Adam Tavakoly
 

Dear Friends:

It is my honor and privilege to serve our community as the Chair for the Miami-Dade County Asian American Advisory Board ("AAAB") for 2012-2013. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the members of the AAAB and the many individuals and organizations that have given us their support and validated our goals for preserving and disseminating Asian American culture and heritage as well as opening avenues for promoting the contributions of Asian Americans in this wonderful Miami-Dade County community we share and call home.

Asians have many reasons to be proud; all across America and around the world, individuals of Asian descent have distinguished and are distinguishing themselves in an array of disciplines. From business to academia, public to private sector, science to the arts, Asian Americans have played vital roles in advancing prosperity, peace and innovation our country enjoys today. There are so many success stories about Asian Americans, in part, due to the long standing American tradition of a hard work ethic, nurturing ingenuity and rewarding entrepreneurship.

Life in our community here in Miami-Dade County has been enriched by Asians who have chosen to come here, have worked hard and given back to the community. Each one has brought a part of his or her heritage, which, over time, has become a part of our common heritage and contributed to the celebration of diversity in our community.

Our goals at the AAAB are to promote positive images, to bring together various Asian and non-Asian communities, to educate fellow Americans about the wealth and depth of Asian culture and many contributions by Asian Americans, to foster relationships with public officials, to build coalitions with and support other diverse community groups, and to eliminate misconceptions about Asian Americans.

For the 2012/2013, the AAAB has put together a very aggressive agenda which includes, but are not limited to, actively engaging in a myriad of Advocacy and Community Outreach programs, AAAB's compilation and publication of a voluminous and informative Book called Glance at Asia, review of laws that impact Asians (both positive and negative) and educating the community about those laws, going out into the diverse Asian communities to encourage 100% participation in the 2012 Census to awarding scholarships to Asian American college students.

In this regard, I am proud and honored to oversee Friends of Miami-Dade County Asian American Advisory Board ("Friends"), a 501(c) (3) not for profit organization, created to support and advance the mission and many projects of the Miami-Dade County AAAB, a few of which are outlined above.

I welcome and encourage you to become active on the Miami-Dade County AAAB and encourage you to support and join Friends of AAAB and take an active part and be involved in shaping the future of our community. We invite you to attend our meetings, which are always open to the community, and held at Government Center, Stephen P. Clark Building, in downtown Miami, on the second Tuesday of each month, starting a 6 p.m. Please contact our Executive Director Mr. Mohammad Shakir at 305.375.1570 (Miami-Dade County) and visit Friends at WWW.FriendsofAAAB.com.

Let us all work together to make Miami-Dade County, a community belonging to all of us, an even better place for our children and all of us to live.
Best wishes,

Adam Tavakoly,