Japanese American Citizens League

Social justice and advocacy program: as a national civil rights organization, jacl engages in policy advocacy and public education to protect and highlight the rights of individuals and groups subject to discrimination. Our perspective on civil rights is shaped by the experience of the Japanese American community having been subjected to mass incarceration by the government under the false pretense of national security, only to be revealed many years later to be rooted purely in racism and xenophobia. We seek to protect the legacy of our community's experience in the protection of historic incarceration sites and promoting public education on the correlation between history and current events. Because of our history we have fought the underlying hate and racism that leads to the commission of hate and bias incidents, especially in the recent climate of increased anti-asian hate.

Pacific citizen: the pacific citizen is the official newspaper of the Japanese American Citizens League and has been in publication since september 1929. As one of the leading asian American focused news publications, the pacific citizen is committed to delivering the most incisive coverage of important apia stories that are often ignored by other media outlets. The paper continues to serve the community with its focus on in depth investigations, entertainment, sports, and late breaking stories. The pacific citizen reaches a national circulation of 10,000 readers.

Youth, fellowship, and scholarship programs: in jacl's commitment to developing future leaders jacl supports the national youth student council, the national organizing body for our youth leaders in high school, college, and early careerists. We operate the norman y. mineta and daniel k. inouye fellowships to give recent graduates and young adults experience working in Washington dc in non-profit leadership, program implementation and policy analysis and advocacy at jacl and the mike masaoka fellowship which is placed in a congressional office. Our national scholarship program provides several thousands of dollars worth of competitive scholarships to undergraduate and graduate college students annually.

Other service programs include: grants to chapters for preserving legacy of Japanese American community, advocacy initiatives, member and chapter leadership development, and cultural heritage and arts preservation. The annual convention brings jacl members and chapters together to conduct the organization's business of policy resolutions and constitution and bylaws amendments and the opportunity for membership to hear directly from the board and staff on the state of the organization and the environment in which we work. For over 40 years, the jacl/oca leadership summit brings approximately one dozen jacl members to Washington, dc annually to learn about the advocacy and education work done at the national level to transfer to the local chapter level. The kakehashi program is a partnership with the Japanese government to send Japanese American college students and young adults to japan to learn of and connect with their Japanese heritage, fostering a better understanding of their identity as Japanese americans. Administrative and non-programmatic functions of the organization include membership tracking and maintenance, administrative support, and fund development.