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Join us for a free community seminar featuring Tony Guan, Vice Chair of Equal Rights for All PAC (ERFAPAC) and SVCA board member, as he shares how he uses OpenClaw AI to build powerful workflows and web interfaces that advance civic engagement and legislative advocacy. Event Details 📅 Date: Saturday, April 4, 2026 ⏰ Time: 6:00 PM Pacific Time (PDT) 💻 Format: Zoom (Free · Open to All) 🎤 Speaker: Tony Guan — Vice Chair, ERFAPAC · SVCA Board Member 🔗 Register here (free) ...

On Saturday, March 7, 2026, SVCAF hosted its first internal OpenClaw Seminar — a community event bringing together board members, volunteers, and curious community members to explore how AI agents are transforming the way our organization operates. Presenters Chunhua Liao, Sam Li, and Rich Liu walked attendees through live demos, real workflows, and practical insights on getting started with AI agents. Here is a recap of the key highlights. 📊 View the full slides: SVCAF OpenClaw Seminar — March 7, 2026 ...

Watch the Event Promo If you or someone you know has received a UC rejection letter, you are not alone — and you are not out of options. SVCAF, in partnership with SARD (Students for Admissions Reform and Diversity), is hosting a free community forum featuring a nationally recognized expert on college admissions policy. Event Details 📅 Date: Sunday, April 5, 2026 ⏰ Time: 8:00 PM Pacific Time 💻 Format: Zoom (Free · Open to All) 🎤 Featured Speaker: Professor Richard Sander — UCLA School of Law, Founder of SARD 🎙️ Host: Jason Xu — SARD Board Member & Former SVCA Foundation President About the Speaker Professor Richard Sander is a law professor at UCLA School of Law and the founder of SARD. He is one of the nation’s leading researchers on college admissions policy and has spent decades advocating for transparency and fairness in university admissions. ...

Hosted by: Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF) Partner: Children’s Educational Opportunity — EducationOpportunity.org Format: Zoom community information session Date: September 28, 2025 7 PM-8 PM (Pacific Time) TL;DR SVCAF hosted a community info session with the Children’s Educational Opportunity (CEO) Act team about a proposed Education Savings Account (ESA) program that would provide $17,000 per TK–12 student annually in California. Funds could follow the student to approved providers (private, faith-based, homeschool, online) and unused funds roll over, earn interest, and are usable for college or trade school. The team aims to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot through a statewide signature drive. Volunteers—including SVCAF members—can help with outreach and signature collection. ...

September 21, 2025 marked a milestone moment for civic technology as the Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation honored outstanding student innovators On September 21, 2025, the Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF) proudly hosted the AI4Legislation 2025 Award Ceremony, celebrating remarkable achievements in artificial intelligence applications for legislative processes and civic engagement. The virtual ceremony brought together innovative students, industry experts, and civic technology enthusiasts to recognize groundbreaking projects that demonstrate how AI can enhance democratic participation and legislative transparency. ...

We’re excited to announce that the AI4Legislation 2025 competition has officially closed for submissions — and we received 4 outstanding projects from individuals and teams passionate about using AI to improve civic engagement and legislative transparency. 🧠 Submitted Projects Behind the Bill – An AI-powered bill explainer that makes legislative language accessible to the public. Video | GitHub Repo Congressional Bill Tracker – A machine learning dashboard that predicts the success of U.S. congressional bills using real-time data. Video | GitHub Repo ...

*Digital Democracy: AI For Good * by Prof. Foaad Khosmood Slides: Link Summary Generated by Zoom AI Companion Seminar Format and Presentation Planning Chunhua and Foaad discussed technical issues with screen sharing and confirmed that Foaad could present his slides. They agreed on the format of the seminar, which would include a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Foaad mentioned he would include a pop quiz at the beginning of his presentation, and Chunhua approved of this idea. They noted that while some people had registered for the seminar, others might forget, but the session would be recorded for those who couldn’t attend. ...

Saturday, July 12 · 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Eastern Guest: Prof. Foaad Khosmood Why you’ll want to meet him • Forbes Endowed Professor of Computer Engineering at Cal Poly SLO • Research Director, Institute for Advanced Technology & Public Policy (home of Digital Democracy) • Co-founder & past president of Global Game Jam —the world’s largest game-creation event • Emmy-winning data-journalism collaborator (2025 Northern California Emmys) for Digital Democracy reporting with CalMatters & CBS News ...

