Formation of an Asian American Nonprofit Organization through the Partnership between Corporate Employee Resource Groups and Community Organizations

In today’s California, Asian Americans and Arab Americans have diminished employment opportunities because employment agencies focus on their names, not qualifications. The Discrimination Research Center has documented the response rates to resumes submitted on behalf of men and women who have equal qualifications and ethnically identifiable names of Asian American, Arab American, Latino, African American and white backgrounds. Although potentially illegal and certainly unacceptable, results that showed that individuals with Arab or South Asian names, especially men, received the lowest response rates to their resumes were not particularly surprising in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and subsequent changes in world affairs. Local animosity and antagonism ranging from discrimination to violence in response to events in the Middle East are well known and fit a historic pattern. Other statistically significant results showing Asian Americans receiving far fewer responses than white women applicants despite their comparable resumes suggest the persistence of long-held perceptions of Asian Americans as “foreigners”, not capable of “fitting in”, and reluctant to complain when wronged. Asian American community organizations and leaders may wish to replicate DRC testing in other parts of the United States or utilize these research results as a basis for workplace advocacy and litigation.

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Polling AAPI Voters

10.36650/nexus2.2_67-86_ichinose ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 67-86

Author(s):

Daniel Ichinose

Keyword(s):

Los Angeles ◽

Asian American ◽

Voting Behavior ◽

Program Planning ◽

Community Organizations ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Exit Poll ◽

Asian Pacific American ◽

Tremendous Amount ◽

Asian Pacific

Exit polls are surveys of voters once they cast their ballot. However, they are often unreliable sources of information on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters. Several community organizations like the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) in Los Angeles attempts to provide a more accurate exit polling results about AAPI. The methodologies used to conduct the exit poll are noted. To properly conduct polling, it requires tremendous amount of resources such as time, funding, and staff, and is also a very difficult activity to do for a long period of time. Problems outside of the pollsters such as low voter turn out negatively affects the effectiveness of polling. The absentee ballot also renders polling as not wholly accurate since many AAPI due to their voting this way. However polling has plenty of merits as it helps document AAPI voting behavior which can be used for program planning and voting right litigation. Exit poll results are useful in targeting voter education plans. Pollsters are helping depict the emerging AAPI electorate and will also help protect its right to vote.

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ERGs (employee resource groups) benefit employee wellbeing

Human Resource Management International Digest ◽

10.1108/hrmid-02-2019-0028 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 45-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Native American ◽

Leadership Development ◽

Asian American ◽

Well Being ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Content Type ◽

South Asian American ◽

The Usa ◽

Employee Resource Groups

Purpose A qualitative study of six employee resource groups (ERGs) in a not-for-profit organization in the USA tested whether they helped minorities to integrate. The positive results showed they act as powerful conduits for learning and development, and help staff well-being. Design/methodology/approach The researcher carried out 39 semi-structured interviews with people from each of the six groups, including executive sponsors. There were 11 participants from the African-American RG, 2 from the Native American RG, 4 from the Asian-American RG, 5 from the Hispanic-American RG, 7 from the LGBT RG, and 3 from the South Asian-American RG. Seven executive sponsors were also interviewed. All participants were asked to describe the organization’s culture and explain how much support they received on diversity issues. Findings Members explained how ERGs offered communities for the exchange of ideas. They helped individuals deal with “micro-aggressions” when the dominant social groups indulged in prejudicial stereotyping. Useful activities were both informal and formal. Informal conversations were helpful, especially for younger members. More formal activities depended on member interests. For example, the African-American and Asian-American RGs hosted a lot of leadership development initiatives. There were events aimed at educating the whole workforce about minority issues. Originality/value The results are important for businesses, and other organizations, because research shows they perform better when they integrate diverse employees.

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