Our Programs

Through one Program Manager and multiple community partnerships built through meaningful relationships, APISA (Asian Pacific Islander Student Achievement) has brought visibility and over 15 programs to a population of over 6,000 API students in OUSD who come from over 45 ethnic groups.

Our Current Programs:

• YPAR Wellness and Empowerment Program (APPLICATIONS OPEN until 11/30)
• Targeted Literacy Programs for Arab American & Pacific Islander Students
• Takalam Arab Youth Leadership Program (OPEN for Summer NOW!)
• Arab American Specific Events
• Oakland Pacific Islander Network Honor Roll & Senior Spring Celebration
• Pacific Islander College Night
• Pacific Islander College Retreat
• Southeast Asian Curriculum & Healing Project
• Elementary School Ethnic Studies Curriculum Project
• Arab American Heritage Guide Project
• API Student Wellness Workshops & Listening Circles
• APIs Mobilize Summer Leadership Program
• APISA, Sanctuary Schools & Racial Justice Internship and Fellowship Programs
• A/PI/MENA Youth Power Retreat
• Support for School Site API Student Clubs & API Student Leadership
• District-Wide Culturally Responsive Practices & Equity Professional Development

YPAR Wellness & Empowerment Program: bit.ly/APISAYPAR

Asian Pacific Islander Student Achievement (APISA) is launching a Youth Participatory Action Research project focused on supporting Asian, Arab & Pacific Islander students in discovering issues that are relevant and affect their lives today. APISA is a part of the OUSD Office of Equity. We are planning to hire 8-10 high school students from OUSD to intern with APISA and join the Wellness and Empowerment Team. We really want to focus on wellness and mental health since its been a big issue in our communities since COVID-19. The youth-led action research project will go from December 2021 - April 2022. Each student will get a stipend for $15/hour when they complete all sessions. Students must be fully vaccinated (two doses) to participate in the program/workshops. The due date to complete this application is Friday, December 3rd, 2021 at 11:59 PM.

TAKALAM: Arab Youth of Oakland Speaking Up

Takalam is a summer leadership and digital literacy program for Arab youth of Oakland to uplift voices for advocacy, representation, and civic engagement. Takalam means "Speaking Up" in Arabic. Our newcomer Yemeni students have asked for more computer and digital skills to catch-up with their peers, and Arab and Muslim student leadership across OUSD has been growing. Our student interns designed this program to develop the pipeline of Arab youth leaders, educators, and change-makers in Oakland.

Checkout more program details for Summer 2022 here!

APIs Mobilize East Bay

APISA partners with School Boardmember Aimee Eng and APIs Mobilize to host this summer leadership program in the East Bay, to create a pipeline for Oakland Asian Pacific Islander 11th and 12th graders to develop leadership skills and have opportunities to pursue careers in civic engagement, local government, and advocacy.

Oakland Pacific Islander Collaborative

The Oakland Pacific Islander Collaborative is bringing together Pacific Islanders from across Oakland's schools, churches, and community organizations to elevate outcomes for Polynesian and other Pacific Islander youth.The Collaborative focuses on:

• Post-Secondary College & Career Preparation
  • Pacific Islander College Retreats & Visits
  • Pacific Islander College Nights
• Health, Wellness & Emotional Support
• Checkout our 2020 Pacific Islander Honor Roll!

Learn more about the challenges for Pacific Islander students here.

Southeast Asian Curriculum & Healing Project

The Southeast Asian Curriculum project is building a secondary school curriculum that reflects and captures the diversity, history and cultures of Southeast Asian communities. Typical school curriculum does not include or reflect several populations of Southeast Asian refugees who have lived in Oakland since the 1970s and for several decades: in particular, Oakland's Cambodian, Mien, Laotian, Hmong, and Vietnamese communities. In addition, refugees from Bhutan, Nepal, and Burma have been coming more recently, but are highly marginalized by lack of language access and staff representation. Many of our families continue to experience intergenerational trauma from the wars and conflicts in Southeast Asia. Students often cannot do well in school because of family drama and abuse at home, which stems from unhealed PTSD and trauma from losing family members and the roots of home. We run restorative justice circles and provide spaces for wellness and resilience with our Southeast Asian students and families.

Chinese American & API California Social Studies Project

APISA is working to elevate Chinese American & API California history throughout our public schools, to accurately reflect the huge role that Chinese Americans and Asian Pacific Islanders have played in California and U.S. history and to include histories largely ignored by mainstream classroom textbooks.

APISA invites you to partner with us as we strive to:

1. Integrate local, state and national Chinese American & API history into TK-12 social studies curricula in Oakland public schools, and
2. Provide the opportunity for 4th grade classes from across the school district to attend field trips to local sites such as Angel Island's Immigration Station and Marsyville Chinatown as part of the California and Gold Rush history curriculum, or other California API destinations.

If you are a school or teacher in OUSD interested in partnering on a field trip and curriculum, please share your information with us here to we can follow-up and get in touch!

If you would like to sponsor a class to go on an experiential field trip, please e-mail lailan.huen@ousd.org and donate!

Southeast Asians RISE Film Fellowships

The SEAs RISE (Resilience, Identity, Storytelling, and Empowerment) Fellowship creates space to build resilience and heal from intergenerational trauma among young Southeast Asian and API LGBTQIA+ voices. Through the art of digital film and video production, workshops will emphasize themes of social justice and community to encourage participants to think critically about the world they live in.

Health & Wellness Circles

Across our Asian, Arab and Pacific Islander communities, mental and social health challenges often get in the way of our students achieving in school, career and life. APISA is collaborating with Restorative Justice and IWAY (Improving the Wellness of Asian Youth) to pilot wellness programs in middle schools, with the goal of expanding to high schools and elementary schools.