Asian Advocacy:
Terry Ao
Staff Attorney
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC)
1140 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. - Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 296-2300 Facsimile: (202) 296-2318
tao@napalc.org
URL: http:\\www.napalc.org
LEP Task Force
Participant
Terry Ao is a staff attorney at NAPALC. Her program areas include census, language rights, and voting rights.
Terry received her Juris Doctor from American University in May 2002. Terry was an active member in the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association at American University and worked as a dean’s fellow (research assistant) for Professor Leti Volpp and Professor Muneer Ahmad. Terry is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics.Before joining NAPALC in this capacity, Terry worked at NAPALC as a law clerk since her second year in law school. Terry also participated in NAPALC’s summer law clerk program, where she assisted in the drafting of two amicus briefs.
Vincent A. Eng
Legal Director
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium
1140 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. - Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 296-2300, x121 Facsimile: (202) 296-2318
www.napalc.org
veng@napalc.org
LEP Task Force Participant
Vincent A. Eng is the Legal Director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC). Mr. Eng also serves as Chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Committee on Language Rights.
Before joining NAPALC, Mr. Eng was head of publications and Managing Editor at Bernan, the nation’s largest provider of government information and the official publisher of the World Trade Organization and UNESCO. There Mr. Eng directed Bernan’s editorial, production, acquisition, and marketing efforts. Prior to that he was an attorney-advisor at the United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, where he was the recipient of the Assistant Attorney General’s Award, the highest award given by that agency.
Currently, Mr. Eng is an adjunct professor at the American University, Washington College of Law, where he has lectured on Criminal Sentencing and Legal Research and Writing. He is member of the Brandeis Alumni Council and is a Council Member on the Graduates of the Last Decade Council, Washington College of Law.
Mr. Eng is also well published. He has written and edited over ten books on various legal and political matters and currently serves as the editor and chief of the Almanac of the Executive Branch. Mr. Eng’s most recent publication Sentencing, Sanctions, and Corrections, a law school casebook, was published by Foundation Press, a division of West Publishing.
Mr. Eng is a graduate of Brandeis University, where he received his B.A. in Politics. From The American University, he received his J.D., M.S. in Criminal Justice, and had worked toward his M.B.A.
Mr. Eng is admitted to practice before the Court of Appeals of Maryland and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
About the NAPALC Language Rights Program
Because the APA community is largely foreign-born, language policies and accent discrimination have a disproportionate impact on APA immigrants. Lack of translated information and oral assistance means that limited English proficient APAs are less likely to understand and exercise their rights and obligations, less able to access government services, and less able to achieve economic stability.
Studies have shown that APA parents who do not receive the help of translators early in the family court process are more likely to lose their children. Studies have also shown that lack of English fluency is one of the biggest barriers to health care for the APA community. There is also an extremely high correlation between poverty and limited English proficiency in the APA community, but the ability of APA's to attain government assistance to health care or welfare benefits is limited by lack of access to information and lack of understanding of the process. Accent discrimination appears to hit those with Asian language accents more than those with European language accents.
The mission in this program area is to prevent discrimination against language minorities, and to ensure their access to critical rights and services. The goal is to build support for providing language assistance where appropriate to limited English proficient Americans, and to prevent the imposition of discriminatory and restrictive policies.
Gem
P. Daus, MA
Legislative and Governmental Affairs Coordinator
Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum
440 First St., NW, Suite 430, Washington, DC 20001
Ph: (202) 624-0007 Fax: (202) 624-9488
Gem P. Daus,
M.A. is the Legislative and Governmental Affairs
Coordinator at the Asian & Pacific Islander American
Health Forum (APIAHF). APIAHF is a national advocacy
organization dedicated to promoting policy, program, and
research efforts for the improvement of health status of
all Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. Gem
coordinates federal education, outreach and advocacy
efforts on issues that affect the health and well-being
of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and
collaborates with other AAPI, minority health, health
care, consumer and immigrant organizations. Priority
issues of the Health Forum include: development and
implementation of culturally and linguistically
appropriate standards for health care services;
advocating for programs and appropriations that will
reduce and eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in health
status; ensuring access to quality health care including
public assistance programs (i.e., Medicaid, SCHIP); and
advocating for the improvement of federal data
collection, analysis and dissemination efforts.
Gem has a Master of Arts in Organization Development
from Marymount University (Arlington, Virginia) and a
Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of
Virginia (Charlottesville). His previous experience
includes developing community-based health programs,
coalition building, board development, and human
resource development through his employment with the
American Red Cross and the National Minority AIDS
Council, and his volunteer work as president of the
Asian and Pacific Islander Partnership for Health, a
regional health promotion and advocacy organization.