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)

About the Speaker

Tony Guan is an SVCA board member and Silicon Valley tech company engineering manager who has long been active in community service and civil rights advocacy. Since 2016, he organized multiethnic residents in Sunnyvale and Cupertino to oppose unfair aircraft noise relocation, coordinated with local governments and the FAA, and helped establish the Santa Clara County aviation roundtable.

During the pandemic in 2020, he launched the #StrongerTogether initiative, organizing volunteers to distribute masks to the community — receiving coverage from multiple mainstream media outlets. He was also deeply involved in the campaign against Proposition 16, founded StopProp16.org, and assisted Ward Connerly in creating Equal Rights for All PAC (erfapac.com), where he serves as Vice Chair. In 2026, he is once again stepping forward to oppose ACA-7.

What You Will Learn

• Real-World OpenClaw Workflows — End-to-end automation pipelines for civic outreach
• Custom Web Interfaces — Tools that help communities engage with legislation
• From Idea to Impact — AI-powered campaigns for legislative advocacy goals
• Live Demo & Q&A — Interactive demonstration with audience questions welcome

🔗 Click here to register — it’s free!

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 full recording: SVCAF OpenClaw Seminar — March 7, 2026 (YouTube)

From Chatbot to AI Agent: What Is the Difference?

The seminar opened by drawing a clear distinction between traditional chatbots and modern AI agents. While chatbots respond to single questions, an AI agent like OpenClaw takes multi-step actions autonomously — managing email, calendar, files, and web browsing on your behalf, all through a simple chat interface on Discord, Telegram, or WhatsApp.

Chatbot vs. AI Agent — the key differences

Key Insight #1: Your Agent Is Only as Good as Its Configuration

One of the most valuable takeaways: out of the box, an AI agent is a blank slate. What makes it powerful is how you configure it. SVCAF uses plain-text files — SOUL.md (the agent’s values and limits), AGENTS.md (operational rules), and MEMORY.md (long-term memory) — to give our agent a clear identity, workflow, and institutional knowledge.

“ChatGPT gives you a smart stranger. OpenClaw lets you build a smart colleague.” — Chunhua

How SVCAF configures the agent to reason with evidence and first principles

Key Insight #2: Automation Without Constant Prompting — Heartbeats and Cron Jobs

SVCAF’s agent runs proactively without anyone having to ask. Two mechanisms make this possible:

• Heartbeat: Every ~30 minutes, the agent wakes up and checks for urgent emails, upcoming calendar events, and anything that needs attention.
• Cron Jobs: Scheduled at exact times — a Daily Learning Brief runs every morning at 7 AM (pulling AI news and policy updates into a Gmail draft), and a Daily Self-Reflection runs at 2 AM to review the day and improve the agent’s own rules.

Heartbeat vs. Cron Jobs — when to use each

Key Insight #3: Real SVCAF Use Cases in Action

Chunhua demonstrated several live workflows SVCAF already uses today:

• Event Flyer Design: Share a reference flyer, the agent analyzes the style, generates a new flyer using AI image generation, and iterates based on feedback. Four versions in minutes, not hours.
• Website Management: Post to svcaf.org via WordPress API with a single message. No CMS login needed.
• Semantic Search: Query across 900+ SVCAF documents — meeting minutes, Drive files, website posts — using meaning, not just keywords. Example: searching “漂流活动” (rafting activity) instantly found relevant archived posts.
• WeChat Article Pipeline: A 9-step multi-agent workflow that takes an idea and produces a fully illustrated, fact-checked, WeChat-ready article draft in 5–10 minutes.
• Google Workspace Integration: Full Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Docs, and Slides access — all accessible through a single conversation.

How the agent designed an event flyer from a single reference image

Semantic search across 900+ SVCAF documents — finding meaning, not just keywords

The 9-step multi-agent WeChat article pipeline

Key Insight #4: Skills — Extending the Agent Like App Plugins

OpenClaw supports “skills” — modular plug-ins that give agents specialized capabilities. The community registry at clawhub.com offers free, open skills you can install with one command. SVCAF has already contributed several skills to the community, including a Docker setup guide and a WeChat article writer.

Key Insight #5: Multi-Agent Collaboration — Sam Li’s Demo

Sam Li presented an innovative demo: a cooperative AI game designed for OpenClaw agents, where multiple agents work together like a band — each with different capabilities (writing poetry, drawing, speaking). The demo showcased how multiple agents can collaborate on creative tasks, with each agent contributing its specialty to a shared goal.

