Identity

• When It Comes to Our Youth, Expect the Unexpected!

  By: Pallavi Rudraraju Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff As I near the start of After School Programs in Fairfax County, and head into my fourth month as the VA Middle School Program Coordinator, I feel so grateful for a wonderful beginning to my journey in the VA Middle School Program. Over the past few months, I have worked with MD and VA high schoolers during their leadership retreat, co-facilitated the VA MIC CHECK Summer Program, and learned immensely along the way. One important less

• My Journey To Youth Work

  By: Saadia Ahmad, DC Elementary School Program Coordinator Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff “But you’re a fashion designer, how come you’re teach

• Standing together with ALL youth!

  “Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.”

  -Gandhi By: Neel Saxena, Executive Director Photos Courtesy of Various Sources This past Tuesday, the current administration announced the end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), thrusting the hopes and dreams of 780,

• Who Tells Your Story?

  By Diane Bui, MD Middle School Coordinator Photos Courtesy of Sanctuaries DC Storytelling is a skill each person has, but often goes unnoticed. This summer, Asian American LEAD (AALEAD) wants to focus on youth stories and storytelling skills. AALEAD wants to empower our youth to take control of their own story in order to provide a safe space to be open about who they truly are. Our summer theme MIC CHECK focuses on just that: highlighting individual experiences and using a creative outlet t

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

  By Neel Saxena, Executive Director Photos: Various Sources As the month of May comes to a close we mark the end of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We continue the journey of a collective identity that began in the 1960s. As we celebrate the diversity of a unified APA identity, we continued to be mired in the monolithic perspective of APAs that ignores our individuality, particularly for our youth. APA youth voices have played a significant role in shaping APA history and at Asian Ame

• Finding My Voice

  By Freidricka Camille, Community College and Internship Programs Coordinator Photo Courtesy of AALEAD Staff   My name is Freidricka Camille, and I am excited to join the AALEAD family as the new Community College and Internship Coordinator. A little bit about me, I was born and raised in the Philippines for eleven years before my mom and I immigrated to the United States to live with my dad. It was the summer before 6th grade.  When I lived in the Philippines, I had imagined that

• Coming full circle…

    My first job in California was with the Pacific Asian Alcohol Program, which is a social service agency that provides counseling and referral to Asian Pacific Americans (APA) who were convicted of drunk driving and other misdemeanors. Many of our clients were recent immigrants who do not speak nor understand English. The county could not provide translators most of the time, so our clients would bring their elementary or high-school age children to do the translation. I witnessed how t

• A Cycle of Peer to Peer Mentoring

  By Keo Xiong, MD Programs Manager Photos Courtesy of AALEAD Staff   March was an inspiring month of youth leadership in action. The AALEAD Maryland middle school after-school program spent their March learning about high school, and had extended opportunities to meet their high school counterparts. Middle school youth learned more about life after middle school through our ‘Middle School to High School Transition Support Series,’ which included in-class workshops and guided walk

• 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