For Immediate Release
September 16, 2016
Contact:
California: Jenny Seon, jenny@krcla.org
Illinois: Nayoung Ha, nayoung@chicagokrcc.org
Virginia/National: Emily Kessel, eakessel@nakasec.org
NAKASEC, KRCC, and KRC Celebrate Citizenship Day with Nationwide Events
#WhyImAmerican #iDecide2016
WASHINGTON DC — On September 16 and 17, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), Korean American Resource and Cultural Center (KRCC), and Korean Resource Center (KRC) are celebrating Citizenship Day by hosting volunteer trainings, citizenship workshops, and voter registration drives with partners in Virginia, California, and Illinois. The events are a part of the #WhyImAmerican Campaign to reclaim the conversation about who is American and celebrate the multitude of reasons why our Asian American and broader immigrant communities are American through our contributions and our values.
There are over 40 events happening across the country in celebration of Citizenship Day led by National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) and its member organizations.
In Annandale, NAKASEC is holding a volunteer training in advance of the September naturalization clinic in Maryland and the voter registration drives throughout October. In Los Angeles, KRC will partner with 14 organizations and the Mayor’s Office to host the Pan Asian Citizenship Event on September 17 at the County of Los Angeles’ East Los Angeles Service Center providing in-language services for various Asian languages including Bangla, Cantonese, Gujarati, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, and Vietnamese. In Chicago, KRCC is conducting voter registration outreach events for an Asian American student event at Northwestern University and the Korean Festival hosted by Joyful Presbyterian Community Church.
Ms. Park, a Korean American community member in Los Angeles, California, said: “I was thrilled to learn that I was eligible to apply for citizenship and that there are community-based organizations such as the Korean Resource Center in Los Angeles that offer naturalization services for free. Financial burdens and false information had previously kept me and many others from considering applying for decades. I hope more eligible members of my community will apply for citizenship and encourage the government to put resources towards in-language education and strong partnerships with community-based organizations in an effort to correct the myths and alleviate the barriers to citizenship for Asian American and broader immigrant communities.”
Executive Director of NAKASEC Dae Joong Yoon, Executive Director of KRCC Inhe Choi, and Los Angeles Director at KRC Joon Bang, shared the following statement: “Leading up to Citizenship Day we have assisted hundreds of eligible community members with their naturalization applications and lifted up their stories of success, as well as the stories of those who will soon naturalize and those who currently have no path to American citizenship but are instilled with the American values of family and strive to be fully contributing members of this country and in their communities. We remain committed to reclaiming the narrative defining an American and continuing to help our hardworking community members apply for citizenship, register to vote, and win immigration reform that provides a fair pathway to citizenship and embraces family unity. We will be out in the community on Citizenship Day, National Voter Registration Day, and leading up to the November elections ensuring that our community has a voice this year and for all years to come.”
