APIASF Administers Gates Millennium Scholars Program for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.WASHINGTON -- The Asian & Pacific Islander American Pacific Islander Americans are residents of the United States with original ancestry from the Pacific Islands. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population. Scholarship Fund (APIASF APIASF Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund ) announced today that it signed an agreement with the United Negro College Fund The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is a Fairfax, Virginia-based American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for African-American students and general scholarship funds for 39 historically black colleges and universities. (UNCF) to administer the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program for Asian and Pacific Islander American students. APIASF is the country's largest national organization devoted solely to the scholarship needs of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.The Gates Millennium Scholars program, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, provides outstanding low-income Asian and Pacific Islander American, African-American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline they choose. Continuing GMS Scholars may request a fellowship for a graduate degree program in one of the following disciplines areas: education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science. The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence by providing thousands of outstanding students with significant financial need the opportunity to realize their full potential. Robert Underwood, former United States Congressman and Chairman of the Board of APIASF, said, "This is a significant milestone in APIASF's short history. We are extremely pleased to be recognized as a GMS partner for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans by the United Negro College Fund. It is with great pride that we join the ranks of other national scholarship organizations and express our appreciation to UNCF and the other GMS partners, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the American Indian Graduate Center Scholars, for their guidance and support in establishing APIASF." The announcement follows the recent success of APIASF's inaugural fundraising event, the "Today's Minds, Tomorrow's Future(SM)" gala held in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. on September 14th, which raised more than half a million dollars for the Fund. At the gala, OCA OCA oculocutaneous albinism. (The Organization of Chinese Americans About OCA Founded in 1973, Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) is a national organization dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States. ) was recognized for its role in developing and administering GMS/APIA for the past six years and for its partnership in building APIASF. APIASF's President and Executive Director, T. Kamuela Chun, was involved in the development of both APIASF and GMS/APIA. He ensures the continued success of the GMS/APIA program and its scholars. About APIASF The Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) is the primary national organization that promotes the pursuit of higher education among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans by distributing scholarships to qualified first-year undergraduate college, university, and vocational school students. Established in 2003, APIASF earned the support of major corporations including AT&T, the Asian McDonald's Operators Association, The Coca-Cola Company, Macy's, the General Mills Foundation, the Hilton Hotels Corporation Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT) is one of the leading global hospitality companies. As of April 2007 there are 2,645 hotels and 485,000 rooms employing 105,000 people in more than 80 countries. , the IW Group, McDonald's USA, LLC, and Wells Fargo, all of which participated in establishing the organization. Additional generous supporters include Abercrombie & Fitch, the Boston Consulting Group, the Citigroup Foundation, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Enterprise Rent A Car, Federal Express, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Nationwide, Nissan North America, Pacific Gas & Electric, Sodexho, Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. , Southwest Airlines, Target, Toyota, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Washington Mutual. National community organizations including the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS APAICS Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies ), OCA, the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC SEARAC Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (nonprofit advocacy organization) ), and the University of Hawai'i were members of the original "Working Group" that established APIASF. |
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