Asian Pacific American Legislative Staff Network - APALS
Share
The Asian Pacific American Legislative Staff Network (APALS) is a non-partisan network of legislati
APALS was founded in 1992-1993 during the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest. The idea originated during meetings of APANLA (Asian pacific Americans for new Los Angeles), a coalition of APA community groups convened by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) to identify the needs of our communities and to provide grassroots advocacy to ensure that the voices of the APA communit
y was heard as Los Angeles was striving to rebuild. In the early 90s, email and social media did not exist and many staffers relied on face-to-face meetings, personal phone calls, and fax blasts to stay connected. To this very day, APALS continues these traditions through informal gatherings and its Monday Minglers program. Furthermore, when APALS was first founded, there was only a handful of APA elected officials in California: Congressmembers Robert Matsui and Norman Y. Mineta represented northern California, while Assemblymember Nao Takasugi was the only APA representative in the California legislature. Councilmember Michael Woo served a brief term in the Los Angeles City Council. Although there were few APA elected officials in office, our community was fortunate to have several APA individuals who cared about the community, serving in government offices throughout the state of California. During APALS’ founding years, Candice Kim, from Congresswoman Lucille Roybal Allard’s office, and Jeri Okamoto, from Assemblymember Louis Caldera’s office, served as co-coordinators, working with a team that included: State Controller John Chiang, from Senator Barbara Boxer’s office; Kim Tachiki; Janet Lim; Mayor Chi Mui; Gerald Gubatan; Marissa Castro-Savanti; Audrey Noda; Maely Tom; and Georgette Imura. Our founding members focused on assuring that our elected officials were well-informed on issues of concern to their APA constituents, mentoring incoming staffers and helping them with community networking and providing practical advice on political and cultural protocol. APALS also served and continues to serve as a leadership pipeline as we recruit incoming APA staffers and helped each other move up through the ranks. Many in our network have gone on to serve on commissions and as elected officials themselves such as: Controller John Chaing, Assemblymember Warren Furutani, Garvey School Boardmember Henry Lo, and Councilmember Mark Pulido, just to name a few. For over 20 years, APALS continues to serve the mission our founding members set forth for us of increasing the political influence and participation of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and providing direct access to all levels of government for the APA community, as we look forward to forming new partnerships and strengthening existing ones in the years to come.
08/15/2018
Thank you all for joining us at our annual APALS Intern reception at LA City Hall! For over twenty years, this network of Asian Pacific American staffers have worked to increase APA participation and influence at all levels of government and public affairs. A very special shout out to our guest speaker LA City Board of Public Works Commissioner Joel Jacinto for his inspiring remarks regarding leadership and diversity (currently only 12% all City Commissioners are of APA background in the City of Los Angeles).
Stay tuned for our Fall event series for an opportunity to connect with more AAPI staffers. Sign up at [email protected].
09/26/2017
Another memorable Monday Night Mingler in beautiful Long Beach!
10/18/2016
We had a great time at October's Monday Mingler featuring API Commissioners! Thank you to all the Commissioners who came out and empowered the community by sharing their public service experiences through commission appointments.
Thank you all for joining us last week at the annual APALS Intern Reception! Special thank yous to Councilmember David E. Ryu and Jenny Yang, Comic/Writer for sharing insights and advice for a career in public service.
03/10/2016
How Asian Americans climbed the ranks and changed the political landscape
Steve S. Kim had been running a flower shop with his sister across the street from Los Angeles City Hall for a couple years when a customer who bought flowers every week for his wife off-handedly asked a life-changing question.
At the end of the round 2 at the OCA-Greater Los Angeles Trivia Night! At 3rd place!!
05/20/2014
Over 30 attendees attended our second Monday Mingler of 2014 at Peking Tavern in Downtown LA.
05/16/2014
AAPI Voices
There's a map that Slate made recently that's been getting a lot of shares. The map is part of a post on language diversity, and it shows the top language in each state other than English or Spani...
05/15/2014
Another picture of APALS at City of LA's APAHM Celebration on May 9th. All we're missing are certificate folders!
05/12/2014
APALS with Honorable George Nakano at City of LA's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration on Friday, May 9th. Former Assemblyman Nakano was the first Asian American to serve as Chair of the Democratic Caucus in CA State Legislature.
08/15/2018
09/26/2017
10/18/2016
08/25/2016
08/09/2016
03/10/2016
12/15/2014
05/22/2014
05/20/2014
05/16/2014
05/15/2014
05/12/2014