Discrimination in Community Reinvestment Plan must be addressed

The following is a letter to officials to fix the Community Reinvestment Plan’s discrimination against Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and South and Southeast Asians.

Dear Gov. Jay Islee and WA Dept. of Commerce Director Mike Fong,

We hope this email finds you well. We are writing to recognize and support the leadership of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NH, PI) advocates and WA Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) to mitigate and correct the funding discrimination against them.  We understand that they have been in contact with the Department of Commerce to resolve the inequities as it relates to resources.  We are in solidarity with them.

To recap, it has come to our attention as civil and human rights advocates, that Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, South Asian and  Southeast Asians (NH, PI, SA & SEA) have been inequitably excluded from the $200M Community Reinvestment Plan (CRV) despite long-term and current efforts to request the disaggregation of  Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island (AA & NH/PI) data so that equitable and proper assistance and opportunities can be provided to the underserved and the ones with most need in our communities.

Facts:

1. The $200 Million Community Reinvestment Plan (CRP) is intended to “…to address racial, economic, and social disparities in communities across the state created by the historical design and enforcement of state and federal criminal laws and penalties for drug possession.”

2. The Department of Commerce (DOC) request for comments due April 24, 2024, informed us that “The distribution of the grants under this section (from the Community Reinvestment Account) must be done in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs and “by and for community organizations” as defined by the Department of Commerce and the Office of Equity.”

3. The definition developed by the Office of Equity and adopted by DOC purposely omitted Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA & NH/PI) “by and for community organizations” from this funding electing to only include Black, Indigenous or Latino by and for organizations.

4. Washington state has long term institutional knowledge of our AA & NH/PI (otherwise known as AAPI and API) communities’ long-term request to disaggregate our ethnic data. The lack of response to that request allowed the Office of Equity to “lump” and stereotype our community as successful leading them to deny access to the CRV opportunities for our underserved communities.

5. Further, 2020 data is available at the state level to identify underserved and most in need our communities.  The Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) partnered with Kaya Strategik to complete an Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Community Demography Report based on the 2020 American Community Survey data that should have been used to determine CRP eligible that would have included Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander,  South Asian and Southeast Asian communities based on poverty level profiles by county, English proficiency, average pay…etc. See https://capaa.wa.gov/population-data/2020-censusacs-community-demography-report

6. The Dept. of Commerce (DOC) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to solicit proposals from those qualified and interested in receiving loan capital to assist only Black, Latino, and Indigenous members of society who were disproportionately harmed by the historic design and enforcement for drug possession.

Despite DOC’s assurance that community applicants will be accepted, the published notice CRV eligibility criteria for Black, Indigenous or Latino communities that excludes our Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, South Asian and Southeast Asian communities has a chilling effect on community applicants and leaves them exposed to grant denial based on non-compliance with the CRV enabling legislation.  

CAPAA’s efforts and request to have the original CRV announcement amended to be fully inclusive is necessary as a first step. 

However, it is not enough.  Therefore, we respectfully request:

1. Immediate review of CAPAA and other data to identify underserved and most in need in our communities impacted by the American drug policy.  As an overlooked, underserved AA, NH, PI, SA and SEA communities, because of positive stereotyping of our communities, it is no surprise that we do not have historical data but rather have narrative (qualifiable data) and a history of calling for the disaggregation of data and appropriate collection of our community data.
2. Subsequently, a technical correction of the enabling legislation this 2025 session is necessary to address equal access for our communities who can benefit from the Community Reinvestment Plan. (It is not unusual that sections of bills that were passed that conflict with or are out of compliance with labor and civil rights laws are severed through technical corrections.)

We have continuing gratitude to our Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander advocates for their leadership.  We also have continuing gratitude to our BIPOC sisters and brothers who are leading the  the way to develop the Community Reinvestment Act. Our collective communities are complex and have differing and common experiences of racism. We as communities and government, need to understand each other and have our respective needs as communities recognized and addressed, as we jointly undo the harmful effects of adverse positive stereotyping of our communities. 

We are happy to answer any questions. For coordination purposes, please contact Maria Batayola at mbjumpstart@msn.com.

Respectfully,

Asian Pacific Islander Coalition in Washington:

• East King County Co-Chairs Debbie Lacy and Lalita Uppala
• King County Co-Chairs Michael Buyen, Shomya Tripathy, and Wren Wheeler
• Pierce County Chair Lua Pritchard
• Snohomish Chair Van Dink Kuno
• South Puget Sound Brian Lock and Lin Crowley
• Spokane Co-Chairs Ryann Louie and Sarah Dixit
• Yakima County Chair Paul Tabayoyon

People of Color Legislative Alliance Co-Chair Ali Lee and Ruel Olanday

Asian Pacific Cultural Center ED Lua Pritchard

Korean Women’s Association ED Cheryl Lee

Oceania Northwest Co-EDs Joseph Seia and Amelia Bai

Pacific Islander Health Board Makelika Smith

Refugee & Immigrant Services Northwest ED Van Kuno

Civil Rights Organizations

Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Seattle Lodge Pres. Kevin Lee

Filipino American Pol Action Group of WA Political Voice Co-Chairs Maria Batayola and Thelma Sevilla

Japanese American Citizens League Greater Seattle Chapter Co-Pres. Stan Shikuma

OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle Pres. Connie So

Seattle University Filipino American Law Students Assn. Pres. Jerrald Callanta

Seattle University Pacific Islander Law School Students Assn. Co-Pres. Theana Aromin

Cc:  CAPAA ED Nam Nguyen

      CAPAA Board Chair Lydia Faitalia and Board Members

      Pacific Islander Community Assn Policy & Civic Power Director Kiana McKenna

      United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance (UTOPIA) Washington ED Taffy Maene-Johnson

      WA Environmental Justice Council via Manager Sierra Rotakhina