Key Insight #6: Security and Privacy First — Rich Liu’s Perspective

Rich Liu shared practical safety advice for new users:

• Avoid sharing real personal information with AI agents until you trust them
• Use a separate email account when experimenting
• Install agents in a sandbox environment, especially for sensitive operations like financial tasks
• Start simple — build trust before delegating complex workflows

The honest truth about getting started — and what makes OpenClaw click

Getting Started with OpenClaw

There are three paths to running OpenClaw:

• Easiest (Cloud): DigitalOcean Marketplace — $12/month, 5-minute setup
• Free: Oracle Cloud Always Free Tier — 4 ARM CPUs, 24GB RAM, $0/month forever
• DIY: Your own Mac, Linux, or Docker setup with free OpenRouter models

Want to try SVCAF’s public AI agent? Join our Discord: discord.gg/yXnx9xnP

What Is Next for SVCAF

SVCAF’s AI roadmap — what’s already working and what’s coming next

We are building an AI-first nonprofit — not because it is trendy, but because it lets our volunteer team serve the Chinese American community at a scale that was previously impossible.

Thank you to everyone who attended and participated. Special thanks to Sam Li and Rich Liu for their presentations and demos. Stay tuned for future SVCAF events and seminars.

📧 Questions? info@svcaf.org  |  🌐 svcaf.org

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.

Competition Overview and Impact

The AI4Legislation 2025 competition represents SVCAF’s commitment to fostering innovation at the intersection of technology and civic engagement. With $10,000 in total prize pool, the competition attracted talented individuals and teams from across the United States, particularly encouraging participation from high school and college students.

Watch the full award ceremony recording: YouTube Event Recording

Take a look at the slides for the ceremony: pdf

The competition focused on five key categories:

• Legislative Tracking: Tools to monitor bills and legislative changes

• Bill Analysis: AI-powered summaries and impact analysis

• Civic Action & Advocacy: Platforms connecting citizens with representatives

• Compliance Monitoring: Tools tracking government spending alignment

• Other innovative solutions enhancing public participation in legislative processes

Celebrating Our Winners

🥇 First Place Winner ($3,000)

Oliver Fan – Predictive Bill Tracker A sophomore at James E. Taylor High School, Oliver created a comprehensive Congressional Bill Tracker that uses AI to predict bill outcomes and provide analysis. His project combines his passion for STEM with civic engagement, demonstrating sophisticated use of machine learning for legislative analysis.

• Live Demo: Predictive Bill Tracker

• Project Repository: GitHub

• Demo Video: YouTube

🥈 Second Place Winner ($2,000)

DebateSim Team – Legislative Analysis and Debate Simulation Platform Led by Alex Liao and Mrinal Agarwal, with team members Arnav Kakani, Shely Jain, and Sanjana Gowda, this Emerald High School team created an innovative platform that combines real-time Congressional data with AI-powered debate simulations to enhance civic education and engagement.

• DebateSim  GitHub Repository

• Category: Legislative Analysis and Simulation, Debate Simulation

• Team Name: DebateSim  YouTube Demo Video

• Live Product Online

• Presentation Slideshow

🥉 Third Place Winners ($1,000 each)

Lina Iyer – Behind the Bill A University of Michigan computer science student with a political science minor, Lina created an AI tool that makes legislative content more accessible to the general public through simplified explanations and impact analysis.

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/linaiyer/behind-the-bill

• YouTube Demo Video: https://youtu.be/pG4KonR68Fk

• Technical Documentation (Project Report): link

Ian Lee – Billinguo An MIT master’s student specializing in robotics, Ian developed a multilingual legislative analysis tool, addressing accessibility challenges in civic engagement for diverse communities.

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/tylenode/billingo

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiKJ857K9gI

Mark Garcia – LegisCompare AI A recent Data Analytics graduate turned Junior AI Software Engineer, Mark created a comparative analysis platform that helps users understand differences and similarities between legislative proposals.

• Live Demo: Legal Tool

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/mgkram4/LegisCompare-AI

• Live Demo: https://legal-tool.vercel.app/

• YouTube Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGX1UlBpBgA

People’s Choice Award ($500)

Rigorous Judging Process

The competition featured a comprehensive evaluation process with both human and AI judges, ensuring fair and thorough assessment. Projects were evaluated across five key criteria:

• Innovation & Creativity (25%)

• Impact & Relevance (25%)

• Technical Excellence (20%)

• Usability & Accessibility (15%)

• Ethics & Fairness (15%)

Human judges included Mr. Liang Guo, Ms. Karen Suhaka, and Mr. William Tsui, with AI judges providing consistent validation of results.

About SVCAF’s Mission

Founded in 2014, SVCAF is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting civic engagement, political participation, and legal education within Chinese-American communities in Silicon Valley and beyond. The organization’s mission centers on empowering communities through events, education, and innovation.

