AALEAD DC Middle & High School Program

• AALEAD Origins: Rooted in our Past, Creating Our Future

  By Neel Saxena, Executive Director Photos Courtesy of Various Staff Logo Courtesy of DC Programs Manager, Charles Kuo Asian American LEADs orgins are rooted in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC where Sandy Dang, AALEAD’s founder, saw the unmet need in low-income Vietnamese refugee youth and made supporting th

• The 3 Most Important Things I’ve Learned About Youth Work in 3 Months

  By: Mecca McPherson, MD Middle School Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff I had just arrived off the metro from a closing shift at work, when I saw the email notification. I read good news - my application to intern with Asian American LEAD had been accepted! During orientation, I met the other interns and learned I would be working with the DC Middle and High School Summer Program under the tutelage of one Stephanie Lim. Though filled with slight apprehension, I was mostly excited.

• Let’s Keep Going, Together

  By Mecca McPherson, DC Middle & High School Summer Program Intern and Stephanie Lim, DC Middle & High School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff It’s been such a fun summer for us in the DC Middle & High School Summer Program. We’ve visited museums, gotten the ball rolling on some dope summer projects, staff and youth have facilitated activities and workshops, and we’ve survived through some very contentious rounds of Uno. We accomplish this by spending ne

• My Career, My Choice

    By Charles Kuo, DC Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff

  The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Do

• Stories that Envision, Create, Transform

  By Neel Saxena, Executive Director Photos Courtesy of Saadia Ahmed On March 22, 2017, AALEAD hosted the Aspire to LEAD fundraising event at Top of the Town in Arlington, VA. This was AALEAD's 4th such fundraiser and my first as Executive Director. Last year I was behind the scenes and this year I had the incredible opportunity to join our youth in sharing our often overlooked stories as Asian Pacific Americans. This year's theme was Envision, Create, Transform. For our youth, staff, mentors

• ECAASU 2017: Atmosphere Leads to Expansion

  By Charles Kuo, DC Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff     18 youth. 3 program staff. 2 vans. 1 life-changing experience. On February 17, 2017, 18 of o

• My Fourth First Day

  By Stephanie Lim, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator Photos courtesy of Stephanie Lim On one of my first Mentoring Program site visits in 2015, Ari, our MD High School Program Coordinator, joked that they had a plan to have me join the after-school program team. At the time, I'd already worked with youth and students in after-school and teaching programs, and thought that perhaps my time with that kind of programming was over. I took Ari's words to signal a welcome to the full-tim

• My Dream Job Experience

  By Naijla Faizi, DC Middle and High School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of Chelsea Iorlano, Development and Communications Associate   Dear AALEADers, I want to thank all of you for an amazing 6 months starting from my summer internship until now. Unfortunately, due to personal family circumstances, I will be cutting my time a

• What I’ve Learned from the Youth

  By Lili Greenstein, Development & Communications Intern Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff As I began this experience, I expected the typical internship position: filing, drafting cookie cutter tweets, instagram posts and other busy work. What I didn’t expect was to feel more morally and ethically connected to any other organization that I’ve worked for. AALEAD embodies the most important youth development component that I believe is crucial to success. H

• AALEADers Learn about Campaign Finance

  By Naijla Faizi, DC Middle & High School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff Last week AALEAD DC middle and high school youth participated in a guest workshop by DC Fair Elections Coalition. This coalition “represents groups from the environmental, labor, economic justice, social justice, faith, and good government movements.” Their main goal is “to pass meaningful campaign finance reform in D.C. to empower everyday residents and make