News & Updates
Share Our Stories
Anti-Asian hate crimes increased 339% nationwide last year.
One in three AAPI parents report that their child experienced a hate incident at school in the past year.
42% of Americans cannot name a single Asian American when asked.
It’s time to use our most powerful tool against racism: Education.
The Pathbreaking Law
In response to the surge of anti-Asian hate spurred during the pandemic, a grassroots coalition of parents, students, and educators successfully advocated for a historic bill mandating that all New Jersey K-12 public schools integrate Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) history and contributions into their curriculum–becoming the second state in the country to do so. While the NJ AAPI Curriculum Bill passed with strong bipartisan support in early 2022, implementation now becomes the responsibility of each of New Jersey’s 600 school districts beginning with the 2022-23 school year.
Ensuring Generational Change
The rest of the nation is looking to New Jersey as a leader to realize the promise of education to further inclusion and belonging. Now is the moment to bring resources and support educators who will ensure that AAPI children and their peers grow up learning that Asian Americans have made valuable contributions to America.
The Teach Asian American Stories initiative, led by AAPI Montclair, a 501(c)3 nonprofit working to further rights, visibility and representation for the AAPI community throughout New Jersey, along with its partners, will connect educators with the professional development opportunities they need to begin integrating AAPI history and contributions into their practice. Through partnerships with the Immigrant History Initiative, South Asian American Digital Archive, Asian American Education Project, and other leaders in this space, we will help teachers not only access resources, but develop individualized plans to use them in their classrooms.
Your Leadership Can Make the Difference
We are seeking to raise funding through corporate support, individual philanthropy, and foundation grants for a one-year pilot that will bring professional development and resources to approximately 2,000 teachers and 100,000 students in 30 districts by June 2023. Through this pilot and its evaluation, we will learn best practices that can be disseminated across New Jersey and nationwide.
We are happy to answer any questions or supply more details on request, and to recognize our sponsors’ generosity through customized recognition programs. Please contact amber.reed@aapimontclair.org for more details or to make a contribution. Thank you for your support for New Jersey’s 1+ million strong AAPI community.