The AI4Legislation initiative perfectly embodies SVCAF’s commitment to:

• Civic engagement and political participation

• Education and community empowerment

• Innovation in legislative processes through AI technology

Looking Forward

The success of AI4Legislation 2025 demonstrates the incredible potential when young innovators apply cutting-edge technology to solve real-world civic challenges. These projects represent more than just technical achievements—they embody the future of democratic participation and government transparency.

SVCAF continues to foster this innovation through regular seminars, community building, and ongoing support for civic technology initiatives. The organization invites continued collaboration and participation from anyone interested in the intersection of AI and civic engagement.

Get Involved

Stay Connected:

• Website: www.svcaf.org

• Email: info@svcaf.org

• Discord Community: Join our Discord

• GitHub: AI4Legislation Repository Contains details of submitted projects and grading info.

Questions or want to collaborate? Contact us at info@svcaf.org

Together, let’s build a more informed and innovative civic future!

🧠 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

• DebateSim – A multi-agent AI debate simulator that re-creates legislative debates with real-time perspectives and an AI judge. Video | GitHub Repo | Live Demo

• Billingo – An interactive and fun platform for learning about bills, using AI-generated quizzes and games. Video | GitHub Repo | Live Demo

More project details can be found here: 

* https://github.com/svcaf/2025-AI4Legislation-Public/tree/main/submissions

🏆 What’s Next?

Our judging panel is currently reviewing all submissions. Final results will be announced between August and September 2025.

In the meantime, we’re inviting the public to help select the People’s Choice Award winner — a separate $500 cash prize will go to the project that receives the most community votes!

🗳️ Vote Now

Cast your vote for your favorite project on our official GitHub discussion:

👉 Vote in the People’s Choice Poll

Voting is open until September 1, 2025. Feel free to leave a comment to explain your choice!

Thank you to all participants for your creativity, technical excellence, and dedication to civic innovation.

Stay tuned for the final results and highlights of these inspiring projects.

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.

Project Overview:

AI4Legislation aims to solicit and award prizes for publicly accessible AI tools that address key areas of civic engagement with legislation. The competition will focus on categories such as:

• Legislative Tracking: Tools to monitor bill progress and amendments.

• Bill Analysis: AI to simplify and explain legislative text (summaries, pros/cons, impact).

• Taking Action: Tools for public influence, advocacy, and compliance monitoring of existing laws, including ensuring that government spending aligns with legislative budgets.

• Others: Other innovative solutions related to legislative education and awareness.

The target audience for submissions includes individuals and teams across the USA, especially encouraging youth participation. Winning solutions will be open-source and publicly available, benefiting communities across the nation.

We are seeking a highly organized and motivated Project Manager to lead and execute this exciting competition from planning to completion.

Responsibilities:

As the Project Manager, you will be responsible for the entire lifecycle of the AI4Legislation competition, including:

• Phase 1: Planning and Fundraising (March-April, tentative timeline):

Develop a detailed project plan with timelines, milestones, and budget.

• Develop and execute a fundraising strategy to secure additional donations beyond initial SVCAF funding.

• Identify and cultivate relationships with potential volunteers, donors and sponsors.

• Phase 2: Marketing, Outreach, and Submission Phase (May-July, tentative):

Develop and implement a comprehensive marketing and outreach plan to attract participants (technologists, civic leaders, public, youth).

• Manage social media and online presence for the competition.

• Conduct outreach to relevant communities, organizations, and educational institutions.

• Phase 3: Judging, Awards, and Post-Competition Showcase (Aug-Sept, tentative):

Recruit and manage a panel of judges with relevant expertise.

• Organize and execute the awards process and prize distribution.

• Plan and potentially organize a post-competition showcase event (online) to highlight winning projects.

• Overall Project Management:

Serve as the primary point of contact for the project.

• Manage project communication and updates with SVCAF and stakeholders.

• Recruit and manage volunteers, track project progress against timelines and budget.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Proven experience as a Project Manager (3+ years preferred).

• Experience managing projects from inception to completion, including coordinating volunteers.

• Strong organizational, time management, and communication skills.

• Ability to work independently and proactively, taking ownership of the project.

• Experience with online project management tools and communication platforms.

• Comfortable working in a remote environment.

• Passion for civic engagement and technology for social good.

• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with non-profit organizations or civic tech projects.

• Experience with fundraising and donor relations.

• Marketing and outreach experience, particularly in the technology or civic space.

• Familiarity with AI and open-source principles.

• Experience organizing competitions, events, or online challenges.

• Knowledge of US legislative processes (basic understanding is helpful).

Compensation and Incentives:

• Managerial Budget: The managerial budget is flexible and will be determined based on experience and the proposed scope. 

