Students & Community Projects

Student and Community Projects serves as a liaison between the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities by enhancing academic study through fostering student empowerment and community activism.

Meg Malpaya Thornton
SCP Coordinator

The Center’s long-time linkages with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are partly due to the leadership of community activists Meg Malpaya Thornton and Iosefa Aina, who coordinate the Student and Community Projects Unit. SCP is engaged in student leadership and organizational development, service learning and community internships, research and curriculum support, and special campus and community collaborations.

Student Leadership Development and Organizational Development Advising

UCLA has had a decades-long history of extremely active, influential, and diverse student organizations. SCP continues to nurture the development of student leadership and campus organizations through the Asian Pacific American Leadership Development Project (APALDP) course, and through individual and group advising, which encourages students to critically reflect on their leadership and organizing, to actively engage in campus and community issues, and to work with campus groups, community organizations and alumni groups.

Asian Pacific American Leadership Development Program (APALDP)

APALDP is a two-quarter course that focuses on leadership concepts and models; the politics of identity from individual to community empowerment; contemporary community issues; and critical approaches to campus and community building. The second quarter requires an internship with a community-based organization to facilitate reciprocal learning and service between student and community members. Community organizations include: Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Association of Filipino American Arts and Culture, Chinatown Service Center, Filipino American Library, Filipino American National Historical Society-Los Angeles Chapter, Garment Workers Center, Indochinese Youth Center, Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, Khmer Girls in Action, Korean Youth
and Community Center, Little Tokyo Service Center-Community Development Corporation, National Pacific Islander Community Council, National Pacific Islanders Educators Network, Pilipino Workers Center, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, Visual Communications, and with offices of elected politicians at the federal, state, county, and city levels.

Student Organization Development

Students are encouraged to practice and transition their leadership skills, knowledge, and empowerment from the campus into the greater Asian American and Pacific Islander communities of Southern California. Through the years, student organizations that reflect diversity in ethnicity, mixed heritage, sexual orientation, academics, politics, arts and culture have been established. Student organizations have also evolved in their coalition building and advocacy work. Currently, there are over fifty student organization sponsored by the Center.

Service Learning/Internship Program & Curriculum

SCP facilitates and promotes service learning, community-based internships, participatory research, and other forms of experience-based education. Students are encouraged to develop and advocate for courses and to pursue advanced studies on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Noteworthy curriculum projects include the Asian American Gender and Sexuality course, Cambodian American Experience course, Hmong American Studies Conference, and the campaign for language classes in Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi and Thai.

Asian Pacific American Community Research Roundtable (APACRR)

The APACRR brings together community practitioners, graduate students, faculty, and researchers to discuss, identify and collaborate on communitybased research needs. The Research Roundtable was initiated in 1989 by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council—a consortium of more than forty Asian American and Pacific Islander social service and advocacy organizations in the greater Los Angeles area—and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center SCP unit. Through the years, other partners have included the University of Southern California, California State Universities at Los Angeles, Long Beach and Northridge, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the L.A. County Human Relations Commission.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Directory for Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

This resource lists over 900 Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations and agencies in Southern California that provide services that are accessible, culturally sensitive, and ethnic language competent. The Community Directory enables individuals, community-based organizations, and institutions to network and collaborate, provide information, and refer their clients. It lists primarily non-profit organizations which provide cultural, educational, and social welfare services with a specific focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and organizations involved in social or political advocacy around issues directly related to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It also contains sections on Asian American Studies programs and Asian American and Pacific Islander student service centers, media, community and social service organizations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. It can be purchased through the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press in the Public Policy section.