Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, an annual commemoration of the many contributions of AAPI community members to U.S. history and culture. This month and beyond, we encourage you to explore stories from our AAPI community at the University of Minnesota, as well as literature that features AAPI voices.

This year, we also wanted to highlight an important organization at the U of M, The Asian Pacific American Resource Center (APARC).

APARC’s mission is to support AAPI students to thrive in college and beyond, affirm their AAPI identities, and develop skills to become leaders in their communities. They partner with a variety of campus offices and organizations (such as One Stop and OSF) to promote leadership, networking, and professional development opportunities for AAPI students. Some of their programming has included the following:

• ASPIRE—a peer mentoring program for AAPI students to create social support systems and develop community.
• Thrive—a series engaging students explore their own versions of success and prepare for life after college.
• The Intersectional Identity Dialogue Program—a series of workshops and opportunities to support AAPI students in deepening their understanding of intersectionality and personal identity in their college experiences.
• The First-Year AAPI Student Retreat—a daylong retreat for incoming students to meet one another, gain new skills, and deepen their connection to AAPI identity.

You can learn more about their team on the APARC website, or check out APARC on the third floor of Appleby Hall, Monday through Thursday.

CARES and student emergency funds update

The final round of the $12.9 million in CARES Act funds were disbursed to students this fall. Emergency CARES funds are no longer available. In addition, ASR worked with the Asian Pacific American Resource Center (APARC) to disburse $106,690 of Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) CARES funds to 113 students. Student emergency funds and other resources are available, and potential cases should be referred to One Stop, or to Richard Campo (campo035@umn.edu), with any questions.