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White House Initiative Spotlights AAPI Groups |
As one of the country's fastest-growing U.S. minority groups, Asian and Asian Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are expected to total 10 percent of the U.S. population by 2050. How well are HUD and other federal agencies serving AAPIs? If they are underserved, how can their participation be increased? The White House Initiative on AAPIs, established through Executive Order 13125 on June 7, 1999, is trying to answer these questions. New federal initiative. The White House initiative set up a special commission in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to advise the President on how to boost participation in federal programs in which AAPI residents are underserved and on how to increase public-sector, private-sector, and community involvement in improving the health and well-being of AAPI residents. An interagency working group will coordinate implementation in different agencies. The White House initiative has particular relevance for HUD, whose mission is to empower communities and ensure decent living conditions for all U.S. residents. HUD provides the most important source of low-income housing and community development funding in the country. AAPI families are the majority of users of public and HUD-assisted housing in a number of cities with large AAPI populations. For example, more than 10 percent of AAPI households in Minneapolis, nearly 20 percent in Seattle and Oakland, and 25 percent in San Francisco reside in HUD-subsidized housing, according to Building Capacity: The Challenges and Opportunities of Asian Pacific American Community Development, a recent study by the Urban Institute. In September 2000, the University of Hawaii at Manoa received an Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting Communities grant awarded by HUD's Office of University Partnerships. The university will use the funds to expand its role in addressing the community development needs in two low- and moderate-income native Hawaiian communities. AAPI community organizations work to make housing more affordable, increase job prospects, and improve neighborhood economic vitality. These organizations represent neighborhoods and ethnic groups; advocate the needs of their constituencies; and tap volunteer energies, private charity, and private investment to leverage public resources. The efforts of federal agencies to serve AAPI residents better are linked to the effectiveness of these organizations. The implications of AAPI diversity. In its diversity, the AAPI population belies the stereotype of Asian Americans as a "model majority" whose members are uniformly prosperous and well integrated into American life, according to the Urban Institute. This diversity poses special challenges for AAPI residents and serious implications for the community organizations that serve them. Diverse ethnicity and nationality. No one nationality comprises a majority of the AAPI population. The largest groups of recent immigrants come from the Philippines, China, Vietnam, and India and represent a wide range of language, dialect, and culture. Distinct differences in nationality and group loyalties inhibit the formation of a solid constituency across a variety of subgroups. Organizations with strong ties to different nationalities must extend their assistance, and government agencies must find ways to offer their services in several languages and dialects. Differing levels of education and income. Overall, 42 percent of AAPI men and 32 percent of women—but less than 10 percent of Cambodians, Hmongs, and Laotians—have college degrees. The AAPI per capita income ($19,283 per year) is almost twice that of AAPIs of Southeast Asian origin ($11,969 per year). Compared with a national poverty rate of 13 percent in 1989, the Laotian poverty rate was 35 percent; Cambodian, 43 percent; and Hmong, 65 percent. Recent arrivals. More than one-half (60 percent) of AAPI residents were born outside the United States. One-quarter first entered the country within the past 5 years. Only 11 percent have U.S.-born parents. These statistics imply that newer immigrants may need coaching in how to access human services and take advantage of opportunities in the United States. Lack of English proficiency. Recent immigrants are less likely to speak English fluently. Nationally, one-fifth of working-age AAPI residents and almost one-half of elderly do not. Approximately one-third of households lack an adult who speaks fluent English. The proportion rises to more than half of Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian households. These figures imply that relying on English as a common language for service delivery leaves out many AAPIs. High reliance on entrepreneurship among some groups. The percentage of small businesses in the United States owned by AAPIs generally is about the same as those owned by native-born residents. However, AAPI entrepreneurs own a large share of urban retail stores. In New York, Houston, and Seattle, AAPI residents own 10 percent or more of all retail firms. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland, AAPIs own more than 20 percent of retail firms. Foreign-born Koreans have the highest self-employment rate of any immigrant group (33 percent). However, a high percentage of AAPI entrepreneurs (especially recent immigrants) are likely to have low English proficiency. Many programs designed to help small business owners do not overcome language and cultural barriers to reach this population. Geographic dispersion. Those AAPI immigrants newest to the United States have not concentrated in ethnic neighborhoods as did earlier Asian arrivals. These dispersed settlement patterns complicate outreach efforts. Many AAPI community organizations did not exist in the 1970s when the largest U.S. community development corporations were founded. Without the well-established connections to federal/state/local government pipelines that other ethnic groups have, the work of AAPI organizations is not as well known. This lack of visibility results in reduced access to private funders. See: Chris Walker et al. Building Capacity: The Challenges and Opportunities of Asian Pacific American Community Development, A Report to the National Coalition for Asian Pacific Community Development. The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, April 27, 2000.
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