• Performance Bonus (Optional): To recognize exceptional fundraising efforts, we are open to discussing a performance-based milestone bonus structure, contingent upon meeting agreed-upon fundraising goals in alignment with non-profit best practices.

• Additional Context: Beyond the managerial budget, SVCAF has allocated a $10,000 Donation Matching Fund. All matched funds and additional fundraising contributions will be dedicated to expanding the prize pool, covering project expenses such as platform costs, outreach, and volunteer engagement.

To Apply:

Please submit your proposal to info@svcaf.org , including:

• A cover letter outlining your relevant experience and why you are a good fit for this project. Specifically, highlight your experience in project management, fundraising (if applicable), and any relevant experience with similar projects or organizations.

• Your resume or portfolio showcasing your project management skills and experience.

• Your proposed approach to managing the AI4Legislation project, including how you would approach planning, fundraising, marketing, and competition execution.

• Your overall compensation expectation.

• If you are interested in a performance-based bonus, please briefly outline your thoughts on a potential structure.

We are eager to find a dedicated and passionate Project Manager to help us make AI4Legislation a success! We will review applications on a rolling basis and encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Thank you for your interest!

Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF)

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. 

Meet the elected officials, community leaders and community volunteers that we helping shape our community for the better!

Whether you’re looking to reconnect with friends or make new ones, this party is the perfect opportunity to embrace the traditions and customs of this joyous occasion. Don’t miss out on this incredible celebration! 

Mark your calendars for 2/10 and get ready to welcome the Lunar New Year in style!

Date & Time: **2/10/2024 3:00-7:00PM ** Location: 6148 Bollinger Rd, San Jose, CA 95129 (Chinese Performing Arts of America)

Admission $10 (Pay via PayPal: donations@svcaf.org or by cash at entrance, free for kids below 18 years old)

RSVP asap (helpful for food arrangement) and help us circulate this event: tinyurl.com/svca2024party

Agenda: 3:00-4:00 Check-in 4:00-4:45 SVCA 10 Year Keynotes Speech, Guest Speeches, Volunteer Recognition 4:45-5:30 Performance 5:30-6:30 Dinner and Social Time 6:30-7:00 Closing

click to RSVP

2023 年2月12 日，星期天，中午，硅谷华人协会基金会的部分新老理事在Fremont举行疫情以来的第一次新年茶话会。

大家一起回顾了基金会从2014年以来的维护华人宪法平等权利的各项义工活动，也展望了新一年的工作。 主要重点是继续跟进最高法院的状告哈佛/北卡大学歧视亚裔的诉讼。同时加强对加州大学隐形打压亚裔学生入学的违宪行为的监督和披露，不排除发起相关诉讼的可能。

特约嘉宾Catharine Baker 也应邀参加。​Baker在 2014 年至 2018 年期间是加利福尼亚州议会的代表第16选区（三谷地区）的共和党议员。 自 2021 年以来，她一直在加州公平政治实践委员会任职。 

Baker 分享了她近几年在加州公平政治实践委员会（California Fair Political Practices Commission）中的各项工作，包括加强惩罚挪用选举捐款用于私人利益的违法行为，设置委员会对举报处理的时间限制等等。Baker 披露，委员会发现有的政客挪用十万美元装修在夏威夷的私人别墅，或者花在私人的国际度假旅行之中。但是加州检察官对这种行为只是从轻处理。另外对这种举报的调查处理经常拖延5年以上，让嫌疑人继续可以没有顾虑的担任公职。Baker 推动了委员会对这些挪用行为的惩罚力度（三倍罚款和监狱），也把委员会对违法行为举报的处理时间限制在两年之内。

参会人员讨论如何继续推动华人社区对立法部门和政府的监督，和积极入籍投票的主人翁行为。例如基金会可以协助更多的华人进一步担任各级公职。具体可以从本地城市的各种水务局，公园等委员会开始担任理事，逐步拓展自己的人脉和简历。特别是每年选举后，很多委员会有空位产生，是加入的好时机。各地的商务协会Chamber of Commerce 也有专门针对对公共服务职位感兴趣的人的课程，应该推动华人积极报名参加培训。

结束语：SVCAF作为硅谷华人的一个草根组织，致力于通过切实的行动服务硅谷和附近地区的华人， 研讨华人关心的话题，提供教育资讯和讲座，鼓励华裔团结参与社区事务，提升华人形象。如有华人朋友有意参与本地政治，SVCAF愿助一臂之力，让我们携手共建更美好的加州。

