AAFE Journal - 44th Annual Lunar New Year Banquet

Asian
Americans
for
Equality
th
44 Annual
Lunar New Year
Celebration
March 29, 2018
AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Welcome Message
Dear partners and friends:
Thank you for joining us in celebration of another incredible year at Asian Americans for Equality. Our
44th Annual Lunar New Year Banquet marks the close of a successful 2017, and welcomes the Year of
the Dog. As always, our anniversary is a time to take stock, refocus, and re-energize for the many
opportunities and challenges ahead.
At AAFE, we take tremendous pride in our ability to support and engage those in need on all levels of
the economic ladder, and 2017 was no exception. Our housing team trained 3,500 tenants to become
housing activists through our workshops and our Department of Justice-certified counselors assisted
over 2,500 new immigrants. There are 87 more families who now own their homes through AAFE
homeownership services and 86 more new immigrant, women, and minority small business owners
who have low-interest capital to grow their businesses. AAFE also made great strides building stronger
communities, topping out on “One Flushing”, which will provide 232 apartments to low- and middle-
income seniors and families. Opening in 2019, “One Flushing” will be our new home in Flushing,
Queens and will also feature a brand new senior center, community space, neighborhood-oriented
retail, and a green roof and solar panels for sustainability. 2017 also marks the retirement of AAFE’s
longtime Executive Director Christopher Kui, who built the AAFE organization from a small team of
organizers and a burgeoning community development organization into a respected, community-
centered, and city-wide organization with unparalleled breadth and depth. Thank you Chris. You will
be missed.
But the Year of the Dog also brings new external challenges for our nation of immigrants and many
Americans. We have reached a time in our country where one must choose between progressive action
and political rhetoric. Too many people -- immigrants, low-income individuals, children, the elderly,
people of color, women and our LGBT community – are left to fend for themselves. To fight we need
to renew our commitment and draw on new energy and talent from our young leaders and actively
train the next generation to take up the mantle for them.
Tonight we honor young leaders and those who cultivate the next generation. Comptroller Scott
Stringer knows a thing or two about young leadership. At the age of 16 he joined his community
board and with many mentors along the way, he learned the value of training the next generation and
is constantly giving back. Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou is one who has benefitted from Mr.
Stringer’s guidance and is a stunningly bright young talent as the first Asian American to ever represent
Lower Manhattan in state government. Council Member Carlina Rivera, a lifelong Lower East Sider,
grew up advocating for her neighborhood and has the energy and ideas to stand up to any force that
tries to take advantage of her community and her constituents. And if you know Kirk Goodrich of
Monadnock you know that he is a role model constantly mentoring the next generation of affordable
housing developers, lenders and builders to build a more equitable city. We will also be thanking our
own Christopher Kui for over 40 years of fighting for change, and AAFE Board Member Emeritus,
Suki Terada Ports, for a lifetime of leadership, acknowledging the countless lives she has touched.
These New Yorkers stand for equality and inspire leadership especially when the the going gets tough.
Thank you for joining us and standing proudly with them tonight as we honor their tireless work, then,
now and in the future.
Lydia Tom Doris W. Koo

AAFE Board President AAFE Interim Executive Director

th
44 Annual
Lunar New Year Banquet
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Welcome
AAFE Board President Lydia Tom
AAFE Board Member John Leo
Acknowledgments and Introduction
A special thank you to our Presenting Sponsors:
Monadnock Development
New York Community Bank
Ong Family Foundation
Dream of Equality Award Honorees
NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer
NYS Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou
NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera
Kirk Goodrich, Monadnock Development
Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees
Christopher Kui, AAFE Former Executive Director
Suki Terada Ports, AAFE Board Member Emeritus
Closing Remarks
AAFE Board Member John Leo
Celebrating Dreamers
Each year, AAFE honors individuals and organizations that have made exceptional
contributions in the struggle for equality. Working towards the dream of equality is
no small task. It requires ideals, vision, commitment, hard work, and an unshakable
determination to succeed. It requires a desire for transformational change, a
willingness to confront adversity, and the audacity to find creative solutions. Join us
tonight in celebrating those with the courage and conviction to act on their dreams.

