College and Young Professionals
Taiwanese America is comprised of many different features and interests. As such, TANG’s College/YP program aims to provide cohesion and collaboration. Many of us have our roots ingrained in Taiwanese America and from our experiences have grown to become successful. Now is the time for us to come back and enrich the community with all we have achieved. From politics to medicine, we all have much to share, but simply lack the avenue for exchange.
Mission:
To facilitate exchange between Taiwanese American institutions for the creation of a unified vision for our community.
A message from the C/YP Program Director:
Hello Leader of Taiwanese America!
If you are receiving this e-mail it’s likely that I had an opportunity to speak with you at Passport 2 Taiwan, where we discussed the rise of second generation Taiwanese American organizations and the possibility of creating a unified vision for our community. Today there exists myriad professional and student organizations such as TAP, ITASA, NATMA, and FAPA. In some of the words I heard in a conversation that day, our community could be described as fragmented.
We at TANG (Taiwanese American Next Generation) would like to facilitate your dialogue, whether you act as a representative of your organization or in your capacity as an interested individual. Just a small sample of the ideas we can explore are 1) Practical challenges that face TA organizations across the spectrum (membership recruitment and retention, programming, funding sources) 2) How youth organizations can accommodate the incoming third generation and 3) How can we collaborate to provide more enriching experiences for our members? As you can see, the community is brimming with potential synergy. An idea that could serve as our first act of collaboration is organizing a joint screening for the movie Formosa. This is something I’ll discuss further at the actual event.
So here is when you start wondering, “OK, so what are you planning?”
I’m glad you asked. We’ve decided to schedule our 2-night conference tentatively for September 11th weekend, the weekend after Labor Day. Why not during the summer? Besides lodging issues, we realized that with the exception of summer camps, most organizations pick up their activities in the fall. Students are returning to school and professionals are back from vacation travel. The advantage is that as we resume our organizational duties, our recent contact will give way to material collaboration immediately, rather than dissipating into summer memories. If instead you are interested in a longer conference for Labor Day weekend, please let me know so I can gauge the interest.
It was truly my pleasure meeting you at Passport 2 Taiwan. We were taken back by how much interest we generated just by hanging up a cardboard sign. To give a little background, TANG has been in existence since 2002, and our parent organization, TAC/EC, has been in existence since the 1960s. So here are the important details!
Details
Who: TA organizations and interested individuals, from the Northeast and throughout the United States.
What: Unified vision for Taiwanese America
When: September 11-13, 2009. (optional: Labor Day Weekend, September4-7)
Where: A (or two) beach house along the Jersey Shore.
How Much: Approximately $100 lodging for the two nights.
Please forward this message to any organizations or individuals that you think would be interested in this roundtable event. I can be contacted by e-mail or by phone at 917.337.5930.
Have an awesome summer!
Godwin B. Chen