Welcome to VAYA's Official Blog. This exciting new blog provides an opportunity for VAYA to engage in a dialogue with our members, the community, and those interested in our organization. This blog will feature commentary and observations from VAYA Executive Board Members, contributions by VAYA Staff and members, as well as approved guest bloggers from outside of VAYA. This blog will only be a true community if you participate, so please send your thoughts to eboard@vayasd.org. Please be respectful and considerate when posting comments and thoughts. All comments will be reviewed and approved prior to publication. Thank you for visiting this blog!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Dear VAYA Members and Supporters,

Recently this month, VAYA's very own Community Relations Coordinator (Non-Vietnamese Community), Calix Vu-Bui, has been selected as VietACT's 2009 Intern (http://www.vietact.org/). Calix will be departing for Taiwan in September to intern at the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office (http://www.taiwanact.net/) where she will learn more about human trafficking by engaging herself in various case studies, policy research, and special projects. Please check out the VietACT Intern Blog to read more about Calix and the VietACT International Internship Program: http://vietactintern.blogspot.com/.

A reminder that VAYA has been nominated for a "Community Service Award" as part of the 2009 6th Annual Asian Heritage Awards presented by Asia Media, Inc. Please extend your support to VAYA by voting for us as well as many other individuals, organizations, and/or corporations at http://www.asiamediainc.com/.

As the summer approaches, we are seeking leaders to take on some projects, including the: Annual Street Clean Up Event, Mid-Autumn (Tet Trung Thu) Festival, and many others. If you have an interest in being more involved in VAYA by taking on a leadership role, please email us for more information at eboard@vayasd.org.

Lastly, don't forget that VAYA is actively recruiting new general staff and Tet 2010 Committee staff to add to our team. Please visit our official website (http://www.vayasd.org/) to download the application along with a document detailing the duties and responsibilities for each of the position. All applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis. E-Board will finalize the Tet Chair(s) in the next week and after that, the Tet Chair(s) will appoint staff on board accordingly. So apply EARLY to claim YOUR SPOT (first come, first serve).

For a complete listing of VAYA's upcoming events/meetings, please visit our official calendar at: http://www.vayasd.org/calendar/. Please direct any questions or concerns to VAYA Secretary, Anthony (Vinh) Nguyen, at secretary@vayasd.org.

On behalf of VAYA's Executive Board and Staff, thank you for your continual support.

About the Author: Anthony (Vinh) T. Nguyen serves as Secretary for VAYA.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Dear VAYA Members and Supporters,

VAYA has been nominated for a "Community Service Award" as part of the 2009 6th Annual Asian Heritage Awards presented by Asia Media, Inc. In general, the Asian Heritage Awards aims to recognize and acknowledge Asian Americans nominated in 14 categories. Voting began on midnight May 22nd and will continue until midnight June 26th. "In addition to voting on line by going to www.asiamediainc.com or www.asianheritageawards.com, voters may view nominee bios in the current edition of ASIA, which was distributed in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange County last week, and send in their votes by mail or email their choices to editorial@asiamediainc.com." Please extend your support to VAYA by voting for us as well as many other individuals, organizations, and/or corporations.

Lastly, don't forget that VAYA is actively recruiting new general staff and Tet 2010 Committee staff to add to our team. Please visit our official website (www.vayasd.org) to download the application along with a document detailing the duties and responsibilities for each of the position. All applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis. E-Board will finalize the Tet Chair(s) in the next week and after that, the Tet Chair(s) will appoint staff on board accordingly. So apply EARLY to claim YOUR SPOT (first come, first serve).

For a complete listing of VAYA's upcoming events/meetings, please visit our official calendar at: http://www.vayasd.org/calendar/. Please direct any questions or concerns to VAYA Secretary, Anthony (Vinh) Nguyen, at secretary@vayasd.org.

On behalf of VAYA's Executive Board and Staff, thank you for your continual support.

About the Author: Anthony (Vinh) T. Nguyen serves as Secretary for VAYA.