1332 18th Street, Washington D.C.
January 19, 2007
For over 33 years, the Organization of Chinese Americans — a national constellation of 80 chapters and affiliates and 10,000 members — has been on the front lines for Asian Pacific Americans — fighting for civil and voting rights by reaching out to tens of thousands of voters, advancing a next generation of leadership by overseeing $35 million in scholarships, and preserving and promoting cultural heritage through annual lunar new year postage stamps.
Now, the first Asian American organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., has anchored itself with a permanent home — the OCA National Center for Asian Pacific American Leadership.
The center is a vision fulfilled — a symbol of the APA community’s thriving national presence in the Capitol, housing a coalition of national APA organizations under one roof and a catalyst for emerging leadership.
It’s a monumental achievement, considering the annual rent once consumed nearly $100,000 of the organization’s expenses. Now, OCA can reinvest that into the new building, which itself will act as an endowment, building equity and increasing OCA’s clout to leverage more financing to fulfill its mission.
That leverage immediately paid dividends at the recent building ribbon-cutting ceremony when State Farm granted $500,000 for financial literacy programs for families and business development for entrepreneurs. That grant not only reflects OCA’s newfound financial leverage, but also is a testament to more than three decades of priceless goodwill that the chapters, affiliates, volunteers and donors have accrued.
The building itself has given the nonprofit organization the political and financial independence to act more boldly. Likewise, the personal finance and small business programs funded by State Farm will empower more APAs with the knowledge to act with greater freedom.
With that freedom, Asian Pacific Americans are destined for greatness — perhaps for an address at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Occupying the White House will happen one day because OCA took charge of its own destiny at 1332 18th Street, Washington, D.C.
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