Asian Minnesotan Organizations Recommendations to State and Local Officials on How to Use the American Rescue Plan to Address the Needs of Asian Americans and Build Up Resilient Infrastructure for a More Prosperous Future
As organizations that serve Minnesota’s 289,000 Asian American communities across the state, we are heartened by the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Yet we know that without targeted efforts, the communities most in need of relief will be left behind.
Early on in the pandemic, we worked with our communities to identify those who were most vulnerable to the health, social, and economic impacts of COVID-19 and should be prioritized for services and support. Our communities prioritized those who speak limited English, those with limited technology fluency, individuals who are undocumented or mixed-status families, those who are low income, large multi-generational households, micro-businesses, the elderly, and young people. With the resources of the American Rescue Plan, we have the opportunity to not only address the needs now but rebuild for resilience. So, as the state begins to allocate funding to recovery efforts, we urge you to be inclusive and consider the following ways to support the Asian Minnesotan community:
- Invest in language access, technology and cultural competence. Though the American Rescue Plan is historic, vulnerable groups will be left behind without attention to language and technological barriers. Throughout the past year, our communities who speak limited English received critical information days and weeks after the English-speaking community, affecting access to health information, testing, relief funds, and other support programs meant to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. These same barriers now affect access to vaccinations as well as information about recovery funds and opportunities. While we support and advocate for continued investments in translation and interpretation, we also urge you to consider communities’ long-term needs for bilingual and bicultural staff and ensure language access to better focus on resolving the gaps that exist.
- Direct resources to community-based groups and organizations to serve as providers, navigators and bridgers for vulnerable communities. A majority of Asian Minnesotan groups and nonprofits focus on direct service provision, many of whom were stretched thin trying to meet the growing community needs. In a survey of the challenges and opportunities facing Asian Minnesotan nonprofits during COVID, CAAL found that even with limited resources, organizations responded to the needs of their communities during the pandemic. They added critical services by offering assistance with language access, mental health support, community healing, immigration services, and creating accurate and fact-based information about the pandemic.
With over 40 ethnic groups making up Minnesota’s Asian population across the state, we must invest in many organizations to ensure we reach the linguistic, cultural, and geographic diversity necessary to reach every community within the population. Culturally specific Asian American organizations are trusted and serve as critical navigators for the most vulnerable community members. Investing in equitable and community-centered recovery must include more than simply funding more government. With these resources, we have the opportunity to strengthen the broader infrastructure and capacity of groups that communities already know and trust. Also in this time of rising anti-Asian discrimination and violence, providing adequate funding for trusted community-based organizational partners is critical to reaching the communities that most need recovery resources.
- Scale up the collection and use of disaggregated data to understand COVID infections, vaccination access and longer-term impact. Even with limited data, we already know that certain Asian Minnesotan ethnic groups make up a disproportionate number of those infected, hospitalized, or spent time in the ICU due to COVID. In specific counties, like Ramsey County, Asian Americans represented 18% of COVID cases and 16% of the deaths, the highest percentage for any population of color. And despite being 5% of Minnesota’s population, only 3% of Asian Minnesotans have been vaccinated. We’ve heard from the community that elders and those with limited technology fluency have had a difficult time understanding who can get vaccines or how to access appointments.
Unfortunately, when data is only reported at the aggregate level, the “Asian” category further obscures the great disparities within the population. With over 40 ethnic groups without disaggregated data, there is no way to illuminate the disparities. We hear over and over that the data does not exist or is of poor quality. Equity cannot be realized until better and more nuanced disaggregated data is collected, reported, and used to build solutions. Investing resources to build up data systems that have already been piloted by the Minnesota Department of Education through the All Kids Count Act will advance our leadership as a state that uses good information to develop solutions that work for closing disparity gaps and ensuring equity.
