Service and Leadership

The Square and Circle Club Uplifts and Exemplifies the Changing Roles of Chinese Women

AAS Faculty: Lorraine Dong

Title: Square and Circle Club President

Beginning in 1924 with seven young San Francisco women who wanted to raise funds to aid flood and famine victims in China, the Square and Circle Club blossomed into the longest-standing Chinese/Asian women’s service organization in the nation. Branching far and wide, the Club has provided aid to international earthquake victims of Sichuan, Japan and Nepal, as well as support for local organizations, including Angel Island Immigration Center, Asian’s Women’s Shelter and many more. The Club’s service history and members reflect the growing independence of Chinese/Asian women. Today, the Club members, including Club President, Professor Lorraine Dong, continue the legacy of caring for and supporting diverse communities, also providing financial support for SF State students through the Square and Circle Club Graduate Studies Scholarship for AAS graduating students.

Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN)

AAS Faculty: Russell Jeung, Mai Nhung Le, Grace Yoo

Title: Authors of “From Crisis to Community Development: Needs and Assets of Oakland’s Refugees from Burma”

International attention again turned toward Burma, also known as Myanmar, in February 2021 when the military junta seized control of the country in a coup after it alleged fraud in the country’s November 2020 election. Violence and bloodshed ensued: almost 5,000 people were detained, and more than 800 people were killed in military-related crackdowns and operations. The military also detained the country’s then State Counsellor and democratic idol Aung San Suu Kyi, who now faces various charges. Separately, in 2019, Suu Kyi, who gained international recognition as a human rights heroine and received the 1991 Nobel peace Prize, defended her government against accusations of the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma. 

The ongoing systematic persecution of ethnic minorities in Burma has caused individuals from Karen, Karenni, Chin, Burman, Rakhine, Shan, Pa-o and other ethnic Burmese ethnic groups to flee across seas and borders as asylees and refugees. Many of them live in refugee camps on the Thai/Burma border or as displaced people in the eastern Burma jungle. An increasing number of Burmese refugees have also arrived in Oakland, California, where they face challenges of adjusting to foreign urban culture. Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN), a community-based nonprofit organization, supports Burmese refugees through culturally and linguistically appropriate care services and social adjustment programs. In collaboration with the Cesar Chavez Institute and SF State’s AAS department faculty, BRFN released "From Crisis to Community Development: Needs and Assets of Oakland’s Refugees from Burma,” documenting the challenges faced by Burmese refugees and calling for direct support through funding, training and educational resources. 

Stop AAPI Hate

AAS Faculty: Russell Jeung

Title: Stop AAPI Hate Co-Founder

The Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and the SF State AAS Department, including Professor Russell Jeung, spearheaded a community response by forming Stop AAPI Hate in March 2020 to track and respond to the COVID-19 related increase in incidences of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning and bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the U.S.

These incidents, talked and whispered about widely among AAPI communities, were brought to the forefront of public discourse through published reports by Stop AAPI Hate. The reports provide mainstream media outlets and the general public concrete evidence of this serious issue affecting AAPI communities and why it needed to be elevated into the national spotlight. Stop AAPI Hate reports capture the nuances of the broader issue of racism, historically, toward AAPI communities in the U.S. and address immediate community needs. Among other results, Stop AAPI Hate’s work has had a direct influence on Congress passing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. 

As AAPI communities continue to wrestle with escalating xenophobia and bigotry, even as we near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stop AAPI Hate offers impacted community members multilingual resources, technical assistance for preventative measures and community-based safety measures. Through advocacy for local, state and national policies that reinforce human rights and civil rights protections, Stop AAPI Hate continues to raise national awareness about anti-Asian hate, striving toward actions that will coalesce into long-term change.

Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP)

AAS Faculty: Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Jeremy K. Villaluz

Title: Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) Co-Founder

Rooted in community, Professor Allyson Tintiango-Cubales and a group of SF State students launched a lunchtime mentoring program at Balboa High School to combat Filipina/o/x American dropout, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, gang violence and mental health issues. The program snowballed with additional organized workshops focused on addressing these issues and developing solidarity through hip-hop, spoken word and theater. The finalized genesis of Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) has since expanded into SF elementary, middle and high schools, as well as after-school programs, to institutionalize Ethnic Studies curriculum. Hand-in-hand, SF State and local public schools cultivate a barangay (community) to produce critical educators and promote transformative decolonizing curriculum and pedagogy that centers the voices of Pin@ys/xys to nurture future community leaders. SF State AAS students continue to play an integral role in PEP as educators.  

Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN)

AAS Faculty: Isabelle Thuy Pelaud

Title: Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) Co-Founder

Strengthening the bonds of a global community through digital storytelling, Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN), co-founded by Professor Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, fosters Vietnamese literary voices. Literary artists from all backgrounds and genres are empowered to share their stories, divergent from mainstream identities, ethnicities and representations. Brought together through DVAN, these diasporic writers are nurtured in the stages of literary production through mentorship and residencies, promoted through ongoing events and diverse communication channels, and provided valuable networking opportunities with the larger, international Vietnamese diasporic community and non-Vietnamese groups. Moreover, SF State AAS students continue to contribute toward fulfilling DVAN’s mission through a partnership with the College of Ethnic Studies. To more effectively capture the diversity and complexity of Vietnamese American communities, SF State AAS students are given opportunities to publish blog posts for the online journal, diaCRITICS, while the DVAN@SFSU initiative provides valuable mentorship for students to produce their own stories. 

Social Innovation & Universal Opportunity Lab (SOUL)

AAS Faculty: Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Grace Yoo, Mai-Nhung Le

Title: Core Faculty

The Social Innovation & University Opportunity Lab (SOUL) believes in increasing health equity and creating healthier neighborhoods for vulnerable populations in the communities where they work, learn, live and thrive. As the first joint research lab between the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and San Francisco State University (SFSU), this partnership centers the power of real-time, patient-centered, location-based and community-driven data that can be integrated with Big Data and predictive analytics to inform health care innovations. Core faculty, including Professors Allyson-Tintiangco-Cubales, Grace Yoo and Mai-Nhung Le, contribute to a team of experts ranging from public health, medicine, biomedical research, ethnic studies, community members, artists, activists and many more. Working side by side, this vibrant team sets new standards for community-partnered research, healthcare decision-making and policy, optimal living experiences and relevant biomedical research to meet the needs of our Nation’s most vulnerable populations in local communities.