Fall LHTP Update

August: We were excited to be able to take our newly elected YUCA Cabinet Leaders for their training retreat right before school started. Our training retreat was key for staff to have the time needed to train and develop our youth leaders to prepare them for their leadership term. We trained our youth leaders in the areas of budget and finances, event planning, communication skills, public speaking, and team building activities and workshops. The retreat allows for us to get to know one another and bond as a team through trainings, meal prep, dinner times, and recreational activities.

September: LHTP tutoring staff and directors have been working hard to keep our students studying and doing their homework on a daily basis. Our parents and teachers have been relying on LHTP’s after school tutoring services to help the children and students to better understand their various subject areas and to be able to confidently finish their homework assignments. Our ratio of tutor to students in our classrooms has been so beneficial in providing the highest quality of tutoring and to be able to give the attention needed for each of our students.

October: Our JYC & YUCA youth club members have been excited to be able to have more In person community events for this school year. We were able to bring back our Beach Clean-up & Mixer event. The last time we hosted this event was in 2019 and happens to be one of the most memorable for our youth. It was a fun filled day at Cabrillo Beach. For some of our youth club members, it was their first time ever at the beach. They were so amazed by the beautiful views of the palm trees, ocean and waves, sand, and even found some seashells. We also had a full day of activities of relay races, lunch, and beach clean-up contest. They had a blast!!! Also this month, our youth club members participated in the “Making Strides” Breast Cancer Walk. We had fun cheering on the families and supporting such an important and great cause. Coming up next will be our UC Irvine College Tour and Halloween Themed meetings.

2022 LHTP Heritage Scholarship

“…teens have more impact than they think…”

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, LHTP has partnered with one of our donors to establish the LHTP Heritage Scholarship. We are proud to present to you, our inaugural winner, Bilan Guan. Bilan is a senior at Lincoln High School and has been a member of YUCA since her freshman year and part of the Increase the Peace Support team. Bilan will be attending UCLA in the fall, and we are happy we can continue to support her.

A special thank you to all the students that took the time to share your wonderful stories for consideration. From defying the prophecy of fortune tellers to the impact of movies and media, the weight of your heritage shone through.

Here, Bilan reflects on the rise in hate crime and how she chose to take action.

In my Chinese household, I’m often told to remain silent or stay away from issues that do not directly impact me to avoid unnecessary trouble. But after hearing about an Asian elder who went missing in LA Chinatown only to be found murdered three days later, I was stunned. There were growing incidents of AAPI senior citizen attacks all over the US, and I saw the importance, as a teen, to take action with peers to combat Anti-Asian violence.

After this incident, I noticed a shift in my community. Tables where Asian elderly normally gather for coffee and chess were empty. Aunties selling veggies on the sidewalks were no longer there. My grandparents would normally go out to Chinatown on a daily basis to grab coffee or Yum Cha and Dim Sum with their friends. They had begun to stay home due to the rise of AAPI hate crimes. On Sundays, they would usually go to church but because of COVID pandemic and rise in AAPI hate crimes, I had to help them with technology such as setting up Zoom and FaceTime for church meetings.

As a teen, I was desperate to take action and do something about these issues, even if it was just a little bit. With that, my team of students from Chinatown Teen Council organized programs to raise awareness about hate crimes happening against the AAPI community. We offered a safe space for teens to discuss issues around racism, and held a self-defense program where a martial artist shared self-defense moves to protect ourselves and our family from harm. Our programs had over fifty participants, both teens and adults in the community joined us. From my observations and survey after the program, I saw that participants felt more connected to their community and civic engagement.

I learned the power of teens and the importance of empowering them because we can make more important contributions to our community than I initially thought. By taking initiative, we drew adult community members together to stand in solidarity. I felt that teens have more impact than they think with the hope to inspire more teens to take part in advocacy.

We hope you continue to support LHTP and youth like Bilan who are representative of spirit of our community. Head over to GiveInMay.org today to donate towards the 2022 Give In May Giving Challenge in recognition of AAPI Heritage Month.

Support #GiveInMay

During the month of May, the Lincoln Heights Tutorial Program (LHTP) is participating in Give In May, a national campaign to support organizations serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community during AAPI Heritage Month. Supporting AAPI is important to LHTP a minority group amongst the minority Latino and AAPI population we serve in Lincoln Heights. We help develop leaders from all backgrounds in our community and our young women make up over 70% of our leadership roles.

LHTP, JYC, & YUCA have become clubs where our AAPI youth have a voice in their community and has been a bridge for the diverse heritage of our community. In some Asian cultures, elders encourage youth to be “seen but not heard." While our youth may follow this mantra out of respect for their elders, at LHTP we push our youth to be leaders that challenge the status quo and take actions that make a difference. At LHTP, our kids learn to speak up, express their opinions, share their ideas, and learn that it’s okay to have different perspectives. Given the right resources, youth can make a difference and can bring about positive changes in their community.

We hope you choose to support LHTP this year in the #GiveInMay campaign. Donating through GiveInMay.com not only directly supports our mission of lifting our community through youth empowerment, but also raises awareness of our programs and gives us a chance to be a winner in this year’s Give In May challenge. We can’t do this without you. Not only do we need your support, we also need your help to spread the word. Please tell your friends and family why you believe in our work and encourage them to support us too.

Click HERE to make your donation today. Thank you for helping the AAPI community!