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APIO News
Help Make Our APIO
National Conference a Success!
Four
new committees were established during the March teleconference to
help with planning and organizing the 2008 Training Conference:
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Local Logistical Committee chaired by Steve Durgin;
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Registration Committee chaired by Kathy Randazzol;
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Field Tour Committee chaired by Shiraz, Jerry, Chandra, and
Pete; and
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VIP Committee chaired by Pete Bautista.
Vic Vue, Conference Chair,
or Manny Wei, Conference
Co-Chair, also need help planning the conference.
All of these committees need your help.
If you would like to help make our training conference a success,
please contact the committee chairs or conference co-chairs
Vic and
Manny.
Mao Thao was recognized for Employee Spotlight of NRCS-MN - Oct. 2005
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Jean Nodzen, dedicated member of APIO and former Treasurer, retires from NRCS-AZ as of Oct. 3, 2005

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USDA Announces API Scholarship
for
2005 - August 12, 2005
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Jolene Lau, NRCS public
affairs specialist in Hawaii received a 2005 USDA
Unsung Hero Award - June, 2005
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Dr.
Hari Eswaran is received by President of Bangladesh - Mar 17, 2005
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California APAs Give
$200 Million in Tsunami Aid - Mar 04, 2005

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Presidential Executive
Order on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders - May 13, 2004
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USDA Announces New
Minority Scholarship Programs - Feb. 3, 2004
Oklahoma Team Receives Secretary's
Honor Award
APIO President, Pooh Vongkhamdy is one of team members
The Poteau River Watershed Conservation Security
Program Team was selected to receive the Secretary’s 2006 Department of
Agriculture Honor Award for Supporting the President’s Management Agenda
and Civil Rights. The award was presented to the team at the 59th
Secretary’s Annual Honor Award for outstanding outreach to the
Conservation Security Program (CSP) Native American, Asian, and limited
resource customers in the Poteau River Watershed, Oklahoma. The
Secretary Honor Awards are regarded as the most prestigious and highest
honor award in the USDA Department. The team hard work and tireless
effort resulted in 412 contracts being awarded representing the most
contracts accepted in the nation for a CSP Watershed. The Honor Award
Ceremony was held on October 20, 2006 in Washington DC.

Phoukham (Pooh)
Vongkhamdy, Assistant State Conservationist (Field Operations), pictured
on the right, is presented the award by the Natural Resources
Conservation Service Chief Arlen Lancaster. Pooh is also the team leader
for the Poteau River Watershed Team.
The Poteau River Watershed contains 1559 farms and
lays in east central Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Major agriculture
enterprises include livestock grazing, hay production, poultry and swine
operations and crop production. Cropland occurs along the bottomlands
adjacent to the Poteau River. The majority of pasture in the watershed
is former cropland that has been converted to introduce grasses. The
poultry and swine operations are located throughout the watershed.

The group attending
the award presentations on behalf of the team include from left to right
Michael D. Bryan, Kenneth R. Risenhoover, R. Brent Pannell, Phoukham
Vongkhamdy (team leader), Nichole Norris, and J. Thomas Neumeyer posing
with Bill Wilson, President, National Association of Conservation
District. Other members of the team include Justin Brown, Chris
Cheatham, Shawn Fleming, James Harrison, Larry Hood, Artie Johnson,
Daniel Lee, Robin L. Lynch, Brent Reavis, Brian Ringlels, Amanda
Stanford, Rishell Tate, William Thomas, Sammy L. Viles, David B. Wells,
Oscar B. Boyd, Brandon Faulkenberry, Kim Golf, and Donna Hanebrink.
The success of this effort can be attributed to the
partnership between the NRCS, local conservation districts, and the
Oklahoma Conservation Commission.
More stories...
CSP Team meets with NRCS
Chief, Arlen Lancaster and Bill Wilson, NACD President
Oklahoma Team
Also Receives
Okalahoma Governor's Award
Link to the stories and photos of the Poteau River Watershed CSP team
Dr. Hari
Eswaran is received by President of Bangladesh

