wangling for a better deal. They spent an afternoon recently hammering Longo salesman Victor Zeng to reduce the $26,000 price of the Camry XLE they wanted. They saved $2,000.

•Meeting special needs. Immigrants often have financial needs that go beyond cars. The dealer who helps them can build loyalty for future sales.

Two months ago, Burt Automotive Network, a dealership chain in suburban Denver, created a brokerage aimed at central-city Hispanics. Its chief marketing tool will be a debit card that Mexican settlers can use to easily send money across the border without paying fees to money wire services.

It's a long-standing problem, particularly with illegal immigrants. "None of us endorse illegal immigration," Burt Senior Vice President Hank Held says. "But those who are here are getting abused very, very badly. It's an attempt to take away some of this abuse." In the process, Held hopes they'll also save to buy a car.

Sometimes dealers have been accused of taking advantage of immigrant customers. A Southern California Toyota dealer agreed to pay $2 million to settle charges of unfair business practices in 2001. Among the allegations were that South Coast Toyota of Costa Mesa and South Bay Toyota of Gardena negotiated purchases and leases in Spanish but failed to provide a Spanish-language translation of the contract, according to the California Attorney General's office. The dealer who owned both locations did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

But these allegations are rare, especially as carmakers see the potential for developing ethnic markets.

Carmakers involved

Manufacturers are focusing on ethnic sales, too. GM encourages dealers to install signs in multiple languages. It suggests that waiting rooms be stocked with foreign-language magazines or newspapers. It points to making sales offices bigger for ethnic customers who bring their extended family when they come to negotiate a deal, says Martin Walsh, executive director of sales and marketing support.

Carmakers also help with targeted advertising. Mercedes-Benz produced a set of three print ads aimed at Asian customers. Each featured a miniature car on a pillow, a sign of security within the Asian culture. But the pattern on the pillows differed to be more appealing to each of the three target immigrant groups — Chinese, Korean and Asian Indian.

In one TV commercial for the New York market, Mercedes showed passersby swooning in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Swedish and the African language Wolof as a car whooshed through the streets.

"They already hold our brand in high esteem. It's up to us to go to the next level and reach out to the individuals," says Michelle Cervantez, Mercedes' marketing vice president.

Personal touch

Manufacturers' assistance helps, but in the end, winning over ethnic buyers comes face-to-face — at the dealerships. That's where Longo has excelled.

When Greg Penske, president of the Penske Automotive Group that owns the dealership, arrived in 1987, the staff spoke five languages.

But the San Gabriel Valley, where the dealership is located, was seeing a massive wave of Asian immigration. "You just saw the culture changing," says Penske, son of former race car driver Roger Penske.

Catering to the needs of a diverse car-buying public has been key to the agency's success, Penske says. The sales force of 140 is 68% minority.

The company is going to offer Spanish and maybe Chinese language lessons as part of the training center it operates in the showroom basement.

Longo has remained the nation's highest-selling Toyota dealer for 38 years.

It has grown so big that sales workers ferry customers around the lot in golf carts. And 80% of the sales are to repeat customers.

Not that Penske and general manager Tom Rudnai haven't made a few mistakes along the line.

For instance, the agency had to hastily take down the black-and-white flags that adorned the lot of its adjoining Lexus dealership in 1989. They offended Chinese customers because black and white are the colors of death, Penske says.

But the agency has learned enough that Rudnai feels comfortable ordering new sales lot adornments: "We're going to have flags that say 'welcome' in every language."

