Best in Nature is committed to supporting organizations that uplift and improve our communities. Projects that are close to our heart include protecting our natural environment, protecting voting rights, greater access to health care, wider access to legal representation, and food security. For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we decided to look towards organizations that uplift these communities. 

What is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month?

Every May, since 1992 when Congress passed Public Law 102-450 (PDF, 285kb), is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month also known as AAPI Heritage month. 

May was specifically chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.

The Organizations We’ve Contributed to This Year

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

AAJC  was founded in 1991 to advocate for civil rights for Asian Americans as an effort toward a fair and equitable society for all. AAJC’s efforts cover a wide area but some of their most important impact areas include: 

• Voting Rights- AAJC promotes wider voting access through the passage of the Voting Rights Act. For the 2022 elections, APIAVote and Advancing Justice | AAJC will be hosting a voter hotline leading up to Election Day providing information in Cantonese and Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi/Urdu, and Bengali. 
• Education Advocacy- AAJC’s efforts have helped change school curricula in several districts to include Asian American History. They also promote data disaggregation to ensure that communities within the greater Asian American diaspora are not left behind and get the help they need. 
• Media Diversity- Certain groups still aren’t represented on screen or are severely underrepresented.  AAJC has raised this concern and promoted and sponsored events on increasing representation behind and in front of the camera. 
• Redistricting- The political concerns of certain groups can go unheard when political districting cuts the community across two or more districts diluting their ability to be heard. AAJC provides resources in multiple languages to help citizens understand the impact as well as how to get involved in the process. 

You can donate to AAJC here. 

Chinatown Service Center

The Chinatown Service Center is one of the largest community-based Chinese-American health and human service organizations in Southern California since its founding in 1971. CSC provides a comprehensive range of services to over 100,000 visits annually, organized under four following services areas

• Providing social services, senior services, welfare and benefits enrollments, and referral programs).
• Running a federally qualified community health center with behavioral health, medical, dental and optometry services.
• Running a youth center that provides mentoring and college preparation services.
• Community economic development (individual financial education and small business training and consultation). 

Their services are available in a variety of Chinese dialects, including, Cantonese, Mandarin, Toishan, Chiu Jou, as well as Vietnamese, and Spanish. We think inclusive organizations that tackle the issues that they do are critical to the health of our communities. 

You can contribute to the Chinatown Service Center Here. 

These are organizations whose missions speak to us but there are many others to consider. Here are some resources to help you find Asian American organizations or more precise causes to support for AAPI Heritage Month. 

71 Ways to Donate in Support of Asian Communities (NYMag) 

This is an extensive list of causes including individual fundraisers organized into different categories. 

Non Profits Serving the Asian Community (Charity Navigator) 

Charity Navigator is an excellent resource for searching and vetting. They provide ratings to understand how financially responsible and transparent different nonprofits are. In fact, we vet every organization we contribute to on Charity Navigator ourselves and find it to be a useful resource. 

AAPI Heritage Month has been an excellent time to reflect on our communities and their needs. It’s worth it to end by saying that if you don’t have the ability to donate, many of these causes could use your help as a volunteer.