A nationally recognized voice on behalf of Asian Americans, AAJC focuses its expertise on:
Affirmative Action: A member of Americans For A Fair Chance, a project of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, AAJC has been at the forefront advocating the benefits of affirmative action in education, employment, and in public contracting. In the University of Michigan affirmative action cases, AAJC filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals and in the Supreme Court of the United States of America arguing the benefits of diversity for all Americans, including Asian Americans.
Anti-Asian Violence & Race Relations: Having produced the Audit of Violence Against Asian Pacific Americans for the past ten years, AAJC is a leading voice on the prevention of Anti-Asian Violence. AAJC continues to educate all Americans with its recent publication Responding to Hate Crimes: with a digitally interactive CD-Rom and continues to work with in coalition with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights for effective Hate Crimes protections.
Census: Recognizing the importance that an accurate count of the Asian American population, as well as good quality data on the community's socio-economic profile, AAJC continues to work with the Census Bureau to ensure that the data they collect through their surveys properly represents our community. The data is key toward receiving appropriate federal funding, promoting the voting rights of Asian Americans, and shaping policy in any given community. As a member of the Decennial Census Advisory Committee, a position appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, AAJC continues to bring the concerns and needs of the Asian American community to the table in shaping policy about how the Census data will be collected. As co-chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights' Census task force, AAJC continues to coordinate with its national coalition partners on effective Census policies and priorities.
Community Partners: As AAJC's community education and outreach arm, the Community Partners Program provides an interface with Asian American communities around the country. Through its Community Partners Network, AAJC maintains direct relationships with almost 100 organizations in 47 cities, 24 states and the District of Columbia, coordinating national efforts to raise awareness about a broad range of civil rights and social justice issues affecting Asian Pacific Americans. AAJC provides a wide range of training and technical assistance services to its Community Partners and other organizations working on issues of common concern, including: a national Conference, local and regional training workshops, community forums and conference calls.
Immigration: AAJC advocates for fair and humane immigration laws and policies. AAJC works on a wide range of immigration and naturalization issues that impact the Asian American community, from comprehensive immigration reform to immigrant integration programs. AAJC co-chairs the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights' immigration task force and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans’ immigration committee. AAJC also works to develop a consensus in the general public and among policymakers that all individuals in the
United States, whether citizen or not, have basic constitutional and human rights such as due process and civil liberties. AAJC chairs the
Rights Working Group, a national coalition of more than 250 community-based groups and policy organizations dedicated to ensuring that
America’s commitment to liberty and justice is fulfilled.
Health Law Policy: Language proficiency, cultural, and health coverage issues impose a triple barrier to effective health care for Asian Americans. Because of these barriers, members of this community frequently fail to receive care that adequately addresses their needs and that is standard for all Americans. The Asian American Justice Center believes that improving the quality of health care available to the Asian American community will reap significant and tangible benefits not only for members of the community but for the health system as a whole.
Language Access: As a national expert on language access issues and chair of the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights' task force on language rights, AAJC focuses on working to ensure that federal agencies and federal funding recipients comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 13166. AAJC is a partner in the National Language Access Advocacy Project, a coalition that brings health care advocates and providers together to explore shared goals and objectives for increasing quality heath care access for Limited English Proficient (LEP) persons. Additionally, AAJC monitors English-only initiatives and provides technical support and legal advice in such situations.
TV Diversity: As the lead organization in the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, AAJC works with the four major networks to promote diversity in front of and behind the camera, as well as, in the corporate offices. Since signing a memorandum of understanding with ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC in 1999, AAJC has pushed the networks to increase opportunities for Asian Pacific Americans, reduce or counterbalance the use of stereotypical roles and foster a greater understanding as to why diversity and the use of realistic characters in television is important.
Voting Rights: Recognizing the importance of civic engagement and political empowerment for the Asian American community, AAJC continues it work to eliminate discriminatory barriers of Asian Americans in our nation's political process. Included in this effort are projects that focus on increasing the civic engagement of Southeast Asian American communities as well as ensuring compliance with the Voting Right Acts language assistance provisions for the Asian American community.