Reaching out

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) in Washington, D.C., has named Jenny Yang ’04 its 2004–05 Anhaeuser-Busch/Frank Horton Fellow. The nine-month fellowship, named in honor of the late congressman Frank Horton (R–N.Y.), provides a unique opportunity to an outstanding individual who has a commitment to Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) communities, and who plans to pursue a public policy career.

Jenny has been assigned to the office of Rep. Mike Honda (D–Calif.), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). In announcing her fellowship in October, Honda stated, “Jenny’s broad experience working with the Hmong American community will be especially helpful in CAPAC’s efforts to reach out to our many diverse APIA constituencies.”

As a student at Gustavus, Jenny helped organize and participated in a number of diversity programs and organizations, including a minority mentoring program, the College’s Diversity Task Force, the Diversity Leadership Committee of the Office of Multicultural Programs, and the College’s annual “Building Bridges” Diversity Conference. She gained political experience as an intern for Minnesota House Representative Cy Thao, for whom she researched information regarding refugee programs in Minnesota and organized a community meeting for constituents. As an intern for the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, she organized the Asian Pacific Islander American Youth Forum. Following her graduation, she had been interning at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) in Washington, D.C., where she investigated and publicized welfare reform, higher education, and immigration.

Among the many things she would like to accomplish as an APAICS Anhaeuser-Busch/Frank Horton Fellow, “one of them is to increase and create awareness of the many disparities and misconceptions, such as health, education, economic development, and immigration, that still exist in the APIA community,” says Jenny. “I want to continue to be an advocate for the APIA community through political participation as both the local and national level.”