By PETER YOON, Rafu Digital Editor

During the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL), the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, surveyed the AAPI community in the San Gabriel Valley.  

The survey found that a majority of community members were unaware of community services for victims of anti-Asian discrimination.  Some expressed the need for youth or counseling services while remaining unaware of the existing organizations already serving their community.

Between 2020 and 2021 alone, Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 339%.  In 2022, Stop AAPI Hate reported over 11,000 hate incidents targeting AAPI community members.  The need for support services for victims of discrimination is as high as it has ever been, but AJSOCAL’s survey has shown that many are unaware of who or where they can turn to for help.

To respond to this need, AJSOCAL has partnered with their sister organization Asian Americans Advancing Justice Asian American Justice Center and Microsoft to create linguistically and culturally accessible data and resource hub for victims of anti-Asian hate.  

AAPI leaders at Microsoft searched for ways to leverage their expertise to combat anti-Asian hate.  “It’s not just how we build the technology, but how we use it,” said Marisa Heu Weller, General Manager of Technology for Fundamental Rights at Microsoft, “In this instance, in particular, using data and technology to empower human rights.  The Asian Resource Hub epitomizes this vision.”

The Asian Resource Hub aims to address 2 specific needs:

1. Encapsulating the scope of anti-Asian hate crimes and their effect on AAPI communities
2. Increasing the awareness of services for victims of discrimination

The Asian Resource Hub provides a variety of what are referred to as “Data Narratives” organized into six categories: Demographics, Timeline & Trends, Reporting, Community Reporting Tools, City Snapshots, and Impact & Outcomes.  These narratives provide a variety of information ranging from hate-crime timelines, national and state demographics on AAPI populations, and the mental, physical, and economic toll that hate crimes take on AAPI communities.

The amount of information collected is extensive, and the Asian Resource Hub repackages these collected data stacks into a digestible format referred to as “scrolly-telling” by Connie Chung Joe, CEO of AJSOCAL.  “[As you scroll], you’re grabbed by visualizations, graphs, charts, and pop-up text reports of anti-Asian hate,” said Chung Joe, “The hub helps you understand the various ways discrimination impacts a community, and how we can fight it.”

For those seeking services, the Asian Resource Hub’s “Find Help” page has over 100 organizations listed that provide services in over a dozen Asian languages.  “Everyone of the organizations listed in the Asian Resource Hub has been vetted by our staff”, said John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Advancing Justice AAJC, “Staff members continue to research, review additional suggestions from partner organizations to keep this resource hub updated and as comprehensive as possible.  Individual users can also suggest resources to be added to the hub via the online form on the Asian Resource Hub website.

www.asianresourcehub.org is available in English, Korean, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.  Future updates will add additional language options including Hindi, Khmer, Tagalog, and Thai.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.