(NAME-MCE) Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance April 9-12 Portland OR

[Anselmo Villanueva]

The Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA)

16th Annual Conference

April 9-12, 2010    Portland State University  Portland OR

Isulong: Building, Creating, Forging Ahead

Information:  www.nwfasa2010.org
http://nwfasaconference2010.groups.pdx.edu/

The Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA) will be holding
its 16th annual NWFASA Conference on April 9-11, 2010, in Portland, Oregon
on the campus of Portland State University. This is an opportunity for
various Filipino American student organizations from Oregon and Washington
to learn and celebrate Filipino culture.

The conference is a weekend-long event for student groups to gather and
learn about leadership, networking, and team-building. It enables students
to build a strong and unified community between all participating
organizations, increases education and awareness, and promotes student
activism and involvement. One full day is devoted to attending educational
workshops catered to addressing issues affecting Filipino-American and Asian
Pacific Islander communities. Workshops cover a wide range of topics such as
identity issues, immigration, comfort women and sex trafficking, and many
others. These workshops help shape students into more critical and active
individuals as they gain a better understanding of the issues affecting them
and their respective communities.

The theme “Isulong: Building, Creating, Forging Ahead” encompasses the whole
objective that the NWFASA is trying to achieve – to empower Filipino
American youth through workshops and speakers that will educate them about
their history, identity, culture, and the important issues that are facing
their community. By building a stronger community we begin creating a
movement (Isulong) that will allow us to forge ahead towards social justice
and social change.

Expecting over 500 participants from all over the Northwest region, the
conference hosts a weekend-long event for Filipino-American student
organizations from Oregon and Washington to gather and learn about
leadership, networking and team-building.

The theme of the conference this year, “Isulong: Building, Creating, Forging
Ahead,” hopes to empower Filipino American youth through workshops and
speakers that will educate them about their history, identity, culture and
significant issues that the community faces. With the goal of motivating the
next generation of Filipino Americans to have a voice in society, the 3-day
event hopes to build a stronger community by creating a movement (isulong)
that forges ahead towards social justice and social change.

This year’s NWFASA Conference is hosting 3 keynote speakers: Kiwi, an active
member of the San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
and Deputy Secretary General of Bayan-USA, who has organized various
workshops raising awareness through music on Filipino identity and community
involvement towards social change; Geo Quibuyen, an accomplished hip-hop
vocalist of Blue Scholars and a cultural worker for Bayan-USA, who has
co-founded the People Power Tour with fellow musician and keynote speaker
Kiwi raising awareness about human rights violations in the Philippines; and
Anne Beryl Corotan, the National Chairperson of SANDIWA and youth
representative at the executive body of the National Alliance for Filipino
Concerns (NAFCON) who has dedicated her life towards advocacy for the youth,
migrants and the Filipino community both in the local and international
sphere.

Attendees choose from 10 various workshops with topics ranging from cultural
themes such as Symbols of Our History: The Evolution of the Philippine Flag
to current issues like Being Filipino in America.

Admission:

Conference fees are $35, which include information packets, workshop fees,
all meals, a souvenir T-shirt, and an all access pass to a midnight river
cruise aboard the Portland Spirit. There is an additional $35 for those
needing hotel accommodations for the weekend.

Registration:

If you are part of a NWFASA Organization, register online at
www.nwfasa2010.org.  Otherwise, the registration packet is available to
download on the website. Registration forms must be submitted by February
21th. Otherwise, late registration forms will be accepted no later than
March 12th with a late registration fee of $10.

Contact Information:

Interested individuals are invited to contact:

Irynne Padua irynne_padua at hotmail.com
Ryan Jumamil ryanjumamil at yahoo.com
KAIBIGAN at kaibigan at pdx.edu for more information

Other relevant information, including brochures, promo commercials, and
posters, about the 16th NWFASA Conference can be found at
www.nwfasa2010.org</a>
or www.kaibigan.groups.pdx.edu

About Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA):

Formerly known as the Washington State Filipino American Student Alliance
a.k.a. "the Alliance" was established in 1995 by Filipino student
organizations from Washington universities. In 2003, "the Alliance" has been
renamed to be called Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance (NWFASA).
The NWFASA brings together the various student groups on higher education
campuses across the state of Washington and Oregon. NWFASA’s purpose is to
build a strong network and community between the organizations in order to
pool resources, increase education/awareness, and provide support to current
& new organizations. NWFASA goals are for the betterment of our Filipino
American community through education, student activism, and involvement. The
Alliance has grown to 16 member organizations from different campuses in
Washington and Oregon: Washington State University (WSU), University of
Washington (UW), Seattle University (SU), Western Washington University
(WWU), Gonzaga University (GU), Central Washington University (CWU),
AnakBayan Seattle (AB), Oregon State University (OSU), University of Oregon
(UO), Portland State University (PSU), Portland Community College (PCC),
Seattle Central Community College (SCCC), NaFFAA Young Professionals Region
7, Saint Martin’s University (SMU), the Sisterhood of Pi Nu Iota (Ates), and
the Brotherhood of Omega Phi Omega (Kuyas)