Please visit us often since we will be posting updates here. This special event was approved by the NaFFAA Board of Directors during its August 6, 2008 national board meeting.
What is NaFFAA?
Founded at the 1st National Filipino American Empowerment Conference in Washington DC in August 1997, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) was conceived to meet the need for a national entity that could harness the potentials and resources of the thousands of Filipino and Filipino-American organizations across the United States.
NaFFAA’s goals: To achieve socio-economic and political empowerment, contribute more meaningfully to the well-being of American society, and provide assistance to the Philippine homeland.
Registered as a 501c3 non-partisan, non-profit entity, NaFFAA has its headquarters in Washington DC and operates through twelve (12) Regional Chapters, representing Filipino American organizations on the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Marianas. In this regard, it is the only FilAm organization of this size and scope.
The Voice of FilAms in Washington DC.
In Washington DC, NaFFAA is recognized by the White House and by Congress as the principal advocate of Filipino and Filipino-American interests, typified by its sustained lobbying for the passage of the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill. These efforts have succeeded in pushing S. 1331 through the US Senate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi will soon schedule the bill for a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Heroism (Kabayanihan) at the Local Level.
While involvement in national issues has given NaFFAA a high profile, it is at the regional and state levels where the most meaningful contributions of NaFFAA and its leaders have been felt:
• Organizing the FilVote Voter Registration Campaign in Las Vegas, Washington DC and Seattle, to increase FilAm participation in the electoral process.
• Filing a case in Federal Court to protect the rights of Filipino non-citizen airport workers in San Francisco who were laid off in the wake of 9-11.
• Raising funds for the successful legal defense of Filipino workers in Texas, unfairly detained in the wake of 9-11.
• Rallying the Northern California FilAm community to successfully persuade CalPERS (the largest pension fund in the US) to keep its investments in the Philippines.
• Raising funds at the local level to build FilAm community centers that provide services to seniors, youth and the general community.
• Organizing festivals and cultural events to promote Filipino art, culture and traditions in the American mainstream.
• Mounting a tutorial program in Seattle and Las Vegas to improve the K-12 performance of FilAm students in public schools.
• Extracting an apology from the TV network, ABC, for the slur against Filipino doctors in the series, “Desperate Housewives.” Additionally, initiating a program for the involvement of more FilAm talents and technical personnel in ABC’s network operations.
• Providing relief and emergency housing in Texas to victims of typhoon Katrina fleeing from Louisiana and Mississippi.
• Organizing annual regional conferences to address burning issues affecting the FilAm community and the American mainstream.
• Successfully lobbying the Philippine government for passage of the Overseas Absentee Voting Law and the Dual Citizenship Law.
• Filing a successful motion for Mandamus and Certiorari in the Philippine Supreme Court to overrule the decision of the Commission on Elections to prevent FilAm dual citizens from voting in the Philippine elections.
• Organizing regional and national conferences in different states, plus the Global Filipino Networking Conventions in San Francisco, Manila, Cebu, Hawaii and Sydney, to address burning issues affecting overseas Filipinos.
All these and more were undertaken, not by individuals but by FilAm community organizations, guide by the philosophy of Bayanihan, a Filipino tradition that combines the concepts of community (Bayan) and heroism (Bayani).
Answering the Need to Honor and Inspire Community Kabayanihan.
For their heroism, individuals have been honored by the community. But there has been no vehicle for honoring entire groups or community organizations. This is the need that we propose to meet with the Annual NaFFAA Kabayanihan Awards for Community Service.
The Kabayanihan Awards will honor community organizations – whether or not affiliated with NaFFAA – that have rendered outstanding and meaningful service to the community in the following fields or benefiting the following sectors:• Education
• Youth
• Senior Citizens
• Women
• Health
• Immigration & Human Rights
• Entrepreneurship
• Arts & Culture
• Aid to the Philippines
• Civic InvolvementAn 11th category, the Alex Esclamado Award for Advocacy, is for any organization that has advocated in a sustained and outstanding manner a cause or causes that have had a profound impact on the FilAm community or the American mainstream.It is named after Alex Esclamado, the founder of NaFFAA and one of the most ardent advocates of the rights and interests of Filipino Americans and of the Philippines. For this, he was conferred the Legion of Honor by President Corazon Aquino and the Ellis Island Award on the occasion of the 250th year of the founding of the United States.Scope and Format of the Awards.
1. Who will qualify?
The Annual NaFFAA Kabayanihan Awards is open to all FilAm and Filipino
organizations in the United States – whether community, professional,
sectoral or religious – that are undertaking outstanding non-partisan, non-
political and non-denominational services to the Filipino community or to the
mainstream American community.
A political party, or any entity engaged in partisan politics, does not qualify.
A religious organization may qualify only with respect to a project designed
to promote community welfare rather than religious interests.
The awards are open to both NaFFAA-affiliated and non-NaFFAA
organizations.
2. Awards Criteria.
The following factors will be considered in evaluating nominees:
a) Relevance of the nominated service or project to the award category, i.e., a Youth Service/Project must be directly relevant to the youth. -
b) Importance and impact of the service or project and the benefits enjoyed by the beneficiary sector or community; i.e., some services/projects are more important or have more impact and deliver more benefits than others. Qualitative and quantitative criteria and operative results will be applied.
c) History, consistency and sustainability - How long has the service been rendered or has the project been undertaken; how consistently has it been implemented and has served its beneficiaries; and are its impact and benefits sustainable?
d) Degree of group involvement – Has the project been the work of only a small circle of individuals or has it involved and harnessed the skills and resources of the members of organization? This considers the principle that the more members involved, the more the Bayanihan spirit is actualized.
