The Next Generation: The Arizona Collaborative Consortium

The Asian Pacific Arizona Initiative (APAZI) is an initiative coordinated by the ASU Asian Pacific American Studies program to educate Arizonans about the diversity, issues and specific needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in Arizona. As a community member, I was privileged to serve on the APAZI Advisory Committee during its planning and execution of a report documenting the economic and social/cultural impact of the AAPI community and corresponding policy implications. This report, “The State of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Arizona”, was published in October 2008 and has been widely disseminated within the AAPI community, to policymakers, and many others. A sequel to this report is planned for 2012.

Other racial/ethnic groups have produced similar reports, i.e., “The State of Latino Arizona” and “The State of Black Arizona”. Leaders from each of these communities (including the Native American community) have now begun meeting under the name “Arizona Collaborative Consortium” to discuss a framework for combining the efforts of the various racial/ethnic communities in continuing to gather and utilize data and research to improve quality of life in their respective communities.

We met this past Saturday to continue the dialogue and discussion. Dr. Karen Leong (pictured above), Asian Pacific American Studies professor, laid out a draft model for collaborative research and action. For my part, I suggested that the data gathering and research efforts be connected to efforts to mobilize communities to create positive action for social change. Too often, very creditable and actionable reports collect dust on the shelves of policymakers who are either ideologically opposed to social change or who lack the motivation or incentive to move an initiative forward. Grass roots mobilization must be at the core of policy change, and I’ll be curious to see if the Consortium can be the nexus for collaborative and effective action in this regard.

- Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director