Press Relase-Please REVIEW.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Debbie A. Ebalobo
Debalobo@uga.edu

Willam Xu
vanguard@pdpsi.com


The National Asian Pacific Islander American Pan-Hellenic Association (NAPA) and APIA Vote plan to register more than 10,000 Asian American voters in the next 3 months.

NEW YORK (July 26, 2008) – Though Asian Americans are usually the most underrepresented minority in voting, NAPA and APIAVote are collaborating in a project entitled “Project 5%” to ensure that Asian Americans are registered for the upcoming election.

The “Project 5%” name derives from the percentage of Asian Americans in the country. Asian Americans make up 5 percent of the United States. It depicts how a small percentage of people can still have an impact of tipping a huge scale such as the upcoming election.

The project which spans less than four months, will involve the collaboration of over one hundred Asian American fraternal organization chapters and countless community organizations. Events from voter registrations to voter education seminars will be held in college campuses across the United States.

"NAPA is proud to partner up with organizations like APIA Vote that share in our vision of bolstering the APIA community through positive relationships,” said Melissa Montenegro, the National Executive Chair of NAPA. “So often we hear about the power of the women's vote, the senior citizen vote, the Latino vote, the African-American vote, and APIA Vote and their coalition partners are here to say that elected officials cannot afford to ignore the unique needs of 15 million APIA's in the United States. With the last few elections being chosen by less than ten percentage points, APIA's have the power to be the deciding swing vote."

The NAPA “Project 5%” is funded from donations from various businesses and individuals. The national board which organized the campaign consists of leaders of various Asian American fraternal organizations from New York to Georgia.

APIAVote began as the 1996 National Asian Pacific American Voter Registration Campaign, which comprised of national organizations that were just becoming conscious of the need to politically mobilize the APIA community. NAPA was officially chartered on August 12, 2006 by 9 organizations who sought to create an organization that would unite Asian Fraternities and Sororities under one umbrella organization. It is now a national coalition of 10 APIA fraternities and sororities that serves to advocate the needs of its member organizations through the enrichment of the fraternal experience.

For more information, contact NAPA “Project 5%” head, William Xu, at 646-812-3923 or via email at vanguard@pdpsi.com.

# # #

release it!!