Mr. Badillo engages in dialogue with Asian American leaders in fifth of Federation meeting series with Mayoral candidates

June 17th, New York City: The Asian American Federation of New York hosted a policy meeting today in midtown Manhattan with Mr. Herman Badillo, Republican candidate for Mayor in this year�s election. Civic and business leaders from the Asian American communities of New York attended the event, the fifth in a series of meetings between the Asian American Federation and New York City mayoral candidates.

The meeting began with opening remarks from Mr. Badillo. Mr. Badillo, an immigrant from Puerto Rico who served as a Congressman, Bronx Boro President, deputy mayor, and led the Board of the City University of New York, discussed his vision for the future of New York City. He spoke about education, access to health care for undocumented immigrants, and community-police relations. Mr. Badillo emphasized that he understands the problems of immigrants because "I�ve been there myself." He also stressed that providing a good education to the City�s residents is the answer to the pervasive poverty that still prospers in New York. "I want every 4-year old to go to pre-school, and then get tested every year."

During the period of questions from the audience, Mr. Badillo stated that that although he supports bilingual education, it should be reformed to ensure that students learn English and are not stranded in bilingual education classes. Additionally, he agreed with providing health care to undocumented immigrants without asking immigration status. He also stated that he believed in instating more community residency requirements for NYPD officers, and that there should be a public high school for criminal justice that draws from a diverse pool of New York City students to become NYPD officers.

After the meeting, Cao K. O, Executive Director of the Asian American Federation, said that "Asian Americans have not yet decided how they will vote in the fall elections." Federation Census Information Center analysis shows Asian Americans have the fastest growth rate of any group in NYC between 1990 and 2000. Mr. O added, "These meetings are an important first step for each citywide candidate to address Asian American concerns in their campaign, and should they be elected, in their administrations."

The Asian American Federation met with the two candidates for New York City Comptroller on July 12th, and will meet with Michael Bloomberg, Republican mayoral candidate at the end of the month. The Federation Policy Meeting Series marks the first time that the Asian American community has met with all New York City mayoral candidates before the party primaries.

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The Asian American Federation of New York is a not-for-profit leadership organization with 36 member agencies that address the needs of the city�s diverse Asian American communities. In addition to extensive community capacity-building initiatives, the Federation sponsors the Asian American Community Fund, a competitive re-granting program, and recently established the Asian American Federation Census Information Center, a center for data and policy analysis. As a not-for-profit organization, the Federation is non-partisan and unaffiliated, and does not endorse candidates. Visit our website: www.aafny.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Parag Khandhar
(212) 344-5878 x18
[email protected]