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About OCAPIA

Oregon Advocacy Commissions Joint Subcommittee on Domestic Violence Prevention and Statewide Coordination
Third Thursday of every month | 11 AM to 12:30 PM
Contact Kyl Myers for Microsoft Teams link: kyl.myers@oac.oregon.gov
OCAPIA Regular Commission Meeting
Next meeting on July 7, 2025 | 11 AM to 1:00 PM
Public Invited to Attend CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
OCAPIA Legislative Policy Meeting 
Every Friday through 2025 Legislative Session | 10 to 10:30 AM
Contact Kyl Myers for Microsoft Teams link: kyl.myers@oac.oregon.gov
OCAPIA Data Disaggregation Subcommittee
Every other Wednesday | 9 to 10 AM
Contact Kaj Jensen for Microsoft Teams link: kaj.jensen@oac.oregon.gov
OCAPIA Behavioral Health Subcommittee
Second Tuesday of every month | 12 to 1 PM
Contact Mika Ingram for Microsoft Teams link: mika.ingram@oac.oregon.gov


Our Vision:

We serve the people of Oregon to empower and support Asian and Pacific Islanders through our special roles as policy advisors to Oregon state policy makers and leaders. OCAPIA is a catalyst that empowers partnerships between state government and our communities in rural and urban areas to ensure success for all Asian and Pacific Islander Oregonians by addressing issues at the policy level.   

Our Mission: 

The mission of the OCAPIA is to work for the implementation and establishment of economic, social, legal, and political equality for Asian and Pacific Islanders in Oregon and to maintain a continuing assessment of the issues and needs confronting Asian and Pacific Islanders. 

Our Principles and Values:

  • Equity for Asian and Pacific Islander Oregonians in jobs and the economy, education, health, safety, family stability, environment, and civic engagement.
  • Equal treatment and protection against discrimination.
  • Access to helpful information on services and available resources.
  • Working in partnership on research and policy analysis of longstanding issues and barriers to success within the API community statewide.
  • Inclusion of Asian and Pacific Islanders’ viewpoints in policy making at the state level.
  • Celebration of and education about the contributions and achievements of Asian and Pacific Islanders in Oregon.

Our Statutory Goals and Strategic Priorities

  • Advocate for equitable policies assuring the success of Asian and Pacific Islander Oregonians at the state level.
  • Engage community and state partners to promote equity for Asian and Pacific Islanders across Oregon.
  • Study and analyze issues affecting the Asian and Pacific Islander community statewide and recommend policy remedies to state policy makers.
  • Grow and develop leaders among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at the state level in all branches.
  • Increase the viability and visibility of the contributions and achievements of Asian and Pacific Islanders in Oregon.

Our Bylaws - CLICK HERE


OCAPIA is actively engaged in its statutory work focused on 7 Strategic Priorities each biennium:
  1. Education
  2. Jobs and the economy
  3. Healthcare
  4. Justice, safety and policing
  5. Stable families and housing
  6. Environmental Justice/Equity
  7. Civic engagement


View our Biennium Report:  CLICK HERE for 2021-23 Biennium Report

Meet the Commissioners

Happy Valley

​Joselito Tanega is the Program Manager for the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon (PACCO) where he oversees and coordinates several projects and strategic initiatives in the organization.

He has been the Board Chair for PACCO, and former Council Chair for the Leaders for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council (LEDIC) for Clackamas County.  Through PACCO, Joselito supported work with the Community Chamber Coalition of Oregon (now known as Community Economic Coalition or CEC) calling on state and local leaders to take immediate action to save small businesses during the pandemic; especially, historically marginalized communities.  And this work continues through an equitable lens.

In Clackamas County, Joselito’s work with LEDIC examines county processes to recommend and facilitate changes that foster equity of services and greater inclusiveness. His projects include working with the County’s Public Health Advisory Council in addressing racism as a public health crisis; consulting with the Climate Change Project and how DEI plays a role and collaborating with the County’s Office of Internal Audit in projecting future barriers for people of color in housing, health, transportation and employment.

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Joselito earned his music degrees from The Juilliard School (NYC).  He is a member of the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon, Nonprofit Association of Oregon and a UN Online Volunteer.  After business hours, Joselito collects vinyl records, enjoys discovering the latest Korean spy movie and is an expert at playing the clarinet.  Joselito and his wife, Jeanette, live in Happy Valley with their children, Jackson and Luciana.​​

Corvallis, OR

Corvallis, Oregon, is the hometown of Padma Akkaraju. Her personal and professional experience spans various sectors, including local government, higher education, and outreach to K-12 schools and community organizations.

