Friends of Asian American Advisory Board members Adam Tavakoly, Sunny Mullick, Josephine Gordy and Lisa Hu Barquist and Community Relations Board members George Yap and Rey Valdes attended the Sixth Annual Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition (FMCRC) and Asian American Federation of Florida (AAFF) "Let's Do Business Summit" on June 7 and 8, 2010. Al Pina, president of FMCRC and Joy Bruce, president of AAFF did such a tremendous job (and much hard work) to put together this informative, interactive and well-attended two day summit.
The summit discussed empowering the Asian American community in Florida,
obtaining private mezzanine capital financing, availing legal economic
opportunities with financial institutions, discussing strategic plans on
health care initiatives and creating jobs in inner cities in Florida.
Keynote speaker Kerry Kennedy, Esq., Founder of the Robert F. Kennedy
Center for Justice & Human Rights, who traveled from New York to
Florida, gave an inspirational speech at the annual builders of
community and country awards dinner, the evening of June 7. Ms. Kennedy
spoke about the importance of us collectively to help those who do not
have the resources, language abilities, and education and to give a
voice to their plights and bring about change. Physical battery,
imprisonment without due process, and fears about homosexuality are
encompassed within violations of human rights. An example (of many) Ms.
Kennedy gave was of a human rights activist in Mexico who is a lawyer
and nun of Indian heritage in a small town in Mexico. When growing up in
a small town in Mexico, the future activist saw her father, a union
organizer, beaten jailed for months without charges filed against him
and without legal representation when unionized workers at the sole
factory in the small town sought to improve working conditions and
wages. As a young girl, she vowed to become a lawyer so that she could
represent individuals like her father who not only was unable to find
lawyers to represent him for fear of retribution from the factory's
owners and the police but also who did not have the financial resources
to hire lawyers. She became a lawyer and has represented and fought for
her father's union as well as others in other towns -- all facing
similar situations.
Find a passion you care about: it will give you a purpose to and a cause
in your life.
"If you do not stand up for something, you will fall for anything" was
another message from an award recipient actively engaged in helping the
minority community here in Florida.
Lisa Hu Barquist
Mission:
The mission of the Friends of AAAB, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) entity, not only is to work as a fiscal partner with the AAAB, but it also will further the mission and projects of the AAAB and be a grass roots link to keeping the Asian community apprised of the AAAB’s activities and resources available to the Asian community.
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Community Recognition Award Ceremony Dinner
May 2,2015
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The Miami Division is pleased to honor Miami-Dade County’s Asian American Advisory Board (AAAB) as a recipient of the 2012 Director’s Community Leadership Award.
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Mr. Shawn Khosravi was Invited by the U.S. Homeland Security to be the key note speaker for the Citizenship Ceremony on Thursday May 26, 2011. Nearly 200 individuals from 28 different countries became Naturalized Citizens on this day. It truly is a very momentous occasion "Ladies and Gentlemen and fellow residents good morning, Bon jour, Bon journo, Konbanwa, nameste, salam, nee how (Ni Hao) shalom, salaam alaikum, and buenos dias, My name is Shawn Khosravi and when I was asked to be before you this morning" .... Click to Read More
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Chair's message
| As the ninth Chair of the Miami-Dade County Asian-American Advisory Board, it is my honor and privilege to oversee the formation of the Friends Miami Dade County Asian American Advisory Board, fondly called as Friends or FAAAB. read more |
2013-14 Scholarship application due date April 7 2014
| 2013 Application .pdf |
The Success of Asian Americans at a Glance
The Raw Data:
In Miami-Dade County, there are approximately 375,000 Asian Americans, or 1½% of 2.5 million residents. The number of U.S. residents in 2010 who said they were Asian or Asian in combination with one or more races was approximately 17.3 million, or 5.6% of the total population. The projected number of U.S. residents in 2050 who will identify themselves as Asians is 40.6 million, or 9% of the total population.
The Real Success of Asian Americans: the Pursuit of Excellence
The real success of Asian Americans is epitomized in their overall pursuit of excellence.
- The median family income for Asian Americans in 2009 was the highest among all race groups.
