MinKwon Center held a press conference on March 29th announcing a partnership with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) law firm. The partnership includes a $5,000 grant to support MinKwon Center’s Legal clinic and a pilot pro bono project to provide direct assistance and full pro bono legal representation to low-income clients on selected cases.
Korea Daily: http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?art_id=1175995
Korea Times: http://www.koreatimes.com/article/652593

MinKwon Center’s Board President SJ Jung gave a presentation on the topic, “Pathways to Political Empowerment” at Queens College Asian American Center’s forum titled, “Immigrant Queens: Defining Communities of Interest.” He emphasized three key points: 1) the need of grassroots organizing, 2) the importance of coalition work with other communities on common issues, and 3) the importance of Asian American communities contributing to the larger civil rights movement.
Korea Daily: http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?art_id=1175510
Sing Tao Daily: http://ny.stgloballink.com/community/201103/t20110329_1533017.html

MinKwon Center, in collaboration with the Asian American Bar Association of NY (AABANY), held an open legal clinic on March 26th.  MinKwon Center’s attorneys worked with 15 volunteers - pro bono attorneys and law school students – to provide consultations and services to more than 30 Korean and Chinese residents in immigration law, labor law, housing, foreclosure, and other legal matters.

MinKwon Center's Social Services Director, Kathy Chae held a citizenship test application workshop on March 23rd which reviewed primary citizenship exam questions, tips, and instructions. Due to the lack of citizenship test preparations available for non-English proficient community members, the workshops are held each year.

On March 15th, MinKwon Center’s Community Organizer Jae Sup Song joined nine representatives from the 12% and Growing Coalition of Asian American organizations on a visit with Councilman Peter Koo.  At the legislative visit, the 12% and Growing representatives, co-led by the MinKwon Center, addressed issues and campaign goals laid out in the Coalition’s March 7th Policy Briefing for the City Council, including the Coalition’s goal of getting the City Council to distribute their discretionary funding more equitably for the Asian American community.  The Coalition also announced that it would continue its grassroots lobbying campaign to fight against threatened budget cuts that would affect our community.

On March 15th, MinKwon Center for Community Action's President S.J. Jung spoke at JHS190 in response to threatened cuts to the Federal Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. The Obama administration announced a proposed reduction in the CSBG program of $350 million from the Federal budget for the 2012 fiscal year, which would affect about 30,000 community members in New York on education, social services for seniors & housing. Community and immigrant groups from NYC have held emergency community meetings throughout the five boroughs to discuss the impact to communities and the planning of countermeasures.
Korea Daily: http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?art_id=1169161
Queens Chronicle: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20458057&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574901&rfi=6

The Union Square Awards are prestigious awards given to emerging, dynamic social justice and art organizations that work to serve and empower NYC’s marginalized communities.  The MinKwon Center was one of six social justice organizations that received an Award and a grant amount of $50,000 at the award ceremony at Riverside Church in Manhattan.
For more information about the Union Square Awards, go to http://www.unionsquareawards.org/news

MinKwon Center Executive Director Steve Choi was one of 5 speakers from the 12% and Growing Coalition that held a briefing for City Councilmembers and their staff. The briefing focused on fighting city and state budget cuts that threaten our most marginalized community members such as seniors, youth and recent immigrants, and fighting for a fair share and more resources for the critically underserved Asian American community. Mr. Choi focused on the issue of discretionary funding by City Councilmembers and explained that Asian-led organizations receive only 1.4% of all City Council discretionary funding even though more than 20 City Council districts have more than 15% Asian Americans.
Korea Times: http://ny.koreatimes.com/article/648273

Albany NY, On March 01st, Members of MinKwon Center for Community Action, Won Kwang Community Service Center, Korean Community Services, YWCA of Queens, and Korean American Family Service Center, organized 100 community members to attend the "Immigrants’ Day of Action" rally in Albany. Early in the morning 2 buses transported participants and government officials to Albany. The event focused on several immigrant policies and issues such as the expansion of 'language access' on the state level, ‘secure communities’, ‘budget cuts ', other statewideissuesas well as urged for a comprehensiveimmigrationpolicy.

Daily News: Immigrants Head to Albany to be Heard on Day of Action
Sing Tao Daily News: http://bit.ly/gmLF33
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