亚裔一向遵纪守法、勤奋努力，在全美各族裔中，亚裔受教育程度最高，平均收入也最高。但曾几何时，这些优秀的品质成了亚裔在教育和职场中频频受限的原因。最近在Amazon新鲜上线的热销书《An Inconvenient Minority》对这一现象进行了深刻详细的解读和分析。这本书见解独到，针砭时弊，力透纸背。作者Kenny Xu是位年轻有为的ABC作家，亚裔告哈佛案的主要知情人士，为《联邦党人》、《华盛顿考官》、《每日信号》和《奎莱特》等媒体的评论作家，曾登上Fox TV 等主流媒体的专访。

在青少年之声电台的中英文专访中，Kenny曾与两位硅谷高中生主持就青少年关注的角度探讨了亚裔面临的挑战和生存的趋势，音频如下：

Interviewing Kenny Xu

硅谷华人协会基金会SVCAF 从7 年前成功狙击伤害亚裔受教育平等机会的提案SCA5 到去年参与成功狙击加州公投法案prop 16, 一直走在为华裔争取教育平等机会和利益的前沿。作为Kenny Xu 新书的支持者，Svcaf 力邀我们未来的希望—-全美的中学生参加《An inconvenient minority》的书评征文比赛。比赛分为初中和高中两组（2021-22学年）. 优胜者将获得奖金，并有机会参加青少年之声电台的采访节目，每位参赛者也可获得义工时间。

购书链接：https://amzn.to/3xCSm35

《An inconvenient minority》青少年书评征文比赛详情

书评征文要求：

英文；初中组6-8 年级，450 字以下；高中组9-12 年级，650 字以下；年级以2021-22学年为准。

比赛奖励：

分高中组和初中组，每组奖项：

一等奖$200一名，

二等奖$100两名，

三等奖$50两名；

结果将于10月中旬公布。

两组的一等奖获得者将接受青少年之声电台的采访

文章提交要求:

提交截止日期：2021年9月12日(周日)，美西时间11:59pm

发送至： info@svcaf.org

邮件标题：Book Review-full name-grade

文件格式：.doc或.docx

《An inconvenient minority》购书链接：

https://amzn.to/3xCSm35

2021年度加州立法论文大赛开始接受投稿了！大赛的目的是为了促进加州青少年关心时事，提高对争议话题的独立研究和判断能力。本年度加州立法论文大赛由以下组织联合举办：圣地亚哥亚裔平权会（SDAAFE）、硅谷华人协会基金会（SVCAF）和金橙俱乐部基金会（TOCF）（以组织英文名字母顺序排序）。以上三个组织分别代表圣地亚哥（San Diego, SD）, 北加（Northern California, NorCal）, 和橙县（Orange County, OC）三个地区。 请仔细阅读以下申请规则。

• 题目：加州参议院立法草案SB-82 Petty theft（2021）目前正在加州参议院辩论和投票。 假设你是加利福尼亚州立法委员，你会支持该法案还是反对？ 为什么？ 请做自己的研究，然后写一篇文章来支持你的决定。 请清楚列出你的参考文献。- 资源: - https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB82参赛者资格：现居住在加州的6-12年级的在校学生（2021-2022学年）。（请按照就近原则从圣地亚哥(SD), 北加(NorCal), 和橙县(OC)三个地区中，选择一个作为你的参赛区）- 要求： 英文，500 – 800字（不包括论文题目和参考文献）- 提交截止日期：2021年9月20日(星期一)，晚上11点59分。  

     电邮至: Essay2021@sdaafe.org

     邮件内容应包含论文，签名的申请表，和签名的免责文件。

     表格下载地址： Link

邮件标题: 2021_参赛区代号(从SD, NorCal, 或者OC中按就近原则选一个)_你的名字     

      (范例：Mary Lee来自圣地亚哥地区，邮件标题为2021_SD_Mary Lee)

裁判:

• 写作技巧和语法占30％- 论证占35％- 研究和支持数据占35％

奖励(分两级进行):