- Asian Americans make up a disproportionately large segment of student bodies in the most prominent colleges and universities.
- 50% of Asians, 25 and older, have a bachelor’s degree. This compares with 28% for all Americans 25 and older with a B.A.
- 20% of Asians, 25 and older have an advanced degree (such as masters, Ph.D., M.D., J.D.). This compares with 10% for all Americans 25 and older. Asian Americans owned 1.5 million businesses in 2007, which is up 40% from 2002.
- Receipts of Asian American owned business totaled $507.6 billion in 2007, which was up 55% from 2002.Asian American businesses employed 2.8 million people, and the average revenue per company was approximately $338K.
- 49% of employed Asian Americans, 16 and older, work in management, professional and related occupations, such as financial managers, engineers, teachers and registered nurses.
Notable Asian Americans: Locally and Nationally
Asian Americans add to the cultural diversity of Miami-Dade County and many hold positions of prominence and power. For example:
Locally
Medhi Ghomeshi here in South Florida, and his team raised $60 million in initial capital and another $117 million in a second offering to open Great Florida Bank, which now has 14 branches throughout South Florida.
Dr. M. Narendra Kini– CEO of Miami Children’s Hospital
A. Parasuraman at the University of Miami is the world authority on services marketing. He holds the James W. McLamore Chair in Marketing at UM.
Nationally
Ajay Banga – CEO of MasterCard.
Sabeer Bhatia – co-founded Hotmail.
Amar Bose – Chairman and founder of Bose Corporation.
Andrea Jung – CEO of Avon Products.
Jawed Karin – co-founded YouTube.
Muhtar Kent – CEO of Coca Cola.
Vinod Khosla – co-founded of Sun Microsystems and one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.
Surya Mohapatra – CEO Quest Diagnostics.
Shantanu Narayen – CEO Adobe Systems.
Nitin Nohria – Dean of Harvard Business School.
Indra Nooyi – CEO of Pepsico.
Vikram Pandit – CEO of Citigroup.
Amartya Sen – Professor at Harvard University and winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the Social Choice Theory, that is, how middlemen hoarding grain exacerbate famines in the world.
Andrea Wong – CEO and President, Lifetime Networks.
Jerry Yang – CEO of Yahoo!
Fareed Zakaria – hosts CNN’s flagship foreign affairs show “GPS” and is Editor-at-Large of TIME Magazine
Our Community
Asian Americans constitute approximately six percent of the national population. It is a dynamic group representing the full diversity of Asia from Turkey to Japan and the Pacific Islands. Very often, Asian Americans are identified as a group with Asian heritage, whether in whole or in part, whether foreign-born or U.S.-born, either from Asia or the Pacific Islands, and, if foreign-born, regardless of their length of stay or legal status. They are known as Asian Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, or Asian American Pacific Islanders.
Miami-Dade County's Asian American community is a reflection of the national Asian American population. It is a diverse and relatively new community with better economic and education levels. Asian Americans began settling in Miami-Dade County in the early twentieth century, with a massive wave of South Asians arriving in the 1970s. This segment of our population has enriched our community and given, in a silent way, a dynamic wealth to our culture.
Today, Asian Americans can be found in every walk of life in Miami-Dade County - in both the private and public sectors - entrepreneurs, accountants, architects, attorneys, bankers, educators, engineers, physicians, researchers, working diligently to lay their imprint on the community at large. As a group, Asian Americans uphold their civic responsibility by providing volunteer services to the needy and the poor.
The new focus is on institution building. In the last few years many community-based Asian organizations have emerged to serve the community: NANAY began as a Filipino organization and it has grown into a full community service institution helping the elderly and providing a wide range of community services; SAHARA was established to help the victims of domestic violence, it now provides mental health counseling, referral in legal service and help victims gain independence; UHI Clinic is providing free preventive healthcare to un-insured and poor in our community.
Asian diversity in South Florida covers full Asian landscape: there is a major presence of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Iranian, and Pakistani communities; and a noticeable presence of the Arabs, Japanese, and Korean Diaspora. There presence brings the colors of Asia during major Asian Festivals in town throughout the year.