Dear Summit delegates and friends,
It was truly inspiring to see 250 delegates from 20 states coming together at the Inaugural Summit of Vietnamese American Leaders on July 2nd. Through our hard work, we were able to draft a comprehensive action plan that will take our community into the future. Together we accomplished that seemingly impossible task!
To implement that plan we need leaders who can build bridges across cultures and between the generations. We need leaders who can build long-lasting and self-sustaining institutions. We need people who can lead the process of social improvement for all members of the community, and for American society.
The “500 in 5 Years” leadership development initiative, officially launched at the closing of the Summit, aims to cultivate one hundred new leaders per year, who will hone their skills on community projects. They will be the seeds of change in Vietnamese American communities across the country. Currently piloted in the Gulf Coast, the initiative will be officially deployed in multiple locations in early 2012. Joining BPSOS in this initiative are Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), the East Meets West Foundation, and most recently the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (uNAVSA).
Our immediate objective is to raise funds to hire a full-time director to coordinate the program. Our goal is to raise $100,000 by early October for salary and operating costs. Let us all work towards that goal so that it won’t interfere with other fundraising drives to be launched later this year or early next year by Track 1 or Track 2.
Our interim milestone is to reach $50,000 by mid-August so that we can soon announce the job opening and looking for the right candidate. So far we have received $22,000 in pledges. Today one Summit delegate, who prefers to remain anonymous, offered to match 1:1 for up to $10,000. Can we count on your support with a $100, $50, or $25 donation? Your contribution, in any amount, will bring us closer to our objective. It is the spirit that counts.
Let us join hands to build a strong foundation for our future, so that together we can fully realize our potential as a community, and our place in American society.
Sincerely,
Nguyen Dinh Thang, PhD
Executive Director, BPSOS
