Good evening and welcome to San Francisco 20th annual aapi celebration. My brother from another mother al perez and thomas. [applause] im also help over see theso just want to put a plug in. How about a round of applause for the dancers from the legacy of the pacific and Polynesian Group for opening for tonight program and dancing. Big applause. [applause] the Pacific Islanders are made up of diverse ethnicities and the dance we saw celebrates the spirit of the tribe. What a treat and thank you. Thank you grace. Good evening. My name is al perez from the filipino parade and festival. Excited about this years celebration because it is the 20th anniversary. Im proud to be a Filipino American and working toorgt with all my aapi brothers and sisters able to put together a Community Celebration year after year for the aapi family. Tonight we are going to honor two amazing organizations for their milestone achievements and two Exceptional Individuals for their impact in our city. It is just like the oscars. We hope you will enjoy this evenings program. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is thomas lee and this year is very special because this is my 10th year volunteering for this organization. [applause] thank you. This celebration does not come together without the hard dedication of our volunteers. It is not just me and grace and al, but a whole team of them. We are very very proud of our dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors and Community Organizations that make this happen. Putting together the celebration is a volunteer effort that is thankless and sometimes yearround it feels like we get calls throughout the year, but we are very very proud of what we put together and planning process. We are also grateful to all the volunteers this evening between here and city hall. We have over a hundred volunteers working to make sure everyone has a great time and enjoyable experience. Lets give a round of applause for our amazing volunteers in the house. [applause] and so, weulse also want to take the time to recognize our official celebration partners, the Asian Art Museum [indiscernible] art and cultural programs they are offering throughout the month of may. Please do check out the celebration guide at apa sf. Org for a list of all 24 programs now it gives great pleasure to turn over tonights program, please give a warm welcome to deonserved as mistrss of ceremony a couple years and ago and want to welcome her back. Lets give a big applause. Thank you so much. Once again, a wonderful round of applause for our cochairs. [applause] this is such a special event for me. It always feels like a big family reunion. It is hard to keep me down because im waiving and saying hi, and catching up. I want here last year because many know i was very very pregnant and barely moving let alone being on a stage unfront of all you. Im a news anchor for abc in San Francisco and dedicated so much of my story telling to amplifying voices in our community. This year being in front of you all on this stage means a lot. Especially because i is a 9 month old now at home and i look at his face and think to myself, he is half chinese and look everyone in this theater. This is his community. He gets to grow up in this, surrounded by allies and friends and people who will amplify his story and celebrate his heritage. So, please without further ado, will everyone stand for the National Anthem . [single National Anthem] [applause] unbelievable. Who else has goose bumps right about now . The anthem was performed by, wait for it, 13 year old aliana yang. [applause] be prepared to feel very unplished when i tell you about here, because she is a multiaward winning vockal ist who sang at vatican city andonce again, a round of applause for aliana. [applause] before wree beginning history, because i feel not enough people truly understand. Back in 1979, president jimmy carter signed into law a joint resolution of congress declaring a week in may as Asian AmericanHeritage Week and this celebration was then expanded to law to include the entire month of may. In San Francisco the celebration began in 2005 when then mayor gavin newsom supported a idea of annual official celebration that included all Asian Pacific islander communities. Here in San Francisco where more then a third of population is Asian American, we continue to show the nation how to properly celebrate Asian American pacific ilander heritage month. The planning of the celebration for our city is a collection of efforts from the members of the apa Heritage Celebration Committee in partnership with the apa heritage foundidation. A Non Profit Organization dedicated to securing sponsorship and resources to support this annual celebration. At this time, we like to welcome a woman who lives, eats and breathes this celebration. I know from personal experience not just working with her, but the fact i happen to be on muturnty leave and met up with her while in hawaii and i asked her, i said, what are you doing after this . She did want say im going to the beach. She said i got to get ready and off she wrent. This person is the president of the apa Heritage Foundation and coordination of