Dream of Equality Honoree
Comptroller Scott Stringer
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer has spent his career in public
service fighting to ensure that every New Yorker has an equal opportunity to
make it in our City. Over the last two decades, Mr. Stringer has been a
champion for policies like a $15 minimum wage, has advocated for affordable
housing, worked to strengthen the City’s fiscal health, and promoted open,
transparent government.
Born and raised in Washington Heights, Mr. Stringer was elected to the New
York State Assembly in 1992, where he represented Manhattan’s West Side for
13 years. In 2006 he became Manhattan Borough President, and was elected
Comptroller in 2013.
A longtime champion of equal rights for New Yorkers of every background,
Comptroller Stringer has been a staunch champion for immigrant rights. He
has spoken out on behalf of the DREAM Act and in 2015 published the City’s
first-ever Immigrant Rights and Services Manual — in English, Spanish,
Chinese, Korean, Russian, Haitian Creole, and Bengali.
Amid a growing shortage of affordable housing in New York City, the
Comptroller published an eye-opening report, “The Growing Gap”, and called
for creating a New York City Land Bank to expand the supply of permanent
affordable housing on City-owned and tax-delinquent properties.

Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou
Yuh-Line Niou has spent her career working on legislative and advocacy
campaigns. In 2016, Yuh-Line was elected as the first Asian American to
represent the 65th Assembly District in Manhattan, which covers the Lower
East Side, Chinatown, South Street Seaport area, Financial District and
Battery Park City.
Prior to elected office she served as Chief of Staff for New York State
Assemblymember Ron Kim, where, under her leadership, the office assisted
thousands of immigrants, small-business owners, teachers, seniors, workers,
and students. She has drafted legislation to expand language access for
immigrant communities, and has fought for more affordable housing and
expanded services for seniors.
In the Assembly, Yuh-Line has continued her advocacy work around financial
empowerment. She has pushed to improve financial protections for
consumers, particularly for unbanked communities. On housing, Yuh-Line
has worked to secure funding for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
repairs, and has stood with tenant rights advocates for better housing
regulations. Along with her colleagues, Yuh-Line helped form New York
State’s first ever Asian Pacific American Legislative Task Force, which will
focus on advancing issues impacting New York’s Asian American community.

Council Member Carlina Rivera
Carlina Rivera represents the 2nd Council District which includes the diverse
neighborhoods of the East Village, Flatiron, Gramercy Park, Rose Hill, Kips Bay,
Murray Hill and the Lower East Side. She was elected to office in 2017 and has
established herself as a leader on many issues, including housing affordability,
preservation, open space, resiliency, education equality, and small business
survival.
Carlina was born and raised in the 2nd District of Lower Manhattan by a
single mother -- who emigrated from Puerto Rico to New York -- and has
worked for decades as a civil servant. Carlina has a long history of bringing
people together to improve the lives, resources and well-being of the residents
of Manhattan’s East Side. She began her career in afterschool programming,
working with children at some of New York City’s highest needs schools. She
went on to serve her local community, creating and organizing initiatives for
seniors and homeless New Yorkers as Director of Programs and Services at
Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), a local non-profit focused on local
community issues. Most recently, Carlina served as Legislative Director to
former Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, where she worked on legislation for the
Asthma-Free Homes Act, after-hours construction, bicycle safety, utility safety,
and legal representation to seniors in Housing Court.

Kirk Goodrich, Vice President and Director of

Real Estate Development, Monadnock Development
Mr. Goodrich has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of affordable
housing finance and real estate development. Much of his experience was
gained during an almost 10-year tenure overseeing the Housing Tax Credit
syndication business for Enterprise Community Investment in the NY Region.
He built the staff from one underwriter to eight underwriters and delivered
over 12,000 units, and equity investments of approximately $1 billion. At the
time of his departure, Mr. Goodrich managed the Northeast (a nine state area)
for Enterprise Community Investment as an Acquisition Vice President.
In 2008, he formed his own consulting and development company which he
still operates today. In July of 2010, he accepted the position of Development
Director for Monadnock Construction. He currently serves as Vice President
and Director of Real Estate Development at Monadnock Development.
Mr. Goodrich is focused on pushing forward a development agenda which
emphasizes micro studio apartments, shared suites and legal room rental in
order to restore real choices to tenants in the NYC housing market.

