Advisory Commission on AANHPI issues wide range of recommendations in its first report

The White House AANHPI Advisory Commission met in Washington DC on Sept. 29.

A report from the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders included more than a dozen recommendations for the President and Congress to enact within the remainder of President Biden's first term.

The inaugural report from the commission inaugural report given to President Joe Biden on August 24 but released publicly on Sept. 29 when the commission met at the White House.

“The inaugural report is the product of months of engagement with experts, community advocates, and federal officials. I commend our commissioners for their dedication and diligence in developing these recommendations,” said Chief Commissioner Sonal Shah. 

“Together, they represent a significant community-driven effort to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPIs. The Commission stands ready to provide guidance as the Biden-Harris Administration considers whether the recommendations should be implemented.”

The Commission, with its members appointed by President BIden, is co-chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai.

The recommendations, approved during the Commission’s first in-person meeting at the White House on May 12, 2022, were developed by 25 leaders appointed by the President who reflect the rich diversity of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities throughout the United States.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE - PDF

Some of the commission's recommendations include:

• All branches of the US military should adopt a standardized uniform policy that presumptively allows for religious articles of faith, such as turbans, beards, hijabs, and yarmulkes.

• With public-private partnerships, produce more public service announcements to counter the spate of anti-Asian hate

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in coordination with the White House Office of Public Engagement (OPE) and Commission, host a mental health summit focusing on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander mental health.

• IUSCIS should reduce the backlog of immigration visas by expanding staffing and modernizing processes to reduce wait times, expanding premium processing services, providing automatic work permit renewals, securing funding, and more quickly processing work permits, travel documents, temporary status extensions, and other immigration applications.

• The federal government should ensure that emergency and disaster prevention, planning, response, mitigation, and recovery programs are inclusive of and reflect the lived experiences of limited English proficient populations.

• The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) update the minimum standards for federal data on race and ethnicity to fulfill its mission to produce full, fair, and accurate data on the status of health, education, labor, immigration, economy, and other vital indicators for all communities in our nation, including Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities.

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