Dr. Hari Eswaran of NRCS World Soil Resources visited Bangladesh
for two weeks in February.
The purpose of the visit was to evaluate the national soil survey program,
have discussions with local soil scientists on some of their problem
soils, and visit an area impacted by arsenic contamination.
During the visit, a general nation-wide strike forced him to remain
in his hotel for about 5 days. He was not able to visit the area contaminated
by arsenic or the northern part of the country.
During the visit, he was the guest of the University of Dhaka and the
Soil Development Research Institute. He was also invited to have an
audience with the President of Bangladesh, Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed. The picture
shows (from left to right) Dr. Sultan Hussein (Head of the Soil Science
Department), the President, Dr. Hari Eswaran, and the Vice-Chancellor
of Dhaka University.
Bangladesh is about the size of Iowa but has 140 million people. The
dominant crop is rice and the country has to import rice to supplement
domestic production. With few other natural resources, poor infrastructure,
it is one of the poorest countries of Asia. Human capital is enormous
but this has not been exploited to enhance the wealth of the country.
The country is formed by the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers
and during the rainy season, much of the country is under water (at
times up to 10 feet or more) or ravaged by tropical cyclones. Many international
organizations, including USAID, are assisting Bangladesh in its efforts
to address food security.
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California APAs Give
$200 Million in Tsunami Aid
By Sam Chu Lin, Mar 04, 2005
Asian Pacific Americans who live in California have given more than
$200 million in tsunami relief, and their contributions surpass those
of other ethnic groups in the United States. Those are the findings
of a study commissioned by New California Media, based in San Francisco,
and conducted by pollster Bendixen & Associates, headquartered in
Coral Gables, Fla.
More than 700 random, multilingual telephone interviews were conducted
with APAs in California, using English and five other languages. California
was singled out because it has the largest APA population in the country.
"They came from the Chinese Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean
Americans, Asian Indians, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Sri
Lankans and Thais," pollster Sergio Bendixen outlined. "We
did a special oversample among Indonesians since that is the country
that was obviously impacted most heavily by the tsunami."
Seventy percent of those polled indicated they donated $100 to $150
to tsunami relief. Others contributed clothing and medicine and volunteered
their time.
Following the disaster, Sandy Close, executive director of New California
Media and the executive editor of Pacific News Service, traveled up
and down the state to see what was happening in terms of aid operations.
She says she was impressed that so many APAs were taking a leadership
role in the cause.
"Many Asian American groups have been seen in the past as 'in
it just for themselves,'" Close offered as an analysis. "Here
is just a striking example of people really embracing a sense of responsibility
for the whole of Asia."
"We live in a state that we can call a global society with so
many races, ethnic groups and religions living side by side," Close
commented. "The tsunami seems to be a very important benchmark
in the evolution of pan-Asian identity in this state, [with APAs] taking
philanthropic leadership ¡¦ for a catastrophe that had very little personal
impact."
"About $1 billion has been given from citizens in the United States
for the relief effort," Bendixen noted."This means that 1
out of every 5 dollars [that] has been given to the relief effort has
basically been contributed by the Asians from California."
Indonesian Americans led the way in total contributions. Korean, Chinese,
Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and Japanese Americans followed
in that order.
The tsunami-relief survey also sampled attitudes. Many of those questioned
felt that the ¡°United States had done its fair share in terms of the
relief effort.¡±
"The majority thought that President Bush had reacted in a proper
way," Bendixen stated.
Before the tragedy happened, many APAs in the state preferred to be
identified as Chinese American, Filipino American or any other member
of a specific Asian ethnic group, but the tsunami disaster changed that
way of thinking. It became more acceptable to be called an "Asian
American."
"We asked them in this poll, ¡®Had the disaster given them more
of an identity, more of a unity, a feeling of being the same with other
Asians that were in California?'" Bendixen pointed out. "Fifty
percent of the population told us, ¡®Yes, because of the tsunami, [we]
felt a lot closer to Asian Americans from other countries.'"
"Eighty-five percent of all the Asians we interviewed felt that
this was the greatest natural catastrophe in the history of mankind,"
the pollster revealed. "That¡¯s a pretty big statement."
"Americans are very obsessed with numbers and money," Close
summed up. "I think that the sheer scope of money that Asian Americans
in California contributed to tsunami relief ¡¦ speaks so powerfully."
The poll was conducted in partnership with InterTrend Communications,