本区预赛: 三个赛区分别评出本区正反双方的优秀文章。结果将于10月4日（星期一）晚11点59分公布。

州级决赛：本地正反双方的优秀文章将自动参加加州州级比赛，并有机会获得以下金额奖励： 

一等奖$1,000/人 (正反方各一位)；

二等奖$500/人  (正反方各一位)； 

三等奖 $300/人 （正反方各一位）。

结果将于10月中旬公布。

获州奖论文将发布在SDAAFE，SVCAF和TOCF的网站上，以表彰参赛学生。获奖文章内容不代表以上三个组织的意见。

如果届时加州健康卫生指导方针允许，加州州级获奖者，必须参加10月下旬在圣地亚哥举行的颁奖典礼。具体的颁奖时间和地点将在9月份通知。

所有参赛者所花的时间可以由本区组织授予义工时间。

论文风格要求：

**文件类型 – **论文应该以.doc或.docx文件的形式提交

**字体 – **使用流行的Times New Roman字体，易于阅读12磅字体大小

**间距 – **论文应该是双倍间隔的

**长度 – **不包括标题和参考文献

**参考文献 – **论文必须包含你所咨询的至少三份参考文献的清单。这些参考文献可以来自印刷或在线资源。

样式指南 **– **可以使用MLA，芝加哥或APA样式手册选用引用格式

请做 – 请确保填写申请表，并由你的合法监护人签署免责文件

**不要 – **不要在论文中输入你的名字，或以任何其他方式在论文中传达或暗示你的个人身份，因为所有的论文都将被匿名评比

最后，我们非常感谢来自圣地亚哥阳光地产的赵京，来自IvyMax Foundation的Vickie Zhang，和来自US Asian Art & Culture Association的Linda Liu对本次活动的大力支持和赞助。

2021 Essay Contest on California State Legislation

We are pleased to announce the launch of the 2021 Essay Contest on California State Legislation. It is held statewide by three prominent organizations: San Diego Asian Americans For Equality (SDAAFE), Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation (SVCAF), and The Orange Club (TOC), representing San Diego (SD), Northern California (NorCal), and Orange County (OC) regions, respectively. Please read the rules and deadline of the contest carefully.  

• Subject: **California Senate Bill **SB-82 Petty theft (2021) is currently being debated and voted on in the California State Senate. Assuming you are a California State Legislator, will you support the bill or oppose it? Why? Please do your own research and write an essay to support your decision.  Please clearly list out your references.- Resource: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB82- Participant: Current California resident, Grade 6-12 Students in the 2021-2022 school year (Please choose the closest region from SD, NorCal, or OC as your local submission region.)- Essay requirement: English, 500 – 800 words (not including title and references) 

• Deadline for submission:  11:59 pm, September 20 (Monday), 2021.   - Email to: Essay2021@sdaafe.org- Email should include your Essay, the signed application form, and the signed waiver document.                       - Forms download link: Click Here- Subject in email: 2021_region code (choose one from SD, NorCal, or OC)_your name         (Sample: 2021_SD_Mary Lee) (Mary Lee is from San Diego region.)

Judging:

• 30% Writing Skills and Grammar- 35% Arguments- 35% Research and Supporting data

Prizes:

The prizes will be awarded in a two-tier process.

• Local Round:  Region winning essay writers on both sides of the argument will be selected. The results will be announced on Oct. 4th (Monday at 11:59 pm), 2021. - State Finals: The local winning essays on both sides of the argument will be automatically entered in a statewide contest. Each side of the argument will be presented with a First Place with $1000 award; a Second Place with $500 award; and a Third Place with $300 award. The Finals results will be announced in mid October.

• State winning essays will be published on SDAAFE, SVCAF, and TOCF websites to honor participating students, although they will not represent the three organizations’ opinions.- If state health guidelines allow, all awardees at the state level are required to attend the Award Ceremony in person to receive the prize which will be held in late October in San Diego. Detailed information about the time and location of the Award Ceremony will be announced in September.- All contestants’ efforts can be counted as volunteer hours by the local organization. 

Essay Style Requirement:

• **File Type **— Your essay should be submitted as a word .doc or .docx file- **Font **— Use the popular Times New Roman font, easy to read 12 pt font size.- **Spacing **— Your essay should be double spaced.- **Length **— Not counting title and references. - **References **— Your essay must include a list of at least three references.- **Style Guide **— You may use any of the MLA, Chicago or APA style manual for citations and reference formatting.- **Do **— Please make sure you fill out the application form and sign the waiver document by yourself and your legal guardian. - **Don’t **— Please do Not mention me within the essay, or in any other way convey or imply your personal identity in the essay, as all essays will be rated anonymously.

Lastly, we would like to thank Jing Zhao from San Diego Sunrise Realty, Vickie Zhang from IvyMax Foundation, and Linda Liu from US Asian Art & Culture Association, for their support and sponsorship. 

附录： 2019年度大赛的获奖文章：

2019加州青少年立法论文大赛颁奖典礼 （附得奖文章）

Criteria

• The articles are related to at least one of the items listed in SVCAF’s mission statement: The Foundation shall advance better integration of Chinese communities in Silicon Valley and its neighboring areas into the U.S. society by: providing education to Chinese communities on legal and political systems in California and the nation;
• encouraging active civic engagement and political participation by Chinese communities; and
• promoting recognition of Chinese communities’ contributions.- Due to restrictions on 501(c)3, the articles should be non-partisan. Nor can they be tied to any election campaigns. - The articles should be first published within the past six months at the time of the nomination. - The articles can be written in either English or Chinese.

How to Nominate An Article

If you think you have found an article meeting our criteria above, please send us (info@svcaf.org ) your nomination with the following information:

• Email title: Nomination for VCAA- Email body：The link to the article to be nominated - The name of the author and - The author’s contact information (email, phone number, wechat ID, etc.).