ETHNIC PREFERENCE
percentage of ethnic people who said they would prefer to buy a new car or truck from a person of the same ethnicity (among new-car shoppers):

African-American
1990  42.8%
1995  44.9%
2000  43.7%
2002  45.8% 
2004  46.2% 

Hispanic
1990  34.6%
1995  35.7%
2000  37.1%
2002  37.2%
2004  37.7%

Southeast Asian
1990  18.4%
1995  17.7%
2000  17.9%
2002  18.3%
2004  19.1%

Middle Eastern
1990  46.9%
1995  51.2%
2000  58.8%
2002  62.3%
2004  65.4%

Northern European
1990  72.1%
1995  70.6%
2000  65.8%
2002  63.5%
2004  61.8%

East European
1990  41.8%
1995  42.9%
2000  44.4%
2002  47.9%
2004  47.5%

Sources: CNW Marketing Research; USA TODAY research

DEALERSHIP STAFFING
Auto dealers have been hiring more ethnic minorities, especially Hispanics and African Americans in all aspects of their operations. But Asian staffing has remained flat.

African-American
1990  4.6%
1995  6.8%
2000  7.2%
2004  7.7%

Hispanic
1990  2.4%
1995  2.9%
2000  5.6%
2004  7.1%

Southeast Asian
1990  1.1%
1995  1.3%
2000  1.2%
2004  1.2%

Middle Eastern
1990  1.7%
1995  1.3%
2000  1.1%
2004  1.1%

Northern European
1990  68.4%
1995  66.8%
2000  62.9%
2004  60.9%

Eastern European
1990  1.9%
1995  2.4%
2000  7.3%
2004  7.9%

Sources: CNW Marketing Research; USA TODAY research

(http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-02-21-ethnic-cars-usat_x.htm)

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February 21, 2005

VIETNAM TAKING STEPS TO CLEAN UP POOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RECORD

By Kenneth Chan
The Christian Post

In recent weeks, Hanoi has made a number of goodwill gestures that some analysts see as an attempt to please the United States.

An impending decision on whether or not to punish Vietnam for its poor record on religious freedom has put the communist country under mounting pressure, sources reported Friday. After classifying Vietnam as a “country of particular concern" last year for violating religious freedoms, Washington must decide by March 15 if Hanoi is to face sanctions.

Although an instruction signed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in early February called on officials to "ensure that each citizen's freedom of religious and belief practice is observed [and] outlaw attempts to force people to follow a religion or to deny their religion", foreign diplomats warn that even if the central government is serious about bringing change, the reality at the provincial level is less clear.

"The instructions of the government are not always applied at the bottom of the scale," said one foreign observer, as reported by the Agence France-Presse. "And many things are prone to interpretation".

This view was echoed by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an American consultative body that campaigned for sanctions against Hanoi.

"The new instructions are an attempt by the government of Vietnam to address some of the concerns that, for the first time last fall, placed Vietnam on the State Department's countries of particular concern list," said USCIRF chairman Preeta D. Bansal.

However, the text remains "vague and open to interpretation by local government officials and public security forces."

"Many of last year's most serious religious freedom abuses could still have occurred under these guidelines,” Bansal commented. “We need to wait and see what concrete actions accompany the new instructions."

In addition to ensuring freedom and outlawing forced renunciation of faith, the instruction also signals that religions so far not officially registered could be recognized in the future.

It also gives Protestants the possibility of holding religious ceremonies on their premises provided they have no contact with the rebel United Front for the Struggle of the Oppressed Races (FULRO)—an officially dissolved movement that fought on the side of the Americans during the Vietnam War and against the communist state until the beginning of the 1990s, with the objective of creating an independent state.

"The Protestants who undertake purely religious activities are authorized to organize their masses at home or in suitable and registered places," an official from the Commission for Religious Affairs told AFP.

He said that the Prime Minister’s instruction was "aimed at separating the leaders from the Protestants operating for FULRO and others."

Taken literally, it means the followers of religions without any political ambitions could be allowed to practice their faith.

If implemented, the instructions would be a major reform in a country accused by human rights organizations of persecuting Protestants, bulldozing churches and organizing sessions for the forced renunciation of faith.

"There is a clear will to launch a political message taking into account the date of March 15," said one foreign observer. "The question of the forced renunciation of faith, in particular, was one of the requests by the Americans.

"Now, we have to wait and see if the substance of these nice words is implemented."

In recent weeks, Hanoi has made a number of goodwill gestures that some analysts see as an attempt to please the United States.

