Board of Directors Discussion Notes

Issue 1: 'Asian American' Term (12/04/06)

Discussions among Board Members resulted in the continued used of the term 'Asian American' (instead of APA or APIA ) to describe 80-20's constituency. Here, 'Asian American' refers to a group of people in a small minority in their respective states. They face the glass ceiling. But Pacific Islanders are people looking like us who live in Hawaii and American territories. They are majority in their society and they don't face the glass ceiling.

80-20 is a political action committee to DO things for Asian Americans. In order to develop the political significance of 80-20 effectively, and to avoid a WRONG impression for politicians and the public, the Board has resulted in sticking with 'Asian American' as the term of our body.

Issue 2: PAC CEF Relationship (01/06/07)

PAC and EF (80-20 Educational Foundation) share the same goals. However, we are independent organizations operating "at arm's length" from each other. "At arm's length" means that in matters affecting major interests or finance, PAC and EF must handle them through a paper trail where things are clearly delineated and decided via a professional procedure. On the other hand, PAC and EF can share a staff as many Political Action Committees do with their parallel 501 c-3 organizations.