Bay Briefs
January 31, 2008
Asian-Language Voter Guides Available
EVENT: Presented by the Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment (CAUSE) and the Easy Voter Guide Project
DESCRIPTION: CAUSE is distributing Easy Voter Guides (in English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean) to encourage voters to participate in the Feb. 5 presidential primary election. Voter registration forms, absentee ballot applications and free voter assistance are also available.
DETAILS: Free, through Feb. 5, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m., 260 S. Los Robles Ave., suite 118, Pasadena, Calif.
CONTACT: (626) 356-9838, causeusa.org
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‘In Search of Roots’
EVENT: Presented by Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
DESCRIPTION: An exhibit of artifacts and writings traces the cultural journeys of 12 Asian Americans.
DETAILS: Free, through March 15, 6-8 p.m. (Tues.-Sat.), Chinese Culture Center Gallery, 750 Kearny St., third floor, San Francisco.
CONTACT: (415) 986-1822, c-c-c.org/category/exhibitions
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Mexican Am. Pressman Helps Produce ‘Sing Tao’
SAN FRANCISCO — Jesus Garcia works with more than a dozen Chinese-speaking colleagues as a senior pressman in Sing Tao’s printing facility in South San Francisco.
Though Garcia had more than 20 years experience working as a pressman, he felt “nervous” when he started at the Sing Tao Daily because of its Chinese-speaking working environment.
However, Garcia thinks the lack of common language is no problem. Dealing with the high-pressure environment and having the same professional path helps Garcia and his colleagues understand each other and work together.
Garcia, 46, is the second Latino pressman joining the Sing Tao Daily. Having grown up in San Francisco’s Mission District, Garcia used to play with boys from Chinese families and other ethnic backgrounds. Now, he sees himself again as a cultural ambassador to his colleagues from the Chinese community.
— New America Media
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Korean Mega-Churches Increase Budgets
LOS ANGELES — Contrary to many secular organizations that are facing budget shortfalls, Korean American mega-churches in southern California with annual budgets of $10 million have increased their budgets for the coming year.
Bethel Korean Church in Irvine, Calif., set its 2007-2008 fiscal year budget at $17.5 million. The 45.8% increase compared with last year’s budget is the biggest leap among the Korean mega-churches. All Nations Church in Lake View Terrace increased its budget by 18.2%, but the $6.5 million budget doesn’t include the $2 million that was set aside for church building improvement plans. L.A.’s Open Door Church also planned to spend more. Its budget for the coming year is $12.7 million, a 16% increase compared to the 2006-2007 fiscal year. The church has allocated $2.9 million in the budget for construction work. Sarang Community Church in Anaheim, the biggest Korean congregation in the L.A. area, set its 2007-2008 fiscal year budget at $13 million, a 4.2% increase.
— Korea Times
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S.F. Flower Mart Tenants Face Early Eviction
Twenty-eight tenants on the western side, representing half of the entire Flower Mart, are being evicted as part of a plan by the for-profit Academy of Art University to purchase the property and convert it into sculpture studio space. The pending sale and evictions have serious implications for the historic Japanese businesses at the Flower Mart, connecting it to the overall issue of preservation of Japanese American culture heritage, in addition to the issue of the contemporary plight of small business owners.
The tenants have been served eviction notices because the Academy wants the property to be vacant when acquired, said land-use attorney Sue Hestor, who represents the Mart tenants.
As one of only three combination wholesale and retail flower markets in the nation, the historically Japanese and Italian American San Francisco Flower Mart has been the central supplier for the city’s florists and signature flower stands, as well as a key distribution point for nurseries up and down the West Coast since 1931.
— Nichi Bei Times
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Korean Smokers Brace for Hard Times
In addition to a sluggish economy, Korean immigrant smokers, who are one of the five major smoking groups in California, have one more thing to worry about: the rising price of cigarettes, reported the Korea Daily. Since Jan. 7 of the new year, Philip Morris has raised the wholesale price of cigarettes by eliminating or reducing an incentive program that gave a discount to wholesalers purchasing a large volume, resulting in rise of retail price. A pack of cigarettes cost smokers more than $1.50 to $2, compared to a week ago. According to the newspaper, the other cigarette manufacturers will follow the trend. A pending legislation that proposes a $1.75 increase in the state tax on cigarettes worsens the predicament of Korean smokers.
“It will be a tough year for smokers,” the Korea Daily predicted.
— Korea Daily
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Dowry Tradition Changing for Calif. Hmong
FRESNO, Calif. — The price paid for a bride from the Central Valley’s Hmong American community appears to be dropping, as younger generations become less willing to pay the high dowry prices common among the first wave of refugees.
Couples at Fresno’s Hmong International New Year celebration say it’s long been tradition within the
immigrant community for the groom’s family to pay between $5,000 to $10,000 to the bride’s family. The payment is seen as a form of respect to the bride’s family since she’ll be joining a new clan through marriage.
Nationally, Hmong elders are pressing to lower that price, too. In 2005, a national council representing the 18 Hmong clans said dowries should run no more than $5,000.
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Couple Helps Korean Community Own Homes
LOS ANGELES — Established in 2001, Korean Churches for Community Development helps Korean and other Asian American churches expand their social services in areas such as affordable housing, job training and economic development.
It is a nonprofit, faith-based organization founded and run by two United Methodist Korean Americans, Hyepin Im and her husband, Jin Kim.
Participating in congressional hearings to advocate for “those who are not on anyone’s radar screen” is part of the experience Im and Kim bring for their mostly Korean American clients. They have started partnerships with CVS Pharmacy, State Farm Insurance, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, to name a few, Im said.
“On average, we save people about $2,000-3,000 in excess fees that are just placed on the unsuspecting consumer who is signing documents,” Im said.
In 2007, they helped 14 families purchase their first homes, and provided more than $1.19 million in government down payment assistance and over $2.7 million in first mortgages.
— Worldwide Faith News
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South Asian Kids, Cut Down On The Rice and NaanSAN LEANDRO, Calif. — At a recent ethnic media roundtable, hosted by First 5 California, a California state commission on children’s health, Sophia Yen, a pediatrician from Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, discussed the serious and growing issue of childhood obesity among South Asian Americans and other Asian ethnic groups in the U.S.
Yen said that approximately 60% of the South Asians she sees in her Mountain View clinic are overweight or obese, and attributes this high rate to diet — in particular, the double-whammy of carbohydrates that comes from eating a traditional Indian meal, which includes both flatbreads and rice.
Asian Americans have the fastest-growing rate of overweight and obese children in the state, according to the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training.
— India West
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“Dowry Tradition Changing for Calif. Hmong” Why this issue interest the rest of the people in this earth? Some nation people spent million of dollar for such a wedding. The Hmong spent a few thousand to celebrate such a wedding and it disturds the rest of the world people. Why publish such thing that the writer or editor or publisher thinks it is so dirty in that community’s activities. The exchange dowry spent during such of their wedding is a culture of that community. What is so sick to other?
Younger generations’ refusal to pay dowry cause the dowry to drop? Where’s the research, raw data to back up this claim? I believe the main source of the drop in the dowry is the implementation of the 18-clan recommendation on dowry, i.e., limiting it under $5,000.