the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, and special support
from the San Francisco Foundation and the Peninsula Community Foundation.
Source: http://news.asianweek.com/news/
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Presidential Executive
Order on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
"Increasing Economic Opportunity And Business Participation Of Asian
Americans And Pacific Islanders."
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White House Initiative on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders
1401 Constitution Ave NW
Room 5092
Washington, DC 20230
President George W. Bush has signed a new Executive Order entitled
"Increasing Economic Opportunity And Business Participation
Of Asian Americans And Pacific Islanders." This Executive Order
renews the President's Advisory Commission on Asian American and
Pacific Islanders, and also the Office of the White House Initiative
on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, housed at the Department
of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency. Additionally,
the President has appointed Eddy R. Badrina as the new Director
of the Initiative. The President is deeply committed to ensuring
that the needs of Asian American and Pacific Islanders are addressed
and, thus, the Initiative will focus on providing equal economic
opportunities for Asian American and Pacific Islanders where they
may be underserved.
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President George W. Bush signs an
executive order creating the President's Advisory Commission on
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Pictured with the President
are, from left, Susan Ralston,
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Executive Assistant to the Senior Advisor; Eddy Badrina, director,
White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders;
and Chiling Tong, associate director, Office of Legislative, Education
and Intergovernmental Affairs, Minority Business Development Agency.
The new Commission will be housed at the Department of Commerce
in the Minority Business Development Agency and will focus on providing
equal economic opportunities for Asian American and Pacific Islanders
where they may be underserved.
You can find the Executive
Orders at the White House News&Policies Webpage by clicking
the links below.
Executive
Order 13125 (May 13, 2004)
Increasing Economic Opportunity and Business Participation of Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders
Amendment
to Executive Order 13125 (June 6, 2001)
Increasing Participation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
in Federal Programs
The
President's Proclamation of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage
Month (May 7, 2004)
For more information, please call Maria Tamburri in White House
Media Affairs at 202.456.1414.
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USDA Announces
New Minority Scholarship Programs
BIG ISLAND, Hawaii, Feb. 3, 2004 - USDA's Natural Resources Conservation
Service Chief Bruce Knight today announced two new minority pilot
scholarship programs that will be offered in 2004.
"These scholarship opportunities help attract
outstanding students from underrepresented groups to pursue careers
in agriculture and natural resource sciences. Through workforce
planning and scholarship programs, we are creating a more effective
government by attracting and educating students from diverse backgrounds
to be quality employees by ensuring that they have the skills
to perform at high levels," Knight said during the National
Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting being held
here.
The new pilot Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Scholarship
Program will offer scholarships to U.S. citizens who are seeking
a degree in agriculture or related natural resource sciences at
universities with high percentages of Asian and Pacific Islander
students in California, Hawaii, Minnesota and the Pacific Basin
Area. The new Tribal Scholarship Program pilot will have similar
eligibility requirements and will be available to students at
1994 Tribal Land Grant Colleges.
Currently, NRCS participates in two USDA sponsored
scholarship programs: the USDA/1890 National Scholars Program
for students planning to attend an 1890 Historically Black Land
Grant Institution and major in agriculture or natural resource
related studies; and the Public Service Leaders Scholarship, which
is a collaborative effort between USDA, the Hispanic Association
of Colleges and Universities and the Hispanic College Fund, Inc.
These scholarship programs will provide full tuition,
employment, employee benefits, fees, books, use of a personal
computer and software while on scholarship, and room and board
each year for up to four years. In addition to general eligibility
criteria, each scholarship may have unique features due to differences
in the target institutions or communities.
Information on the new scholarship programs will
be available soon at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov
or from Larry Holmes, NRCS Outreach Division Director, at 301-504-2229
or larry.holmes2@usda.gov.
Information on the USDA/1890 National Scholars Program is at
http://1890Scholars.program.usda.gov. Information on the Public
Service Leaders Scholarship is at http://www.hsi.usda.gov/Scholars/main.htm.
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