the Community Celebration, please give a warm welcome to cladine chang. [applause] im supposed to be from hawaii. Aloha. Thank you for joining us this evening. Some might have read in todays San Francisco examiner about how this celebration got started, and the description is it was spontaneous serendipity. It is how we got started was a very casual conversation i had with mayor gavin newsom back in 2005, and i talk about, oh, we have 1 3 of the demographic being Asian American pacific americans how come we dont celebrate apa and at the time the mayor said, lets do it. It was true it was very spontaneous, but the celebration did place from year to year. That ongoing effort is totally intentional. Because all of us involved in this voluntary effort to put together the celebration feels very strongly that we want a celebration of the month to be part of San Francisco tradition. That it goes on generation to generation. That every year, we talk about how can we be bigger and how can we be better and what does that mean . It means every year we want to continue to reach out to diverse ethnicities within the apa family that have not been involved. That means to expand the circles of communities to include everyone and we mean everyone. I was supposed to be speaking on behalf of the committee, but i just want to share a personal anecdote. So, about two weeks ago, while working on this event, i receive an email and got a call and it was the representative for mrs. Black, california usa and after the conversation i feel like, right on, becauseshe wanted to come and speak to us, she wanted to participate in the program and i feel so happy. I feel so excited because i feel that is exactly the kind of outreach, exactly the kind of what we want between the diverse population in the city. So, many people have asked recently how does it feel in the 20th year. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. Sometimes 20years can be a long time. But i think about those two organizations we were honoring this evening. The two amazing educational institutions. One is 50 years and the over over a hundred, so aapparently we have a long way to go, but i do feel and i think i can speak for our committee to say, that we very very very positive and very optimistic this celebration is going to continue and why . The reasons are very simple. Why . Because we have people like you coming to this celebration and we thank you. Because we somewhere wonderful celebration partners such as the Asian Art Museum, the San FranciscoPublic Library celebrating all over the city and the most amazing biggest Asian American festival in the country. How can we go wrong, we have amazing partners and many many more and if you go to the celebration guide at our website this year, we have over 5060 programs throughout the month of may for different generations there is something for everybody. And we are very optimistic and positive because we have sponsors, because we have our Media Partners and we have all our volunteers. We can do it. F this is really a all volunteer effort all these years. It is true, we dont have a office, we dont have staff, but we have our volunteers and our passion, our passion we want to make this happen every year. It is very challenging to capture the 20 years journey in a couple of minutes, but so we decided in celebration of this 20 year, that we are going to produce a 20th anniversary video with the intent to capture some of the history, the driving forces behind the celebration and to talk about the spirit of community. The theme of the celebration this year is moving Forward Together. You are going to hear a lot about these three words in the next hour, moving Forward Together. We meant it 20years ago and meant it all the more now. I havent seen the video on the big screen so so happy we are going to watch it together. Lets celebrate together. Lets roll the video. Thank you. [applause] well come to the heart of diversity and community. San francisco celebrating two decades of Asian AmericanPacific Islander heritage month celebration. As we reflect on the past and look towards the future we proudly stand at quauss roads of culture, tradition and shared spirit of moving Forward Together. Welcome everybody to city hall. Peoples palace the first celebration began as Asian PacificAmerican Heritage week, may 4, 1979 when president carter signed a joint resolution of congress into law. Proclamation 4650 to commemorate the contributions and accomplishments of Asian Pacific americans. For the first 12 years the celebration was one week long which expanded to include the month of may in 1991. The San Francisco celebration launched in 2005 when gavin newsom embraced the idea of coordinated city wide celebration and establishment of a Community Celebration committee. The Aapi Community is very diverse. Opportunity to showcase uniqueness of each tradition and at the same time, strengthen the Aapi Community as a whole. Aapi heritage month has become a special time during which we pay tribute to those who pave the way. It great to be here, great to start off the month of may for many reasons and this is why our city is so special and have all you here. I