- Ensure that recovery solutions and programs meet the needs of Asian Minnesotan communities and are inclusive of our cultural practices and experiences. Across communities, we hear the urgency of needing more support to access mental health services, housing and food security programs, services for those unemployed or underemployed, and resources for small Asian-owned businesses. Our communities need long-term sustainable solutions, particularly for those who are at risk of falling through the cracks of existing programs because they don’t qualify for benefits or services for a variety of reasons. For example, international university students who cannot go home and mixed-status families who don’t qualify for support, or freelancers and solo entrepreneurs who cannot qualify for traditional economic assistance. Many are having to make trade-off decisions between putting food on the table or paying for their housing. In particular, those facing housing insecurity need a safety net before the threat of eviction allows them to qualify for emergency housing assistance.
CAAL’s recent “Redefining Wealth through Communal and Cultural Assets” report names the widespread cultural practices within Asian communities of collective resource-sharing, such as providing formal or informal caregiving, passing on inheritances, remittances, pooling financial resources, living in multigenerational households, and/or providing and sharing housing. These are assets that should be recognized and further supported because they save the system resources and have the potential to be a model that invests in familial and community care-taking to produce better outcomes for all. Child care assistance, rental assistance, and other supports must take into consideration the existing needs and practices of communities to design programs and services that respect and respond to the ways communities currently care for each other. We urge you to inclusively ensure Asian Minnesotans’ needs are included when it comes to how you will use the American Rescue Plan resources to build back communities stronger and better.
- Provide support to address anti-Asian violence, discrimination and hate. From the outset of the pandemic, racist and xenophobic political rhetoric has fueled the drastic rise in anti-Asian violence, discrimination and hate our communities have experienced. Since the start of the pandemic, anti-Asian violence has risen over 150% according to StopAAPIHate. In Minnesota, we have heard from community members who have heightened fear for their personal safety. Additionally, there are over 16,000 Asian businesses that employ over 27,000 people across the state, and many worry about their ability to safely open their businesses because they’ve faced increased discrimination. Some indicate that anti-Asian bias has led to a decline in sales. Lastly, Asian Minnesotans also represent a large share of the essential health workers on the frontlines of winning against the coronavirus. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, Asian Americans represent 14% of Minnesota’s doctors. During this time some have shared that patients have discriminately asked to be seen by other non-Asian doctors, and in particular, Filipina nurses have been infected and died at disproportionate rates.
To ensure that Asian Minnesotans can feel safe in our neighborhoods, workplaces and communities, we need resources to provide support culturally and linguistically sensitive services for victims, encourage cross-racial, cross-cultural community building, offer healing and trauma-informed interventions that address the root causes of hate, and invest in small and micro-businesses. Ensuring there will be investments in community-centered support and solutions, such as culturally competent mental health services to community ambassadors and restorative justice programs, is critical so that we can build safe and welcoming communities free from hate to ensure the future of Minnesota is prosperous for everyone.
We stand ready to be partners to ensure that the resources provided by the American Rescue Plan set us up to better address the immediate needs and build up a state and cities that are safe, healthy, resilient and prosperous for all its people.
Sincerely,
Bo Thao-Urabe, Executive & Network Director, Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL)
Chanida Phaengdara Potter, Executive Director, The Southeast Asian Diaspora Project (SEAD)
Apichart Klaysingha, President, Siengkane Lao MN (SKLM)
Hue Pham, Executive Director, Vietnamese Social Services (VSS)
Jennifer Weir, Executive Director, TaikoArts Midwest (TAM)
Kim Sin Interim Director, Rochester Cambodian Association
Nausheena Hussain, Executive Director, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE)
Yao Yaj, Executive Director, Minnesota Hmong Chamber of Commerce
Milegua Layese, Chair, Philippine Study Group of Minnesota (PSGM)
Vinicius Taguchi, Twin Cities Chapter President, Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
Kiran Bandi, President, India Association of Minnesota (IAM)
Xay Yang, Queer Justice Director, Transforming Generations
Elsa Batica, Founder, Filipino American Women’s Network of Minnesota (FAWN)
Raj Chaudhary, Executive Director , Sewa-Aifw Inc
Greg King, Leadership Team Member, Filipinx for Immigrant Rights & Racial justice Minnesota (FIRM)
Claudia Waring, Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM)
Jodie Tanaka, Interim Executive Director, Hmong American Partnership (HAP)