Another exciting AI4Legislation seminar hosted by SVCAF! This event is designed to energize our ongoing competition community and welcome new faces interested in the intersection of AI and civic innovation. 👨‍💻 Presenters: Alex Liao, Arnav Kakani, Sanjana Gowda, Shely Jain, and Mrinal Agarwal (Award-winning hackathon participants and experienced student developers) 💡 What You’ll Learn: When to use which AI tool for speed, privacy, or review Live demos with GitHub Copilot, OpenAI tools, Claude Code, and more How AI makes coding easier, smarter, and more fun—without replacing you. ...

Join us for another exciting AI4Legislation seminar hosted by SVCAF! This event is designed to energize our ongoing competition community and welcome new faces interested in the intersection of AI and civic innovation. 🎯 Seminar Focus: Learn how to boost your coding skills using modern AI coding tools. We’ll introduce 6 beginner-friendly tools and walk through 2 real-world coding challenges. Perfect for students, beginners, and the AI-curious! 👨‍💻 Presenters: Alex Liao, Arnav Kakani, Sanjana Gowda, Shely Jain, and Mrinal Agarwal (Award-winning hackathon participants and experienced student developers) 💡 What You’ll Learn: When to use which AI tool for speed, privacy, or review ...

AI4Legislation held its 3rd webinar last Sunday, June 8 2025, featuring an LLM expert from the East Coast: Mr. Leon Guo! Leon discussed various aspects of AI language models, including their capabilities, limitations, and applications in coding and data analysis. We also explored AI tools, data scraping techniques, and the potential of AI agents, concluding with discussions on project ideas and resources for model selection. AI in Programming: Opportunities and Challenges The meeting began with Chunhua promoting an upcoming competition and introducing the AI for Legislation Tech Seminar. Cynthia hosted the seminar, introducing speakers and managing the presentation flow. Leon, an expert in large language models, discussed the evolving role of computer science and the impact of AI on programming. He highlighted how AI tools like GitHub Copilot have revolutionized coding by reducing the need for manual debugging and API documentation reading. However, Leon also noted limitations of AI, such as high operational costs, slow processing speeds, and the potential for hallucinations and errors. The session concluded with an open invitation for questions, which attendees were encouraged to submit via chat. ...

Hosted by the AI4Legislation Team of SVCAF We are excited to invite all teams and individuals—especially those who have submitted a Letter of Intention for the 2025 AI4Legislation competition—to join us for an insightful seminar focused on AI programming and data analysis. Whether you are a high school student, college student, or an AI-curious innovator, this session will help you understand how to integrate large language models into meaningful civic tech and policy analysis projects. ...

Quick Recap Yesterday, our guest Karen Suhaka, founder of BillTrack50, presented with us on using AI to analyze legislative data, highlighting how her platform provides bill summaries, tracks legislation, and aids public understanding. She discussed the complexities of the U.S. legislative process, the technical and ethical considerations in building policy-focused AI tools, and advice for entrepreneurs creating civic tech solutions. Karen has generously shared both her BillTrack50 API and her slides for the presentation with us. To access the API (until August 1, 2025), you must reach out to Karen@LegiNation.com as a competitor in AI4Legislation. Thank you, Karen! ...

SVCAF is hosting the second webinar of our 4-part AI4Legislation series! This time, Karen Suhaka, founder of BillTrack50, will be sharing her in-depth insights on: Building legislative technology, including identifying a need, choosing your data and method, and navigating ethical considerations Her own legal tech company, BillTrack50, as a case study from starting up to scaling and customer feedback Project ideas for the Summer 2025 AI4Legislation competition (details found here) Tips for entrepreneurship ...

Quick Recap The webinar covered discussions on an upcoming project, the AI for Legislation competition, and the potential of AI in legal and legislative processes. Participants shared their experiences and insights on AI technology, its applications in simplifying legal matters, and its potential impact on various industries. The conversation also touched on the challenges and opportunities of AI, including its limitations, potential biases, and the importance of focusing on solving real-world problems with passion. ...

SVCAF is hosting the first seminar of the AI4Legislation competition on the applications of artificial intelligence in legislation. Join us to interview both the founder of Legalese Decoder and our foundation’s President about how AI is shaping legislation, ethics, and governance. Event Overview The AI4Legislation seminar series is recurring during the first week of each month, with the purpose of providing project guidance, inspiration, and current information about legislative AI tools to our competitors and the general public. As AI becomes increasingly capable, we need to harness its power and efficiency to make processes more equitable and effective. Legislation is no exception. ...

