First published in the Sept. 9 print issue of the Pasadena Outlook.
Cathay Bank Foundation recently announced that it will make a grant of $100,000 each to five nonprofit organizations: Stop AAPI Hate, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), the Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), the Asian American Education Project (AAEdu) and the Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Los Angeles.
In addition, 10 added organizations will each receive a donation, ranging from $15,000 to $50,000. These grants are part of the distribution of the $1 million donation from Cathay Bank to the foundation earlier this year, to be used toward supporting organizations and work to promote diverse communities and combat anti-Asian hate crimes and xenophobia.
“We are proud to support these esteemed organizations in the fight against racism and xenophobia,” said Peter Wu, vice chairman of Cathay Bank and chairman of Cathay Bank Foundation. “We believe these donations will go a long way toward fostering a more inclusive culture for all.”
Deborah Ching, co-chair of the Cathay Bank Foundation said, “The strategy behind our donation is to invest in diversity education and plant seeds of change in perceptions and attitudes toward Asians for future generations. We support our community who is working tirelessly to address hate violence against Asians and others, by providing important community resources.”
The representative of Stop AAPI Hate, A3PCON and CAA, Manjusha Kulkarni, thanked Cathay Bank and the Cathay Bank Foundation for its donation.
“We are grateful for the resources provided by Cathay, which will enable our coalition to continue to raise awareness about anti-Asian hate and discrimination and seek to address the racism through the provision of resources and assistance to AAPI community members,” Kulkarni said.
“As we tackle the current tide of anti-Asian violence, we appreciate the foresight of the Cathay Bank Foundation to support long-term education to challenge the roots of ignorance and misunderstanding especially with our youth from all backgrounds,” said Stewart Kwoh, the co-founder of Asian American Education Project.
Connie Chung Joe, CEO of Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Los Angeles, also expressed her gratitude toward the support.
“As we continue to see the rise in anti-Asian hate as our community is unfairly scapegoated for this pandemic, we applaud our API business leaders like Cathay Bank who are committed to fighting against insidious racism and supporting our community members,” Joe said. “We are so grateful to Cathay Bank’s support as we work toward a just and equitable world.”
The following organizations will each receive a grant: Chinese American Museum ($50,000), LAAUNCH ($50,000), Southern California Public Radio ($50,000), LA vs Hate ($50,000), Asian Americans Advancing Justice-San Francisco-Asian Law Caucus ($50,000), UCLA Labor Center ($50,000), Asian Law Alliance ($15,000), Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment ($15,000), Chinatown Service Center ($15,000), and Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights ($15,000).