Just before the first day of the Lunar New Year, Hanoi released several prominent democracy, free speech, and religious freedom advocates including Catholic priest Tadeus Nguyen Van Ly, who had been detained since 2001. Ly, a well-known advocate of religious freedom and democracy, was charged with undermining national unity and sentenced in 2001 to 15 years in jail plus five years of house arrest after he submitted written testimony to a USCIRF hearing criticizing the Vietnamese government’s interference with religious belief and practice.

Prior to the incident, Ly was already well known for openly criticizing the Vietnamese government for its poor human rights record.

Kenneth Chan
kenneth@christianpost.com

 (http://www.christianpost.com/article/missions/1406/section/vietnam.taking.steps.to.clean.up.poor.religious.freedom.record/1.htm)

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February 21, 2005

FEAR FOLLOWS REFUGEE
A Cambodian star believes she was targeted to die for singing of democracy and freedom

By Stephen Magagnini
Bee Staff Writer

Sunnix Touch was already a legend among Cambodians when the singer was nearly shot to death outside a Phnom Penh flower shop in October 2003.

Now "the Cambodian Alicia Keys" - who began singing protest songs in the months before the shooting - is taking refuge in Sacramento.

Touch, 25, and her family are grateful to be under U.S. protection but terrified that those who left her paralyzed from the neck down may try to finish the job.

Four assassins on motorbikes, who Touch said had been shadowing her for months, gunned her down at midday, killing her mother and shooting Touch twice in the face and once in the back.

Their sponsor, Pong Kith, said that within a week after arriving in Sacramento, Touch and her family were visited by a known Cambodian gangster from Stockton who gave her $200 for medical care and offered to "protect" her.

"Her life is still being threatened by somebody," said Kith, a Cambodian immigrant and longtime critic of the Cambodian regime.

Refugee resettlement workers here have notified police about Touch's presence.

"She's a lot more secure here than she was in Southeast Asia, but I am indeed concerned for her safety," said Maurine Huang, president of Opening Doors, the agency helping Touch and her family resettle in Sacramento.

For the past 14 months, Touch had been hospitalized in Bangkok, Thailand, afraid to return to Cambodia.

Several weeks ago, U.S. officials acknowledged that Touch and her family have a well-founded fear of being tortured or killed if they return to Cambodia and granted them emergency refugee status. Touch was flown to Sacramento, where doctors are working to keep her kidneys and urinary tract functioning.

More than a year after the shooting, Cambodian officials say they are no closer to solving the mystery behind an attack that devastated the nation. Fans worldwide - including many of the estimated 100,000 Cambodians in California - are asking: Who shot Sunnix Touch?

Some believe she was marked for death by Vietnamese agents because of her impassioned songs urging Cambodians in southern Vietnam to revolt and reclaim the region for Cambodia.

Others suspect that the beautiful young star was drawn into an affair with a top government official and that the jealous wife ordered Touch killed.

From her bed in Sacramento, Touch denied having an affair. "It's only because of my songs that I was shot," she said.

After a six-month tour of the United States in 2000 that imbued her with a love of American-style liberty and justice, Touch said she returned home and "started to sing a lot more songs about freedom and democracy in my nation."

Whatever the motive, the mysterious shooting and the rumors surrounding it provide a glimpse into the Byzantine world of Cambodian politics and how the horrific legacy of the Cambodian holocaust lives on among Cambodians in California.

Touch's parents, like millions of others, were forced out of Cambodian cities and into re-education camps by the Maoist Khmer Rouge under dictator Pol Pot.

From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge executed or starved to death 2 million Cambodians, among them professionals, teachers, artists and those considered intellectuals or capitalists.

Touch's mother was a doctor and her father a nurse specializing in eye problems.

"We lied and said I worked in a charcoal factory and she was a housewife," said Touch's father, Sieng Touch, "but we both just waited for the time they were going to take us out to the field and kill us once they found out the truth."

