#disaggregating data

[asamstudiesintro]

disaggregating data for specific AAPI groups in CA

excerpt from a mass email I received at work:

Governor Brown signed the AHEAD Act (AB 1726) into law -- affirming what many AAPI advocates have expressed for years: #AllCaliforniansCount.

The bill will require the CA Department of Public Health to disaggregate data for specific AAPI groups allowing the state to better understand the needs of our diverse communities and finally give thousands of AAPIs the proper health services they need.

As Assemblymember Bonta shared after the bill was signed: “The AHEAD Act addresses a very important need within our API communities. Many ethnic subgroups within the API community are falling behind with respect to health outcomes and our policy makers haven’t had detailed, accurate data to address these disparities.”

Watch the livestream of Assemblymember Bonta’s speech now.

Despite the fact that the amended bill did not require universities to disaggregate data, the University of California and California State University are committing to release disaggregated educational data to better understand the educational outcomes of AAPI students.

[asamculturalproduction]

Co-authored with Karishma Shamdasani Why is there only one check-box on official forms for Asian Americans when, as a group, they represent 48 culturally diverse countries and have a population of over 17 million people?

Anyone who believes Asian Americans are successful in this country is not completely wrong. However, for every Asian American person who manages to excel in this country, there is another who does not. Entire populations of Asian American subgroups are living below the poverty line, practically invisible, because of an overblown stereotype supported by misleading data.

Though data that accounts for ethnicity exists, they are few and far between. Ignoring subgroups of Asian Americans can have far-reaching consequences, but we can change that. National CAPACD suggests the best way to address Asian American poverty is to tailor efforts to each community by language and cultural approach and to empower each subgroup to become politically active and build networks with local institutions. We urge you to visit National CAPACD’s website to see how you can support their efforts to conduct research to help us better understand Asian Americans’ financial struggles.

Lawmakers, nonprofits and advocates can only target certain Asian American subgroups if there are data to direct and support their efforts. Without such data, the general population continues to see all Asian Americans as a single entity, meaning vulnerable groups do not receive external further support. Poverty in Asian American communities will continue to be ignored if we allow the damaging narrative of a homogeneous, upper middle-class Asian American population to perpetuate. Now is the time to disaggregate our data to understand the lives and financial struggles of Asian Americans.

[asamstudiesintro]

Conventional wisdom says Asian Americans are prospering economically, but that's not the whole story.