3. Nomination, Evaluation & Judging Process.
A National Awards Committee, headed by the Organizing Committee Chairman, will be constituted. Members of the Committee will be the current NaFFAA National Chair, National Vice-Chair and Executive Director plus three members at large to be recommended by the Committee Chair and approved by the NaFFAA National Board. No person shall hold more than one seat in the committee. This committee will undertake the planning, supervision and management, and the implementation of the entire awards program.
The National Awards Committee will constitute a Panel of Jurors with
members selected from among distinguished figures in the American
mainstream who have had involvement or have expertise in the fields that are
subject of the awards. They will be chosen from the academe, government,
media, the arts, business and non-profit community-oriented organizations.
The chairman of the Panel of Jurors will be NaFFAA National Chair
Emeritus Loida Nicolas-Lewis. She will choose and recommend the Panel of
Jurors to the National Awards Committee.
The Regional Chapters of NaFFAA will solicit nominations within their
respective jurisdictions, including both NaFFAA and non-NaFFAA organizations. The Regional Chair will constitute a Regional Awards Committee to go over the nominations. Membership in this committee
will be left to the discretion of the Regional Board.
Based on each criterion, a nominee will be evaluated against a 10-point
scale, with 10 being outstanding. To prevent a punitive or arbitrary
evaluation, it is to be assumed that every nominee automatically deserves a
minimum rating of 5. Each rating will be converted into a percentage of
100% (e.g., a rating of 8 is 80%). The totals will be added and averaged out
to determine the final percentage (e.g., 80% for each of the 4 criterion would
result in an average rating of 80%). To qualify for an award, a nominee must
garner a minimum average of 75%.
A short list of nominees achieving the minimum average rating will be
endorsed by the Region to the National Awards Committee. It will, in turn,
submit, the list of nominees to the Panel of Jurors . The records of
all the other nominees will also be submitted to the National Awards
Committee for reference. These will also be forwarded to the Panel of Jurors.
The Panel of Jurors will evaluate and rate the nominees for each category
based on the criteria, the 10-point system and the averaging process. The
nominee that earns the highest rating in each awards category will be
declared the awardee. The Panel of Jurors may decide to designate more
than one awardee for a category, based on the merits, or designate honorable
mentions. The decision of the Panel of Jurors will be final and not subject
to appeal.
All the nominees in the Regional short list who have been endorsed to the
National Awards Committee will receive Certificates of Nomination. National\AAll
4. Award Category Sponsors.
Sponsors, mostly drawn from businesses with interests in the Filipino-American community, will be solicited for each award category. An individual may also offer to sponsor an award category. In any case, a sponsorship fee of $10,000 will be required of each sponsor. Corresponding benefits will accrue to the sponsor, including:
a) Being identified as the Category Sponsor, along with the right to promote this involvement in its marketing or public relations programs;
b) An executive of the Category Sponsor will present the award on the occasion of the awards presentation;
c) A brief videotaped message by an executive of the Category Sponsor to be included in the videotaped presentation of the achievement of the awardee, to be shown during the awards;
d) Inclusion in the NaFFAA national and regional websites, with logo and brief product/service description (and/or slogan);
e) Inclusion in all press and photo releases prior to and after the awards;
f) Inclusion in the souvenir program, invitations and other awards signage;
g) Corporate and brand signage at any NaFFAA conference (national or regional promoting the awards);
h) Corporate and brand signage at the venue of the awards;
i) A competitive lockout for the specific award category;
j) Inclusion in the NaFFAA Book, to be published after the awards;
k) For an additional fee of $10,000, designation as an official entity (e.g. Official Communications Company) of NaFFAA and of the Kabayanihan Awards for the year of the awards, and first option to continue the designation into the subsequent awards;
l) This official designation will be acknowledged in all NaFFAA national and regional conferences, the NaFFAA website and in official communications related to the awards; and may be used by the sponsor for its marketing, advertising, public relations, community relations and promotions campaigns for the period of the designation.
5. Kabayanihan Awards Presentation.
A gala reception and awards ceremony will be organized in Washington DC
in June 2009 as a major component of the observance of Philippine
Independence Day. Prominent officials of the federal and state
governments, officials of the White House, members of the US Senate and
Congress, officials of the Philippine government, led by the Philippine
ambassador to the United States, other Philippine officials, captains of
Corporate America, members of the mainstream media and Filipino and
other minority media, NaFFAA officers and members and community
leaders, both Filipino, Asian and mainstream, will be invited to the event.
Corporate Sponsors, together with prominent officials from either US or
Philippine government, will present the award for each category. An official
of the US Legislature or the White House or the federal or state government
will be invited as keynote speaker.
6. The NaFFAA Book.
A NaFFAA Book will be published based on the achievements of the
awardees and all the other nominees, as well as the history of NaFFAA, from
the first National Empowerment Conference in Washington D.C. in 1997.
-oOo-
“For reflection… This is a reality check about what we do as members of organizations and institutions that serve our communities.” - Ben’s message
