DHS Asian American Pacific Islander Network (AAPIN)
Monthly BoardMeeting
MINUTES

Wednesday, October 12, 2016
3:00p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
Call-in: 866-928-2008 (pass code 443953#)

In attendance:

Kevin Chan, USCG

Shin Inouye, USCIS

Paul Kim, USCIS

Katy Leung, USCIS
Mai Shintani, FEMA

Melissa Lin, USCIS

Regina McPhie, FEMA

Mika Okamura, USCIS

Erin Oshiro, USCIS

Sudeep Saha, ICE

Okhee Shim, ED

David Tu, USCIS
Norma Washington, FEMA

Minutes:

  1. Roll Call (Mai[1])
  2. Membership Report Out (Melissa)
    No new members joined in September.AAPIN currently has 41 members.
  3. Treasurer (Mika)
    Current budget stands at $984.47. There are no outstanding balances.
  4. AAPIN Mentoring Program(Mika)
    AAPIN has received 22 application requests for both mentors and mentees (about an even split). We also have 10 mentors from past years who are interested in participating again. WhileUSCIS, TSA, and FEMA are well represented, AAPIN encourages more participation from USCG, ICE, CBP, USSS, and other DHS components. Kevin volunteered to help spread the word in USCG to see if there is interest in becoming a mentee. Mai and Sudeep will connect after the meeting to explore ways to get the word out to ICE colleagues.
    There was a question about whether mentor-mentee matching would be cross-agency or not. Some applicants did request cross-agency pairings and AAPIN will certainly consider these requests as well as feedback from past participants who expressed that cross-agency pairings were beneficial.
  5. Open Discussion
  6. Developing New Funding Streams
    Kevin provided follow-up information on whether USCG employees could leverage USCG diversity & inclusion funds. The USCG D&I office provides funding authorizations for unit commands for USCG D&I events, such as conferences and seminars. With the funding authorizations, unit commands can spend funds on travelers for those events. (The USCG D&I office does not provide funding but only funding authorizations.)
    AAPIN might be able to benefit from these funding authorizations. For example, if AAPIN held a national conference in DC, DHS employees could possibly travel to DC on D&I funds from each component with funding authorizations provided by compoentn D&I offices or DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL).Kevin suggested AAPIN investigate both Department-level (CRCL) and component-level D&I funding authorizations for DHS AAPIN’s future events.
  7. Engaging Other DHS Components
    The group discussed whether ICE had an executive champion that AAPIN could reach out to. To increase participation from other DHS components, perhaps AAPIN could request assistance or advice from the existing DHS AAPIN Advisory Board. (Further, moving forward, AAPIN could promote DHS component representation when seeking new Advisory Board members.)

NEXT BOARD MEETING: TBD

RED = FOLLOW-UP ACTION REQUIREDPage 1

UNDERLINED = DECISIONS MADE BY BOARD VOTE

[1] The DHS President decided to rotate the facilitator for AAPIN Board Meetings moving forward in order to provide everyone on the Board an opportunity to lead. Feedback is welcome at . Thank you!