Starting Date: 04-07-2006
Ending Date: 04-09-2006
Portland State University
Oregon
United StatesApril 7-9, 2006 marks a special time among Filipino American communities as Portland State University’s KAIBIGAN hosts the 12th annual NWFASA Conference. This will mark the conference’s second visit to Oregon when it was held at Oregon State University four years ago.
Collaborating with other universities across the Pacific Northwest, KAIBIGAN, PSU’s Filipino American Student Association, has been working hard to make the event possible. This year’s conference theme, “LAKAS (power/strength): Empowering Our Minds, Strengthening Our Voice,� hopes to encompass the objective of past conferences- to empower the minds of Filipino Americans through the education and awareness of Filipino history, identity, culture, and current issues facing the Filipino American community.
With about 350 participants from all over the Northwest region expected to attend the 3-day event of awareness, education, fun, entertainment, and student activism, the conference will offer 10 different workshops from which the attendees can choose from. With the goal of motivating the next generation of Filipino Americans to have a voice in society, workshop topics will range from cultural themes such as Misconstrued Filipino Values and Production of Culture and Identity through Arts to current issues like Mixed Race Filipinos and Environmental Issues That Affect the Filipino Community.
Conference fees are $35, which include workshop fees, meals, informational packets, T-shirts, and a VIP pass to a midnight river cruise aboard the Portland Spirit. An additional $25 will be charged for those wishing hotel accommodations for the weekend. Registration forms, which can be found at the conference website, must be submitted by February 26th. Otherwise, late registration forms will be accepted no later than March 18th with a late registration fee of $10.
This year, the 12th annual conference will host three Keynote speakers. The speakers include the Filipino Veterans Equity Coalition, a coalition of youth organizations and traditional Washington state Filipino-American organizations that seek to have Congressional legislation overturn the 1946 Rescission Act which denied Filipino World War II veterans full equity and justice; Claire Oliveros, an adjunct faculty of Women’s Studies at PSU and PCC who co-founded both the Portland Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines to serve as an information source on the human rights situation in the Philippines and the Asian Pacific American Radio Collective APA Compass on KBOO Community Radio 90.7 FM; and Robyn Rodriguez, an advocate for Filipino immigrant rights in the US who completed her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and whose dissertation research involved field work in the Philippines for fourteen months.
The success of the conference is only possible with the generous support of its sponsors and the community. Individuals and businesses interested in playing an active role in the success of the event are invited to provide support though monetary donations, in-kind gifts, or volunteer services. Sponsors will be honorably acknowledged during the event and advertised in the souvenir program and the conference’s website. For additional information, contact kaibigan@pdx.edu.
Interested individuals are invited to contact Rossella De Leon (503-267-2881), Rollie Veniegas (971-570-6444), and Cherie Padua (503-577-4857) or e-mail KAIBIGAN at kaibigan@pdx.edu for more information. Other relevant information, including brochures, promo commercials, and posters, about the 12th NWFASA Conference can be found at www.nwfasa.org or www.kaibigan.pdx.edu.
About Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance:
The Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA) was established 12 years ago by Filipino student organizations from Washington universities. For the past 11 years, the NWFASA has put together a conference every year to gather Filipino-American students for a weekend of learning, leadership, and team-building. NWFASA’s purpose is to build a strong network and community between the organizations in order to pool resources, increase education/awareness, and provide support to old & new organizations. The Alliance has grown to 13 member organizations from different campuses in Washington and Oregon: Washington State University (WSU), University of Washington (UW), Seattle University (SU), Everett Community College (EvCC), Western Washington University (WWU), AnakBayan Seattle and UW, Oregon State University (OSU), Portland State University (PSU), Portland Community College (PCC), Seattle Central Community College (SCCC), NaFFAA Youth Seattle, and the Beloved Brotherhood of Omega Phi Omega (Kuyas).
About KAIBIGAN:
KAIBIGAN, which means ‘friend’ in Tagalog, has been an active contributor to Portland State University and Portland communities for a number of years. Through educational workshops, fundraisers, local community service, and cultural and social events, it promotes a strong sense of family and community. Overall, KAIBIGAN strives to unite and empower Filipino American students at Portland State University through educational, cultural, political, and social activities, while celebrating the Filipino American experience.
Geographical Scope: National Conference |
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