Akkaraju's work has advocated for implementing many aspects of equity, including educational equity, health equity, gender inclusivity, and normalizing neurodiversity. She has developed models and guidelines for centering cultural competence and equity in public service at the individual, organizational, and structural levels.​

Corvallis

Formerly an engineer and a lawyer, Aparna is a writer, speaker, agitator, and advisor at the confluence of movements for equity and justice and the outdoor, environmental, and conservation sectors. An Indian immigrant and mother, Aparna longs for an outdoor, environmental, and conservation movement that works for everyone. Aparna has made it her life's work to catalyze the radical reimagination of human relationships to land, water, and wildlife to center values of humility, interdependence, solidarity, intergenerational obligation, dignity, and reciprocity. Aparna writes, speaks, teaches, coaches, and facilitates workshops for the outdoor, environmental, and conservation community. She also holds space for Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, and other people of color in the sector. Aparna is founding partner of The Avarna Group and has spearheaded initiatives that amplify BIPOC outdoor and environmental voices, including Expedition Denali: Inspiring Diversity in the Outdoors and People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature, and the Environment. She serves on the board of the Living Oak Center for Applied Decolonization, Brown Girls Climb, and Dirt Maidens. She also serves as OCAPIA's representative to the Oregon Environmental Justice Council.

When not nerding out reading books on the topics such as the complex and intertwined histories of people and land, you can find her hiking, running, climbing, and biking in the homelands of the Kalapuya people, where she lives with her husband and son. Listen to more from Aparna on Rebooting Capitalism Ep #8: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Ava Holliday and Aparna Rajagopal, co-founders of The Avarna Group, The Caroline Gleich Show Episode 30: Disrupting Implicit Bias in the Outdoors with the Avarna Group, and She Explores Episode 13: Diversity, "Beyond the Buzzword". Read more by Aparna at www.Aparnarajagopal.com and her substack Aparnarajagopal.substack.com.


Salem

Executive Director, Micronesian Islander Community & Assistant Professor of Public Health, Linfield University. As a public health advocate with a background in policy and advocacy, Jackie utilizes an equity lens in with a policy perspective. She serves on boards and commissions, including maternal and child health, hunger, food insecurity, health equity, prenatal health, and Medicaid accessibility. While working toward her Ph.D. in public health & minors in ethnic studies and food and culture in social justice at Oregon State University, Jackie utilizes her law degree (from Willamette University) to help people navigate complex systems where citizenship status can present barriers.

Madras

Mickie Derting brings her lived experience of being an Asian American, first-generation immigrant, a woman of color, and a person where English is her second language as well as her diverse work experience in both the public and private sectors working within fast-paced start-ups to large corporations at both the local and global levels. 

For the past 13+ years, Mickie has worked in local government for three cities, reporting directly to the City Manager (public CEO) with a focus on high profile, high impact, and/or strategic initiatives like homelessness, disaster/emergency management, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility to name a few examples. In the private sector, she has 15+ experience with roles within the technology, media, and creative industries in the executive office, sales, and marketing. 

Mickie has a master’s in business with a focus on sustainability and its three pillars of environmental protection, social equity, and economic viability. Additionally, she received a certificate from former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps training, where she gained an understanding of the relationship between the climate crisis and environmental justice. 

She is grateful for the opportunity and privilege to elevate political, social, and economic issues of Asian and Pacific Islanders in Oregon and to advance equitable solutions. 

Mickie is happily married to Jason and together, they have two horses, three dogs, and a barn cat. They live in Madras, Jefferson County.​

Commissioner Derting’s current memberships and affiliations include:
  • ​America 250 Oregon Commission
  • Oregon Health Authority’s Health Equity and Data Justice Workgroup
  • Central Oregon Civic Action Project: Civic Assembly on Youth Homelessness

Portland
​Born Sang Tzun Phan (pronounced PAWN), Sam is a first-generation Asian-American. He is of Iu-Mienh descent, a minority group originating from China, and has lived in Portland his entire life. His family came to America as refugees of the Secret War.

Throughout his life, he has continuously served his community directly which has led to him being a recipient of the Ford Family Foundation Scholars Scholarship. Sam attended the University of Oregon where he received a Bachelor’s in Political Science along with a Minor in Planning, Public Policy, and Management. Upon graduation, Sam worked at Trillium Family Services, a mental health non-profit for children and teenagers, as a Supervisor for their secure adolescent in-patient program. He then moved on to be a Program Coordinator for Multnomah County’s Legal Resource Center where he assisted self-represented litigants in their cases. ​

While at Multnomah County Courthouse, he founded the Presence of Color Employee Resource Group, an employee resource group dedicated to becoming a strategic partner with the management of Multnomah County Circuit Court to promote a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion through continual learning, where he too served as the co-chair until he left to Oregon Emergency Management. Though he was only at OEM for a short time, he helped to finalize their Be 2 Weeks Ready Program and helped update their Community Emergency Response Team programs post-COVID pandemic. Currently, he works as a Legislative Aide for Oregon State Representative Thuy Tran and serves on the Iu Mien Association of Oregon board of directors. He also sits on the advisory council to the Asian Pacific Islander Family Center in Northeast Portland. In addition to this, he has also founded his own non-profit, Local Grown, and helped create accessible,  community-funded scholarships and DACA grants.