AI4Legislation: Using AI to Enhance Civic Awareness and Action A Project by Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF) Introduction The Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF) is committed to empowering civic engagement, particularly among Chinese American communities. We believe that technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI), can bridge the gap between citizens and the legislative process. With this vision, we are launching AI4Legislation, an open competition that invites innovators to develop and submit open-source, public domain AI tools that make legislation more transparent, understandable, and accessible to the public. The competition will engage participants nationwide, encouraging youth, civic leaders, technologists, and legal professionals to contribute AI-driven solutions that foster greater civic participation. ...

The Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering civic engagement, particularly within Chinese American communities. We believe in leveraging technology to bridge the gap between citizens and legislative processes. We are excited to launch AI4Legislation: AI for Civic Awareness and Action, an open competition inviting innovators to develop and submit open-source, public domain AI-based tools that simplify and enhance public understanding of and engagement with legislation in the USA. This project has the potential to make a real impact on civic awareness and participation nationwide. ...

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with the Silicon Valley Chinese Association! Celebrate our 10-year journey serving the community! SVCA (Silicon Valley Chinese Association) Foundation wishes you a prosperous and happy Lunar New Year 2024! Join us for an unforgettable in-person event at Chinese Performing Arts of America, San Jose on 2/10 3pm-7pm. Get ready to immerse yourself in the festive spirit of the Lunar New Year, filled with vibrant cultural performances, delicious food, and exciting activities. ...

以下是在2020年加州反16号提案的”No on Prop 16″竞选团队的联合主席，圣地亚哥大学法学教授Gail Heriot (推特：@GailHeriot）在InstaPundit发出的一份公开信，号召大家尽快签署NoACA7在线情愿书（点击下图也可），此事关加州宪法中的平等权利条款（1996年的209提案）的安危，请大家广传！ （点击图片进行在线签名） 我需要更多帮助来阻止加州立法机构的权力扩张：上周，我在Instapundit向读者请求在反对加州立法机构试图削弱第209号提案的新努力方面提供“X/Twitter”帮助。你们做到了！感谢所有帮助的人！你们太棒了！ 我有另一个请求。幸运的是，这仍然不会花费你一分钱。（如果这个愚蠢的法案通过了全民公投，那时我会开始要捐款，但我们有很大机会在加利福尼亚参议院就阻止它。） 我们的“反对ACA7”的请愿（change.org/VoteNoOnACA7）需要至少25,000个签名才能引起注意。我们可能还需要更多。幸运的是，我们还有一段时间。今天是我们第一个认真收集签名的日子。您不需要是加州人就可以签名。（但如果您是加州人，请务必包括您的邮政编码。在过去，一些立法者要求我们提供来自他们选区邮政编码的签名人数。） 如果您还能将请愿书与您的朋友或通过社交媒体分享，那将会很棒。（我们使用的社交媒体Hashtags：#KeepDiscriminationIllegal #NoACA7 #NoACA7photoparade #ACA7 will be defeated the same way as #prop16.） (我们人民10倍行动！） 对于那些还没有关注这个问题的人来说，209号提案于1996年通过修宪，其中包括这些措辞：“州不得因种族、性别、肤色、种族或国籍而对个人或群体进行歧视或给予优惠待遇……”加州的深蓝色立法机构一直在争取废除它。他们三年前试图通过第16号提案废除它。但是加州人的压倒性投票选择了保留了宝贵的209提案内容，这让加州左派立法者们感到震惊。那是一个真正的大卫与歌利亚对战时刻；尽管对手的支出超过了我们的14倍，我们仍然赢得了胜利。 （加州宪法中209号提案内容） 对我来说，他们这么快又再次尝试令我感到惊讶。但我想我应该已经预料到了。加州赔偿问题特别委员会今年早些时候发布的报告要求削弱209号提案。它阻碍了他们的提案。就如期待的那样，加州议会投票支持了ACA7。 这次的新尝试更加狡猾。它不是试图直接废除，而是创建了一种操作，另州长可以制定“例外”。纽森州长（以及未来的州长）所需要的只是能够指出（或创建）显示种族偏好（和歧视）将是一件好事的“研究”。但在目前这个社会，任何颠覆现实，指鹿为马的“学术”研究成果都有可能横空出世，对于政府支持的种族歧视项目来说，这样的限制条件将是不值一文。 （Gail Heriot教授） Prof. Gail Heriot “NO on ACA7 ”主席 （2024） “No on Prop 16″ 联合主席 （2020） “Yes on Prop 209″ 联合主席 （1996） 圣地亚哥大学法学教授 美国民权委员会成员 请大家尽快签署NoACA7在线情愿书（https://www.change.org/VoteNoOnACA7），并传播给至少10个朋友，更多ACA7内容，请移步https://noonaca7.org.