It became glaringly clear to Connie Chung Joe that targets of anti-Asian racism needed more help after surveying Asian American residents of the San Gabriel Valley in 2021 during a surge in attacks.
In-language counseling, legal aid and senior support services are available, Joe said, but not enough people knew how to find them.
Joe's organization co-created a new website called the Asian Resource Hub so victims could easily connect with more than 100 organizations across the country that offer free or low-cost services. Search filters let users find the exact services they need in the language they prefer.
"We knew we could not wait for the next tragedy to occur without addressing this gap," Joe said, noting that mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half-Moon Bay have only added to a collective trauma in Asian communities.
In California, 38 organizations are listed — 18 of them in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The groups have all been vetted by Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ-SoCal) or partner organizations, Joe said.
The site itself is offered in in Korean, Vietnamese and both traditional and simplified Chinese, with plans to expand the languages to include Khmer and Tagalog.
AAAJ-SoCal's sister organization in Washington, D.C., Asian Americans Advancing Justice, co-created the site, which is powered by Microsoft data software.
The site also has a data component, allowing users to see the scope of anti-Asian incidents through figures provided by the FBI. Between 2020 and 2021, anti-Asian crimes increased by 339%.
But John C. Yang, president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, cautions that the official numbers only tell part of the story.
"The FBI reporting only captures about 84% of law enforcement reports on what they see. So there's clearly going to be underreporting," Yang said.
The most recent data is from 2021, but the website is supposed to be updated as more data becomes available.
While the advocacy groups are not collecting data themselves they provides links to groups that do, Stop AAPI Hate and Stand Against Hate.
