2020 Overview
Since the onset of the recent COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place orders, our team of board members, staff, and volunteers have been re-envisioning our engagement with our multigenerational and multilingual Vietnamese American community at-large. We’ve shifted from holding in-person large-scale community-oriented events to virtually formatted events – particularly our Annual Black April Commemoration, which pays homage to the legacies of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, our annual Student Engagement for Education Development and Success (SEEDS) Summer program that fosters civic participation and leadership development for youth across Santa Clara County, and our Community Care Corners that aim to educate and spark dialogue about issues on racial and social justice movements. We’ve also revised our approach to providing accurate and relevant bilingual information to our community members regarding COVID-19 pandemic, participation in the 2020 Census, and voter engagement for the 2020 elections cycle through our bi-weekly live radio program VAR on Air.
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2020 Census
VAR encouraged participation and conducted bilingual outreach for the 2020 Census in collaboration with other local nonprofit organizations in Santa Clara County to reach our most marginalized and hard-to-count community members to ensure that they were represented in the count.
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Covid-19 Assistance
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, VAR mobilized to provide accurate and timely bilingual information regarding free testing sites, economic support programs, and the most up-to-date shelter-in-place order.
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Voters Choice Act
Amidst the storm of false news and misinformation surrounding the 2020 election, VAR was committed to providing accessible, bilingual, factual information for our community members to exercise their right to participate in the elections such as voters’ rights, ballot proposition information, and promoting the 2020 Voters’ Choice Act