{"id":35512,"date":"2016-03-09T15:07:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T21:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=35512"},"modified":"2016-03-09T15:07:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T21:07:07","slug":"volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers phone bank for Asian American civic engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Shanshan Wang<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Audio by Jenny G. Zhang<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Volunteers phone bank for Asian American civic engagement by MedillReports\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F251055936&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxwidth=800&#038;maxheight=1000&#038;dnt=1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Rebecca Ozaki has been trying to encourage Asian Americans to vote through phone banking, which she hopes will be effective in getting them to the polls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy we call is because a lot of people may not be told what difference they can have by voting in their communities,\u201d said Ozaki, executive assistant at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.advancingjustice-chicago.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Asian American Advancing Justice, Chicago<\/a>. \u201cWe need to empower the Asian American community to make sure that they know how much their votes matter, and how much power they have in electing officials that make decisions for us everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Although Ozaki said she has had several \u201cdefeated moments\u201d when people hung up on her, she added she has had more positive responses. \u201cA lot of people I spoke with today were really happy that I called. People do feel empowered that someone knows their vote matters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>From Feb. 22 to Mar. 15, the primary election day, volunteers at AAAJ-Chicago, partnered with the South Asian American Policy &amp; Research Institute, will inform community members about the upcoming primary election as well as their voting rights through phone banking. Aiming to reach about 2000 South Asian Americans in the northwest suburbs, they will devote a total of 300 hours to help those who don&#8217;t know how to vote, where to vote, or the difference between the primary and general election.<\/p>\n<p>Not endorsing any particular candidate, AAAJ-Chicago phone banks in a nonpartisan way. \u201cWe try to make it known they have the right to vote and what their rights are. We tell them what resources they can use and encourage them to make concerted efforts to figure out who they are voting for,\u201d said Kristina Tendilla, community organizer at AAAJ-Chicago.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_35669\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35669\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-35669\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-2-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"phone-banking-2\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-2-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-2.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-35669\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An online program automatically connects callers to potential voters in the northwest suburbs. (Shanshan Wang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>According to statistics from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.advancingjustice-chicago.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Community_of_Contrasts_Midwest_2012.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cA Community of Contrast\u201d<\/a> by the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, Asian Americans were one of the Chicago metro area\u2019s fastest growing racial groups from 2000 to 2010, with a growth rate second only to Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. Among that, the South Asian population increases the fastest.<\/p>\n<p>Though Asian American voter registration in Illinois increased 53 percent between 2000 and 2008, the highest increase in registration among all race groups, many are still reluctant to go to the polls.<\/p>\n<p>Inadequate language access is a major factor. \u201cI do know that a lot of Asian Americans in the city feel like they can\u2019t go to vote because the ballots are not in the languages they speak, and there are no signs,\u201d Ozaki said. In addition, many people don&#8217;t know that they can bring others to the polls to help them translate, she added.<\/p>\n<p>More efforts are underway to make voting more accessible. This year, a total of 23 polling sites in Chicago and the <a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/ballots-in-korean-for-march-15-primary-expected-to-increase-participation\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cook County suburbs will provide\u00a0Korean language sample ballots <\/a>to help\u00a0Korean\u00a0Americans have a better voting experience, according to the Korean\u00a0American Resource and Cultural Center (KRCC). <\/p>\n<p>One of some other reasons Asian Americans don&#8217;t like going to the polls is a lack of knowledge of the candidates and issues that the candidates stand for. Also, a lack of representation makes some Asian communities feel as if they don&#8217;t need to be engaged in the voting process, said Ruth Martinez, Americorps Vista and Community Outreach Coordinator for Japanese American Service Committee. \u201cSome people might be thinking their vote doesn&#8217;t make an impact. But it really does,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>For the volunteers, phone banking can also be a transformative experience, said Tendilla. \u201cEspecially when you are talking to people who may be new voters and when you are able to speak to them in their native languages,\u201d Tendilla said. \u201cIt feels good to help people navigate through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Among countless disconnected calls, busy lines and flat-out no\u2019s, volunteers hope for the occasional yes and a promise to vote. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Shanshan Wang Audio by Jenny G. Zhang Rebecca Ozaki has been trying to encourage Asian Americans to vote through phone banking, which she hopes will be effective in getting them to the polls. \u201cWhy we call is because a lot of people may not be told what difference they can have by voting in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":35656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2016","post_format-post-format-audio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Volunteers phone bank for Asian American civic engagement - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Volunteers phone bank for Asian American civic engagement - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Shanshan Wang Audio by Jenny G. Zhang Rebecca Ozaki has been trying to encourage Asian Americans to vote through phone banking, which she hopes will be effective in getting them to the polls. \u201cWhy we call is because a lot of people may not be told what difference they can have by voting in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-09T21:07:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"shanshanwang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"shanshanwang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/\",\"name\":\"Volunteers phone bank for Asian American civic engagement - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-09T21:07:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/ba8ed205b1889565707d19a498c3a798\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/volunteers-phone-bank-for-asian-american-civic-engagement\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/phone-banking-1.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":725,\"caption\":\"Among countless disconnected calls, busy lines and flat-out no\u2019s, volunteers hope for the occasional yes and a promise to vote. 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