Sunnix, so named because her father admired President Richard Nixon, was born Dec. 30, 1979, the year the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese army ran Cambodia until 1990, installing Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge member, as premier in 1985.

Cambodia held its first elections in 1993 and remains a shaky democracy. Campaigns often are scarred by political assassinations - there were several in the weeks surrounding Touch's shooting - and many Cambodians suspect the Vietnamese are still pulling the strings of the Hun Sen government.

Sunnix Touch began singing professionally at age 6, and at 14 the national arts commission named her the most popular singer in Cambodia, her father said. She sang ballads, love songs and blues; fans in California compare her to Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston.

"Her biggest hit was 'Family Reunion,' a soulful song about how the country was coming together," her father said.

In 2001, following her six-month American tour, Touch began singing about Kampuchea Krom, or lower Cambodia, a large portion of the old Cambodian kingdom that was annexed by Vietnam in the 19th century. The region, which includes Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), is home to several million Cambodians. It remains a source of hostility between the two nations.

In song after hypnotic song, Touch urged the Cambodians in Kampuchea Krom to rise up against their Vietnamese oppressors.

She also sang of the virtues of democracy and free elections during the 2003 campaign, and recorded the anthem of the Royalist Funcinpec party, then at odds with the Hun Sen government.

After Touch was shot, thousands of fans held candlelight vigils, and Funcinpec radio played her songs around the clock. Some opposition party members blamed Hun Sen, who in turn accused his opponents of trying to create political unrest.

Sereywath Ek, the Cambodian ambassador to the United States, said he doubts Touch was targeted because of her protest songs.

"I have listened to her songs, and we cannot take this as seriously (as a motive)," he said. "She's not a political figure, she's not a political opponent, she's not a rich woman who might have enemies."

A more plausible explanation, Ek said, is that Touch was part of a love triangle gone terribly wrong. Vengeful wives are "a social plague in Cambodia - sometimes the wife hires somebody to throw acid on the face of the young girl, sometimes it's shooting," he said.

Ek said the Cambodian government paid Touch's hospital bills in Thailand for six months. But Touch's father said Cambodian agents tried to persuade them to return to Cambodia, where the medical costs would be lower. Instead, he transferred her to a cheaper Thai hospital and paid the bills with donations from Cambodians in the United States.

Phal Tan, a civil engineer in Orange County, is among those who contributed to the $18,000 raised by Cambodian Americans. Tan said Touch's case represents the tragedy of modern Cambodia, "a country where the law of the jungle still reigns - that is why mob killing is still prevalent, and people no longer believe in the justice system."

He sees Touch's safe arrival in the United States as a symbol of hope for millions of Cambodians who live in a dangerous, shadowy political climate where things often are not what they seem.

Whether Touch is still in danger is unclear, even to U.S. officials who granted her refugee status based on pleas by Cambodian human rights activists in America.

"There are problems with violence in Cambodia, and there have been instances of politically motivated killings," said State Department spokesman Ken Bailes.

But another official, speaking on background, said that while there are "a lot of thugs killing people in Phnom Penh - either banditry or political killings," the main issue in admitting Touch to the United States was getting her better medical treatment.

Dr. Jong Chen, the Sacramento urologist treating Touch, said she will receive better care here. "Hopefully, we can get her sitting in a wheelchair and relieve the pain in her neck."

The chances of her regaining use of her arms and legs are slim, "but she should be able to sing again," Chen said.

Touch, in fact, already has been singing from her bed.

"I'm sorry for being so afraid and scared," she said, hinting that she has more to tell. "I will explain clearly about my problem sooner or later."

About the writer:
The Bee's Stephen Magagnini can be reached at (916) 321-1072 or smagagnini@sacbee.com.

(http://www.sacbee.com/content/women/story/12417176p-13273513c.html)

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February 22, 2005

 NEW PROGRAM AIMS TO BREAK LANGUAGE BARRIER

By Josie Huang
Portland Press Herald Writer

Thanh Dang, left, with interpreter Lien Hoa Pham, moved to Portland from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, two years ago.