Self-nomination is allowed and encouraged.

Sponsor this Award

If you would like to donate to us to support this award, please click on the link below: /donate/ . In your donation message, please mention the keyword VCAA so we will use your donations to fund this award.

Recipients of the Award

• 2020/06/29 凌飞《美国公校的左派历史教育对华二代的恶劣后果》, Certificate pdf.- 2020/06/30 Kenny Xu, Dropping SAT from college admissions hurts minorities in the name of wokeness, Certificate pdf.- 2020/06/30 谢滨《加州到底应该赔偿谁？》, Certificate pdf.- 2020/06/30 Haibo Huang, Commentary: Why California should keep Prop. 209, which prohibits state institutions from considering race , Certificate pdf.

回顾2019年，SVCAF在会员和各界朋友支持下，开展了一些服务社区的义工工作，例如：

1. 继续与AACE (Asian American Coalition for Education)大力合作，向AACE捐款 $5000；
2. 继续支持SFFA为亚裔争取平等教育权利的奋争，组织支持SFFA的配捐活动，SVCAF配捐$10,000，社区捐助额 $13,865；
3. 协助 American Coalition for Equality (ACE)和 Let People Vote等组织，挫败华州按种族搞配额的法案 I-1000；
4. 与UCLA的Sander 教授合作，协助他跟踪和监督加州大学隐形的种族招生的操作；
5. 与另两个加州草根组织—圣地亚哥亚裔平权会基金会（SDAAFE）、橙县俱乐部（TOC）联合举办"加州青少年立法论文大赛"，在青少年推动对立法议题的了解和参与，获得圆满成功；
6. 推动社区对法律、权益等议题的认识，更新了加州《枪支安全证书学习手册》的中英文对照版本，推出2019年最新版本；
7. 开启加州立法的早期预警系统的开发（Early Alert of Laws)，在Github上建立了基金会的软件库，尝试用软件协助公益；
8. 支持社区关注S386议题，跟踪绿卡职业法律的更改；
9. 协办职场讲座，职场讲座群，社区反响热烈；
10. 为增进华人相互沟通交流，组织传统的一年一度的漂流活动，超过300人参加；
11. 增加华人参与社区、政治议题的宣传力度，开通了微信公众号 SVCAF。

展望2020，我们将会继续在各界会员和朋友的支持下，专注社区关心的热点问题，维护华人的核心权益，包括平等的教育和工作权利。欢迎认同我们的理念和行动的您，加入我们的义工队伍；捐款也欢迎。谢谢大家！

硅谷华人协会基金会

2020年1月1日

The following is the statement from Mr. Liao.

Dear SFFA Members,

My name is Chunhua Liao. I am a scientist, father, volunteer, and a proud naturalized US citizen. As a long-time supporter of SFFA, I would like to take my effort further by serving on its board. I hope to win your support. 

I am a true believer in the equal protection clause of the US Constitution and the cause of SFFA — “a student’s race and ethnicity should not be factors that either harm or help that student to gain admission to a competitive university.” 

I have a strong track record in advancing the above causes, being deeply involved in fighting for equal education rights for all students since February 2014 when I first heard about SCA-5. This notorious California Senate Constitutional Amendment attempted to allow state universities to practice admissions policies based on race and ethnicity. Outraged by the bill, I immediately started a change.org petition to urge the California State Assembly to reject it. The petition went viral and gained 112,000+ signatures in a few weeks. In the meantime, I co-founded Silicon Valley Chinese Association (SVCA) with fellow volunteers Alex Chen and Cheney Gao. Since then, SVCA has become one of the leading grassroots organizations in the nation promoting civil involvement of new generations of Chinese Americans. In April 2015, I co-founded a sister 501c(3) nonprofit organization, SVCA Foundation (SVCAF), to promote the integration of Chinese communities in Silicon Valley into the U.S. society. Under SVCAF, I was a key organizer for various endeavors supporting SFFA, including two forums in Silicon Valley featuring Mr. Blum and his team in May 2015 and May 2018, two membership drives for SFFA, a trip to join the Boston Rally supporting SFFA’s lawsuit against Harvard in October 2018, as well as several rounds of fundraising efforts in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Our latest effort in Oct. 2019 immediately followed the U.S. District Court Ruling of the SFFA v. Harvard case, raising $23,865 for SFFA.

If elected to the SFFA Board, I will facilitate the communications between SFFA and the Chinese American communities. This includes continuing to raise awareness for the cause that SFFA is fighting for; encouraging people to join as members; and serving as a voice reflecting values and opinions of these communities. I will also continue to raise funds for the organization. As a trained scientist, naturalized US citizen and experienced volunteer, I will bring my unique skills, perspectives and experiences to the board to help SFFA accomplish its mission under my term and beyond.

