All posts tagged: Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans

The 20-minute survey that every Lao Minnesotan family should be a part of

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Here’s a slap-in-your-face fact: less than 59% of Lao students are proficient in reading and math in Minnesota. This should startle you about our youth and the future of the Lao Minnesotan community. It’s not news that Minnesota has one of the biggest achievement gaps in the nation. By 2018, it’s estimated that 70% of jobs in Minnesota will require at least some college level education. Will the Lao Minnesotan’s growing young population be ready? That’s what the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans (CAPM) in partnership with Wilder Research hopes to figure out in its latest survey on early childhood education. According to the last 2010 Census, our home state has a growing Asian population of over 202,135; a 51% increase since 2000. Although the majority are Southeast Asians, “from income to employment, educational attainment, homeownership, English language proficiency, and health, the Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Karen ethnic groups fall far behind the Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, and Korean groups in Minnesota” (CAPM). There have been numerous national surveys that have excluded the Lao and without enough research …

Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans’ Call for Submissions: Cultural Children’s Books

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: FOR CULTURALLY RELEVANT CHILDREN’S BOOKS Opportunity The Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, in collaboration with the Minnesota Humanities Center, is seeking submissions from writers and illustrators of children’s literature for the Reading Together Project. This project will publish and disseminate culturally relevant books to educators, teachers, students, parents, and community members in 2013. The Reading Together Project seeks to: address the lack of children’s books that speak to the experience of being an Asian Pacific Islander (API) child or youth in the Unities States; support the development of English literacy skills while recognizing cultural heritage; create opportunities for children and families to learn about API cultural heritage together; and disseminate resources targeted towards closing the achievement gap for API students by offering culturally relevant and grade appropriate resources.   Asian Pacific Islander Americans do not conform to one particular group or identity. Rather, we are a convergence of many ethnic and affinity groups working together to accomplish shared goals and objectives. The project does not try to create a single Asian Pacific Islander “voice”.   Submission …