It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month, and it’s essential to recognize the impact these communities have had on the United States. This month is a time to acknowledge the history, culture, and wide array of diversity that these communities bring to our world. AAPI Heritage Month is a celebration of so many groups of people, spanning 50 different diverse ethnic groups within the United States.

Some of the groups include:

• Chinese
• Indian
• Japanese
• Filipino
• Vietnamese
• Korean
• Hawaiian,
• and other Asian and Pacific Islander ancestries

In order to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, we want to recognize some individuals from this community who have had a significant impact on U.S history. GrantWatch will also be sharing 10 grants to celebrate the month below!

AAPI individuals that Made an Impact on American History

• Ajay Bhatt: a technologist and inventor who created the USB.
• Patsy Mink: the first-ever woman of color elected to the U.S House of Representatives. She was elected to represent Hawaii.
• Margaret Chung: first-ever American-born Chinese doctor.
• Jōkichi Takamine: a scientist who was the first person to isolate and purify the hormone adrenaline.
• Steven Shih Chen: Taiwanese & American entrepreneur: CTO of Youtube.

Grants to Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

1. Firstly, Fellowships of up to $25,000 and $60,000 are available to doctoral candidates and post-doctoral scholars for research related to East Asian studies.
2. Grants of up to $1,000 are also open to nonprofits and educational institutions for Japanese language education events.
3. Additionally, there are grants of up to $25,000 to nonprofits to address the needs of the Korean community in the Greater New York area during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  
4. Grants of $250 are also available to assist theater writers who identify as Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islanders with taxi fares and car service fees if they do not feel safe using mass transportation to get to work. 
5. There are also grants (and in-kind support) available to Black, Asian, Indigenous, and LatinX individuals to create projects online. Eligible areas of interest include publishing, music, games, food and craft, film, design and tech, comics and illustration, and art.
6. In addition, awards are open to U.S. translators to recognize exceptional work in the translation of book-length works in Japanese. Eligible entries include short story collections, memoirs, novels, essays, manga, poetry, and drama.
7. There are also grants of up to $5,000 to nonprofit educational institutions and organizations for Japanese-language educational programs.
8. Awards are available for U.S. artists of Korean descent to acknowledge outstanding work. Monetary prizes will be awarded to young emerging modern artists. In addition, artists will receive the opportunity to participate in a mentoring program and to present their work at a group exhibition in New York.
9. There is also funding to Hawaii nonprofit organizations for programs to promote Chinese culture and the preservation of Chinese history in eligible locations.
10. Finally, there are grants to universities, colleges, and nonprofit organizations for research and projects to address American and Chinese relations.

GrantNews Notes

Looking for similar grants? Check out GrantWatch’s entire category of BIPOC grants. This category has more than 1,600 grants for nonprofits, schools, businesses, and government agencies led by or serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) as well as Native and Latinx populations.

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