​Kimberely Keli’iKoa Dixon hails from Hawai’i and is proud to have ali’i (royal) ancestry in her immediate background. Kimberely brings to the commission a background of centering the voice of the voiceless in a variety of spaces and topics to include exposing economic and educational opportunities, navigating systems and creating better. One such example was being part of 3 to PhD, a a collaborative partnership between Faubion PK-8,Concordia University, Kaiser Permamente, Trillium and Basics Foods to create a safer, healthier and more educated community. Kimberely is also a Board of Trustees member of Trillium Family Services, one of the largest providers of behavioral health services to children and families in the state of Oregon. She is also the current chair of FIT-COG (Focused Intervention Team Community Oversight Group) which provides oversight of the Focused Intervention Team of Portland Police Bureau, created to address and reduce gun violence in the Portland area.

Kimberely also has served on the Crisis Response Team, a volunteer effort used to meet community at some of its most traumatic intersections. Recently, Kimberely held a state-wide coordinator position within the Oregon Youth Authority and currently has oversight of the 94 neighborhoods within the city of Portland. Kimberely holds a masters degree in Management and Organizational Leadership and spends free time with her children, grandchildren, extended ohana and friends. ​

Portland

​Sy Kim is an International Program Manager of Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU). Sy is responsible for developing new programs and businesses for developing our diverse communities and creating an accessible financial platform that will improve financial service experiences for underserved community members.

 From 2009-2018, Sy worked in Seoul, Korea where he had the opportunity to take part in many market development projects around the globe with the Hyundai Motor Group.​

Sy was born in Korea and first moved to the United States when he was six years old. From then on, he has gone back and forth between the two countries and have had the blessing to learn, work and live to fully experience both cultures. He holds a MS in New Media from Korea University and a BA in Media and Communications from University of Oregon.

 Sy currently serves as a board member for the Asian American Council of Oregon, the Korean American Chamber of Commerce in Oregon, the State of Oregon Translation Advisory Council, the Korean Society of Oregon, and the Korean War Memorial Foundation of Oregon.

 Sy's favorite activities are travelling and exploring and he has been to more than 20 countries around the world.  He is a family guy and spends most of his time besides work with his wife, Jennifer and two kids, Tayeon & Seongtae. On a daily basis he enjoys swimming, golfing, gaming, and reading.


Portland
​Senator Lisa Reynolds, MD, is an Oregon State Senator, a mom, and a pediatrician serving children and families in Washington & Multnomah Counties. She was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2020, was re-elected in 2022, and was then appointed to the Oregon State Senate in 2024.

She serves Senate District 17, which spans from Portland's Cathedral Park neighborhood through Downtown and Northwest Portland to parts of Beaverton, Hillsboro, Bethany, Cedar Mill, and surrounding communities.

Senator Reynolds is laser-focused on making Oregon the best place to grow up by reducing child poverty, improving infant and maternal health outcomes, combating gun violence, and securing housing and health for every Oregonian child. She serves as Chair of the Senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health, where she is committed to directing the state towards upstream solutions to socioeconomic inequities. She also serves on the Senate Committee on Health Care and the Senate Committee on Human Services. Her pediatric practice grounds her work and informs everything she does in the legislature.

Lake Oswego
​Daniel is a son of Vietnamese refugees who came to the United States in 1975.  Daniel was born and raised in Camas, Washington. Daniel and his wife, with their entrepreneurial spirit, founded and operate Bambuza Vietnam Kitchen, located in the South Waterfront community since 2008. Daniel was elected to the Lake Oswego City Council in 2018, the first person of color elected to serve on City Council.

Daniel also serves presently as a community volunteer as a Director on several organizations boards -  Immigration Counseling Service Business for a Better Portland and Co-Chair of PCC School of Business & Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee.​


 



OCAPIA Statute

185.610 Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs; confirmation; term; officers; quorum; compensation and expenses
185.620 Duties
185.625 Additional duties

Public Records Requests (PRR)

The Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office (OACO) responds to requests for public records in the general way described in the Oregon Department of Administrative Services' (DAS) Public Records Requests policy (pdf).

The DAS Public Records Requests Fees and Charges policy outlines the fees the department charges for records, and the process the agency uses to fulfill requests.

Please choose one of the following methods to request public records from OACO:
1. Email your request to Terrence Saunders, Interim Executive Director with "PRR" included in the subject line: terrence.saunders@oac.oregon.gov

OR

2. Mail a written request to this address:

Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office
PO Box 17550
Portland, OR 97217




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