Thanh Dang had no problem making herself understood, laughing easily as she talked.

But that was in Ho Chi Minh City, where she worked at a textile factory. Since she moved to Portland two years ago, communicating has become a task.

Unlike many immigrants and refugees, Dang, 51, does not have children to help her understand English.

She is usually fine in the grocery store, where money is exchanged wordlessly. But she has no way of telling her landlord what's wrong with her aging basement apartment.

And a trip to the bank requires arduous preparation with an English-Vietnamese dictionary - though to little avail. The clerks, she says, don't understand her, and to this day, her attempts to get an ATM card have gone nowhere.

Recognizing the language barriers faced by some newcomers, a team of philanthropies and social service agencies led by the United Way of Greater Portland has developed a program to improve and expand interpreting services in Maine.

The Language Access for New Americans Program is launching a flurry of initiatives with the goal of giving residents such as Dang better access to services and, ultimately, richer lives in their adopted home.

One of the first efforts will be developing an Internet database of qualified interpreters and translators, to serve as a resource for immigrants, and for social service agencies and businesses that have immigrant clients, such as banks and utility companies.

Any group receiving federal money, like a doctor's office that treats Medicaid patients, should already offer interpreting services, and some larger operations like Maine Medical Center already do, said Dolgormaa Hersey, the program's manager.

"But a lot of them don't know about their responsibilities," said Hersey, herself an interpreter of Russian and Mongolian. "It will be our job to do training to explain why and how."

There will also be refresher courses for working interpreters, and introductory courses to open the field to bilingual people who are searching for careers, including a class at Portland High School, where dozens of languages are spoken among students.

A couple hundred or so people in Greater Portland work as interpreters, according to current estimates, often for Catholic Charities, the state's largest refugee resettlement agency, and Maine Med, Hersey said.

But hourly pay - $15 in many cases - coupled with sporadic work requires many interpreters to hold other jobs, making services even harder to attain. Hersey said it is difficult to find enough qualified interpreters for the growing Somali population in Portland or even for the more established Cambodian and Vietnamese communities.

That often leaves interpreting to English-speaking friends and family members, which is rarely a good idea. Interpreting is more than about being bilingual, experts say. People who lack proper training in medical and legal terminology may cause miscommunication and insert bias and emotion into a situation.

Julia Barbalace, who majored in English as a college student in Russia and got two years of interpreter training, said her job requires precision and neutrality. An interpreter always replies as if he or she were the client, speaking in the first person, and never edits what the client says, even for clarification. Likewise, the interpreter never tries to explain what a doctor or lawyer means, only exactly what they're saying.

"It should be two people who are talking to each other, and the interpreter is there to help communications," Barbalace said.

Despite the training that goes into interpreting, it is not considered a profession in Maine as it is in states such as Massachusetts. As a result, Hersey said, the state does not have standards, a code of ethics or specialty training to distinguish expert interpreters from people who are simply bilingual.

To that end, Barbalace hopes that the language access program and its database listing credentials of interpreters will raise the bar and professionalize the field.

There is also hope that the program will interest businesses and generate steadier work for interpreters. Barbalace has to supplement her income by working as a real estate agent. Similarly, Lien Hoa Pham works the overnight shift for the U.S. Postal Service to cover the bills.

Having come to the United States only four years ago, Pham said nothing is more satisfying than helping fellow Vietnamese adapt to their new country.

"Almost everything I do for my community's people is free," said Pham, who has helped Dang, a friend of her parents.

While thankful for Pham's help, Dang expressed hope that her English will improve. She and her husband have befriended a co-worker in the linens department of Maine Med, but communication is mostly limited to smiles and gestures.

"I want to be able to express my feelings and make friends," Dang said.

The language access program has raised $175,000 so far, with the help of The Betterment Fund and the River Rock Foundation. The United Way will seek another $110,000 to cover the program's budget for the next three years.

Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at: jhuang@pressherald.com

(http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/050222united.shtml)

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