Again, please confidently cast your votes to me. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via liao@svcaf.org. 

Yours sincerely, 

**Chunhua Liao **

The Schedule of the Election

In the coming weeks, the members of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) will elect a new Director to the Board of Directors. This Director will have a direct voice in SFFA’s decision-making, including the management and direction of ongoing litigation. This Director will be elected through an online vote by the members of SFFA.

The Election will proceed through the following schedule and procedures:

• December 10, 2019 – Deadline for Submitting Nominations- December 17, 2019 – Members Receive the List of Candidates and Voting Begins- December 24, 2019 – Deadline for Voting- December 27, 2019 – The New Director Will Be Announced

About SFFA:

Students for Fair Admissions is a nonprofit membership group of more than 20,000 students, parents, and others who believe that racial classifications and preferences in college admissions are unfair, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. Our mission is to support and participate in litigation that will restore the original principles of our nation’s civil rights movement: A student’s race and ethnicity should not be factors that either harm or help that student to gain admission to a competitive university.

Crystal Lu

October 14, 2018

Hello everyone! Hello Boston!

My name is Crystal Lu. I come from California. Anyone here also from California?

I am President of a grassroots organization called Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation. Six board members including myself are here today. I know hundreds and thousands of Californians want to join you, but due to the distance, they can’t. However, they donated generously to pay for our trips. They made sure that the six of us can be here to join this amazing crowd. They made sure that I stand here on their behalf for this important and historical moment.

Everyone, can I please ask you to cheer for the Californians and those from all corners of the nation who are watching on livestream? Californians, since you are watching online, we can’t hear you. But we trust that you are reciprocating with some cheering too!

No matter where we are from, two things make Asian Americans stand out. One, extremely hardworking. Two, notoriously apathetic to politics.

We work hard, pay taxes, obey the law and order, and keep to ourselves. We tell our kids to follow the same accountability. Sounds like Model Minority, doesn’t it? When it comes to legal matters, politics, making public appearances, we rarely get involved, or even tune in.

But — Look at us, look at Copley Square, look at Boston. It is here, now, we proudly announce: We have casted that Model Minority stereotype out! We are rewriting history by making our voices heard, loud and clear, in solidarity!

This reminds me of early 2014, when we Asian Americans in California fought a bill called SCA5, short for Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5. It marked a water shedding moment of Asian Americans’ involvement in public affairs. SCA5 intended to amend the state constitution and re-establish the consideration of race, skin color and ethnicity in public university admissions in California. Sounds familiar to what Harvard is doing, right?

SCA5’s hidden agenda was to squeeze out the so called overrepresented groups like, you guessed it, Asian American students!

Just like that, the sleeping Tiger Moms and Dads woke up! This racially discriminatory agenda drove people out of their comfy little homes where they previously hid by working extra hours for their jobs, where their kids quietly studied extra math and sciences to stay ahead of school, and obediently practiced piano or violin every day, where TV was strictly limited. But this time Asian Americans rebelled! We demonstrated and protested in Sacramento and other cities. We labored and gathered petitions. We shamelessly lobbied legislators. In fact, my organization SVCA Foundation was born right there, right then.

In the end, we defeated SCA5. You know why? Because we broke apart from our role and got loud and obnoxious in 2014!

Today, we once again got loud and obnoxious! So if you ask me now what are the two characteristics of Asian Americans? No. 1 – the same – hardworking. No. 2, yes, YOU GUESSED IT, loud and obnoxious!

Growing up, my parents told me: If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it. They told me: Don’t raise your voice. They also told me: Avoid saying things that may upset the authority!

All sounds familiar?

My fellow citizens, don’t worry about being loud and obnoxious. Because, look, what had Model Minority gotten us? Our children’s personalities got assassinated despite their grit, perseverance and the many sacrifices they’ve made through all aspects of their lives. Harvard deems them lacking positive personalities such as likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected.

Believe it or not, being loud and obnoxious like we are right now won’t make it any worse. What do we have to lose?

My friends, I thank you for coming today to further buck that dispassionate, apathetic stereotype. I thank you for coming today to tell Harvard that we have American Dreams too.

We are at a time when our nation is sadly balkanized. We are seeing political and social tribes further divided than ever.

Therefore, I thank you for showing up today to tell Harvard to stop putting a wedge between various groups, to stop tearing up the very social fabric that our founding fathers and our great nation have worked so hard to build and strengthen.

All children deserve equal education rights. Today we say it loudly and obnoxiously!

If you have questions about future SVCAF events, please contact us at info@svcaf.org.