Lifetime Achievement Honoree
Christopher Kui, AAFE Former Executive Director

Christopher Kui is a pioneer of the community development movement and a long-time
champion of community services and civil rights, advocating for the Asian American and
immigrant communities of New York City.
In addition to serving as the executive director of AAFE from 1993-2017, Mr. Kui was
founder of Renaissance Economic Development Corporation (REDC). REDC is an AAFE-
affiliate and U.S. Department of Treasury certified Community Development Financial
Institution (CDFI), providing financing and technical assistance to immigrant, minority and
women-owned small businesses. REDC counsels over 600 small businesses each year and
has lent more than $44 million to over one thousand businesses during the past ten years.
After Hurricane Sandy, under Mr. Kui’s leadership, REDC provided technical assistance and a
combination of loans and grants to more than 200 small businesses, totaling $3.5 million
citywide.
During Mr. Kui’s tenure, AAFE raised more than $100 million to build more than 800 housing
units for low-income and homeless individuals and families. AAFE has also helped immigrant
and low-income families receive over $378 million in mortgage financing to purchase
homes.
Mr. Kui continues to fight for immigrant communities by advancing programs which provide
social service access for families and seniors; technical assistance to emerging Asian
American organizations; assistance to small business owners; and homeownership and
foreclosure prevention counseling.
From 2003–2007, Mr. Kui served as a commissioner on the New York City Planning
Commission. He has also served on the transition teams of several incoming city and state
administrations, including those of Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayors Bill de Blasio,
Michael Bloomberg, Rudolph Giuliani and David Dinkins.

Lifetime Achievement Honoree
Suki Terada Ports, AAFE Board Member Emeritus

The child of parents directly affected by U.S. policies against Japanese Americans during
World War II, Suki Terada Ports has dedicated her life to fighting for social justice. She
began with the issues of school integration, community empowerment, protecting
housing and park land from institutional expansion, and quality health care access.
In 1985, the New York City Council of Churches tapped Ports to organize a conference
for their clergy and other community leaders on the implications of AIDS in minority
communities. The conference led to Ms. Ports founding and serving as the Executive
Director of the Family Health Project in 1989, the first minority AIDS organization in NYC.
The Family Health Project provides HIV/AIDS prevention information, advocacy and
support services for low income women of color and their families in parenting centers,
schools, religious centers, and in the streets. At “The Project”, Ports helped to raise
awareness among public officials, service providers and foundations on the impact of
HIV/AIDS on communities of color.
This experience inspired her to help launch programs for specific communities including
the National Minority AIDS Council, the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS,
the Iris House, and founded VOW (Voices of Women of Color Against HIV/AIDS).
All the while Ms. Ports has been a leading voice on Japanese American issues as is tireless
in ensuring advancements in cultural understanding between the people of Japan and the
U.S., improving the quality of life for the Japanese and Japanese Americans in New York.
She served and the board of director for Asian Americans for Equality from 1988-2016
and is currently board member emeritus.

ASIAN AMERICANS
FOR EQUALITY
Who We Are
Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) is dedicated to enriching the lives of Asian
Americans and all of those in need. Founded in 1974 to advocate for equal rights,
AAFE has transformed in the past four decades to become one of New York’s
preeminent housing, social service, and community development organizations.
Visit our website: www.aafe.org
AAFE Board of Directors

Lydia Tom, President
Po W. Yuen, Vice President
Owen Lau, Treasurer
Jacqueline Huey, Secretary
Members: Heidie Joo Burwell, John Leo, Lynn Roque Alley, Wendy Takahisa
Suki Terada Ports, Board Member Emeritus
Renaissance Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors

Po W. Yuen, Chairman
Raymond Lou, Secretary
Members: Peggy Chan, Ping Dang, Doris Koo, James Zhou
AAFE Community Development Fund Board of Directors

Deborah Johnson, Vice President
Mariadele Priest, Secretary
Members: Heidie Joo Burwell, Doris Koo
To download a digital version of the Banquet e-Journal, go to www.aafe.org


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Asian

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Lydia Tom Doris W. Koo

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Comptroller Scott Stringer

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Council Member Carlina Rivera

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Kirk Goodrich, Vice President and Director of

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Christopher Kui, AAFE Former Executive Director

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

Suki Terada Ports, AAFE Board Member Emeritus

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

AAFE Board of Directors

Renaissance Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors

AAFE Community Development Fund Board of Directors

To download a digital version of the Banquet e-Journal, go to www.aafe.org

AAFE 44 th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration

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