want to have a great welcome to all of you to start the celebration of Asian PacificAmerican Heritage month for everyone. Inspire change. It is celebration of unity and strength and all the contributions that help shape our City Cultural mosaic, a city that welcomes all. I dont think there is occasion i have not been a part of it and just delighted to continue that tradition. The theme moving Forward Together. Very descriptive of what has occurred in this city over the years. The great benefit this city has received, culturally, economically and every way from the participation of Asian Americans, asian californians, Pacific Islanders it is frankly incredible. The city would not be what it is and probably nor the state without that incredible contribution. The journey to building a Stronger Community is not without challenges as evidenced by challenges posted by the covid pandemic and rise in antiasian hate which the community continued to experience since the first arrival of immigrants from asia in the mid1800s. Because of the challenges it was a clear and collective desire to build a Strong Network of support, a more cohesive community. One of the main purpose of the celebration is bring our communities togethers. In 2018, this annual Community Celebration reached a special milestone. Asian art museum and San FranciscoPublic Library joined the apa Heritage Foundation as official celebration partners. It is our hope that the Success Stories inspire all of us to continue to make our Community Contributions and to inspire the next generation to dream, to create, and to continue to make a difference. With each year, Many Organizations offer celebration programs and this year we celebrate the 20 anniversary, over 160 community and Non Profit Organizations have joined in the celebration by promoting Public Awareness of the month. And what are we celebrating . Aapi heritage month. About embracing ethnic identities fostering togetherness of the community known as what is a joy to be here with our Asian Pacific islander communities from all over San Francisco. When we talk about moving Forward Together, thats moving forward in community. Thats moving forward by celebrating and sharing our diversity,b which is always been a part of San Francisco strength. [applause] join us join us Come Celebrate with us this year as we celebrate the 20anniversary we want to invite everyone to join in the celebration. Im just delighted to say happy 20 anniversary. Moving Forward Together. Appreciate the differences, focus on what we have in common. [indiscernible] continue to build and strengthsen community connection. Aapi heritage month means community, resilience and support within all our cultural communities. Sharing our cultures together as one. The differences and the similarities and celebrating together. Moving Forward Together together moving Forward Together. Lets celebrate together [music playing] [applause] what a uplifting production. I hope you were all inspired and so incredibly proud of your Community Watching those 7 minutes. The apa Heritage Celebration Committee would like to take a moment now to thank sfgovtv, their team, producer and his crew. All the mayors, the community, the participants. Also steven gong, Asian American media for advice along 24 way. Please give all them a round of applause for making this happen. [applause] alright. Now that we are all inspired we were backstage making a joke about the eagle landed, but maybe should make a introduction and say the panda landed because to a woman we see a awful lot these days who happens to be in the news for american reasons especially after securing those pandas, please welcome San Francisco mayor london breed. [applause] alright. We got to bring the energy up this room. How many of us are excited about cam fest . [applause] how many of us are excited about the great programs at our San FranciscoPublic Library . [applause] and lets not forget about the Asian Art Museum, our amazing partner in the work we are doing here as well. [applause] you know, it is so great to be here and so many people are celebrating some tremendous milestones. Just this year we are celebrating the apa heritage month creation, 20 years, that is like all most my age. We are also celebrating a hundred years forcelebrating 50 years ofmayor willie brown has turned 90. [applause] and rose chung, you look like you are 20 years old too. Congratulations to each and every one of the honorees and the people who do extraordinary work for the city and county of San Francisco. We are so grateful and honored to be here as well celebrating with our consul generals from all over the world [applause] the people joining us today are those from indoughnesia, japan, singapore, the philippines, brazil, spain and china. Could our consul generals please stand . [applause] thank you for your work and your partnership with our city and we have a whole bunch of elected officials here as well. I want to take this moment to especially recognize and thank cladine chang. 20 years ago she had a vision to bring all the communities together for a celebration that shares our values that celebrates community that uplift and creates a opp