December 15, 2024
The following blog post was written by Hudson, one of AYR’s middle school leads on our leadership team, based on his experience at the recent WHIAANHPI Community Engagement event down in Los Angeles, California.
I attended the WHIAANHPI (White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders) on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.
This community engagement event focused on small businesses and ERGs (employee resource groups). There were examples about how ERGs helped the AANHPI community, like when a speaker talked about how an ERG helped to provide housing for someone who was interning at a program. Speakers also talked about how many AANHPI community members are not at the top of companies. They talked about how a lot of AANHPI community members get passed up for promotions, which makes it so there are not a lot of Asians at the top of companies (most Asians get stuck in the middle of companies). This makes me upset because I think Asians should also get a shot to lead big companies, and I think that companies might lose talent by passing Asians for promotions. Another panel talked about small business funding. One panel member talked about lunches he does to help connect small business owners.
What made this event even more interesting was the amount of people. Going into the event, I expected to see a full room, but I was still surprised when I entered the room. I was lucky enough to find an empty seat, but many people had to stand. Towards the end of the event, I was able to meet with the event organizers who flew in from D.C.
Before this event, I did not realize how many community leaders there were. I had not heard from many leaders in my area, so I felt hopeful and happy after leaving.