News Release
December 6, 2022
UCA Community Fund Announced Award of Microgrants to Three Community Projects
UCA Community Fund (UCACF) announced today three recipients of its microgrants approved in October and November 2022. They were:
The “Books 4 Cultural Competence” (B4CC)* is the flagship program of East West Alliance for Education and Health that aims to improve cultural competence by strengthening self-awareness, awareness of others, cultural knowledge, and cross-cultural skills in K-12 communities (composed of students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders).
As part of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month (May 1-31) in 2021, B4CC collaborated with sister non-profit organization One Book One World** and launched their book drive initiative in the state of Washington to donate books about Asian cultures to K-12 classrooms and libraries in the greater Seattle area. Since then, they have implemented two rounds of donation pilots while establishing partnerships with over 20 schools across four school districts. More information about the project can be found on B4CC homepage: http://mandarinplayground.weebly.com/books-4-cultural-competence.html
"The Battle for Chinese American Voters" is a movie that aims to wake up the Chinese American communities to vote and fight for their rights. The battle started in 1902, when George Frisbie Hoar, the only senator voted “No” for the unlimited extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Over a century, the power of Chinese Americans has grown but still far away from enough. This movie will dig deeper into the reasons that barricade Chinese American voters over the years and encourage more Chinese Americans to vote. The movie will also introduce more about the upcoming elections, with the ballots in Chinese to help voters to understand that this will be a great opportunity to vote for the life we prefer.
"Cultural Bridge” is a community volunteer project initiated, organized, and led by young people. The project will promote youth leadership as it will be directed, designed, and implemented by a team of high school students. The project aims to improve understanding of Chinese culture through two cultural activities that will coincide with prominent Asian celebrations. For the Spring Festival Gala in January 2023, the student team will organize and perform a Han-style costume show that will introduce Han-style costumes and feature the evolution of Han costumes through the many dynasties of China. For AAPI Heritage Month in May 2023, the team will introduce Chinese tea culture at an event that is open to the community.
We welcome more local Chinese American community organizations to apply for our grants. To apply, an applicant organization simply needs to visit our website at ucacf.org to fill up and submit an online grant application form.
The applicant project should meet the following criteria:
For more information about the grant eligibility criteria and grant application requirements, please visit https://ucacf.org/.
About UCACF
UCACF is a new initiative launched by UCA to help local Chinese American community organizations to raise funds for startup charitable projects and programs, addressing the long-time challenges of small and medium-sized local community organizations in fundraising for their projects and activities. UCACF’s mission is to provide microgrant ($500 to $5,000) of seed funds to startup community projects aiming to enrich and empower Chinese American communities through civic engagement, education, heritage sharing, youth development and a greater understanding between the people of the United States and China.
UCACF works like an “angel fund” for nonprofit causes. We accept grant applications online and adopt a simple-and-fast application review and approval process. Our Grant Review Committee meets monthly to review applications submitted during the period and make grant decisions. It takes less than two months for an applicant to receive the grant.
The UCACF organization comprises four teams of volunteers, the Board of Trustees, the Grant Review Committee, the Executive Committee and the Board of Advisors. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance and fundraising of UCACF, the Grant Review Committee is responsible for the review and approval of grant applications and the Executive Committee is responsible for grant application collection and validation, grant issuing, and follow-up.
Since the “test launch” of UCACF’s website in July, we have received more than 20 applications. We welcome more local Chinese American community organizations to submit applications.
UCACF is still in the “test run”. We are looking for more volunteers to join us. We welcome feedback and suggestions. Please contact us at ucacommunityfund@gmail.com or visit our website for more information.
About United Chinese Americans
The United Chinese Americans (UCA) is a coalition of grass-root community organizations dedicated to the enrichment and empowerment of the Chinese American community in the United States. UCA was formed at the first Chinese American Convention in September 2016 and was later incorporated and received IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2017. UCA has since grown into a national federation of 12 local chapters in Atlanta, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington State, West Virginia, Wisconsin, New York City, San Francisco, and over 30 community partners nationwide.