Yamashita Prize Nominations for Young Social Activist
UC Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Social Change (CSSC) at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI) is now accepting nominations for the
2010 FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize.
The FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding young social change activist in California. The award of $2,500 honors a person whose work transforms the existing social landscape and serves as a bridge between the academy and the community. An awardee helps to build the capacity of community-based organizations and social movements to confront pressing issues by applying her/his academic expertise. Simultaneously, she/he enriches academic scholarship by sharing the insights and knowledge produced from community engagement with the broader academic community. The award is not limited to students, but an honoree’s work should reflect a commitment to strengthening ties between the academy and the community.
Scholar activist Loan Dao was the 2009 recipient of the Yamashita Prize. In 1975, Loan and her family came to the U.S. as refugees from the American war in Vietnam. From an early age she was involved in creating social networks and locally-based organizations that provided sites of healing and support for Southeast Asian (SEA) communities. During college, Loan volunteered as the prisoner’s liaison for the ACLU in Central Texas, documenting prison conditions, answering letters from inmates and bringing potential cases to lawyers’ attention. After college, Loan worked as the Director of Huong Viet Community Center in Oakland, where she recruited local college students to mentor high school youth and assist in the development of research and programs. Now in graduate school, Loan’s dissertation research looks at social movements among Southeast Asian youth challenging the detention and deportation of SEAs in the U.S. Between 2002-06 she used her academic expertise to help connect college, community, legal and policy organizations to form a multi-pronged response to the detention and deportation crisis affecting Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese refugee communities. She helped form the Southeast Asian Freedom Network, which was the first national network of organizations to specifically address post-9/11 detentions and deportation practices in the U.S., and she has assisted numerous SEA families facing deportation in her role as researcher, expert witness and legal advocate. In addition to her advocacy and scholarship on detention and deportation issues, Loan has been active in providing disaster relief to the large Vietnamese population affected by hurricane Katrina. She co-founded “VietBAK” (Vietnamese Bay Area Katrina relief group) and she has made frequent trips to the Gulf Coast to help with rebuilding and relief efforts, provide translation, and advocate for more resources for Vietnamese communities along the Gulf Coast. She recently completed co-producing a full-length documentary titled “A Village Called Versailles.” Versailles, a community in eastern New Orleans, was first settled by Vietnamese refugees and later ravaged by hurricane Katrina. The film recounts the empowering story of how people who have already suffered so much in their lifetime, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future.
To read about other past recipients of the FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize, go to: http://issc.berkeley.edu/yamashita_prize.php .
The FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize uses a nomination system, where someone other than the nominee identifies the nominee, their contributions, and the kinds of expertise they bring to understanding how change works. To download a nomination form, please go tohttp://issc.berkeley.edu/yamashita_prize.php .
Nomination due date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, by 5pm
(The Prize will be announced within four to six weeks after the deadline date. An award ceremony will be held in the spring.)
Please send nomination forms and supporting materials to:
FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: The Thomas I. Yamashita Prize
Center for the Study of Social Change
Institute for the Study of Societal Issues
University of California
2420 Bowditch Street, MC 5670
Berkeley, CA 94720-5670
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