As one of the fastest growing populations in the state, what issues do the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities face?

That's this week on Nevada Week.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

Welcome to Nevada Week.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

According to APIAVote, a national nonpartisan nonprofit, between 2012 and 2022, the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander demographics grew by 45% in Nevada and the number of eligible AANHPI voters grew by 36%.

A key voting bloc in a swing state, we want to know what issues are impacting these communities.

And for that, we bring in Vida Lin, Founder and President of the Asian Community Development Council; Eric Jeng, Executive Director of One APIA Nevada; Anna Ladao, Treasurer of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations - Nevada; and Doreen Hall Vann, Past President of the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club.

What a group we have gathered here today.

Thank you for coming.

I want to start with you, Vida.

2021-- and, everybody, I want you to respond to this as well, your thoughts.

2021, you told The Nevada Independent that the top issues in the AANHPI community were healthcare access, followed by food insecurity and housing insecurity.

Are those still the top issues?

(Vida Lin) Yes, it is.

And we actually resolved some of those issue by opening a health clinic in 2022, in August, to make sure that we have health care for our community.

Food insecurity is also an issue that we did take care of.

We have a culturally sensitive food distribution center that we've given out over 5 million pounds of food so far.

-Tell me more about the health care center.

It's providing in-language services.

How critical is that?

-Sure.

So the Healthy Asian and Pacific Islander, we call HAPI for short, Medical Center is there to make sure that we have people that speak language that we understand-- Chinese, Vietnamese, and so forth --to make sure that if you're not feeling well-- because 82% of our community are either underinsured or uninsured.

So having that medical center is so important that can understand the language and the sensitive culture that we have.

-Anna, you work in healthcare.

When you interact with people, you are helping people sign up for health insurance, right?

-Correct.

-What are you hearing from the Asian community about their ability to sign up?

(Anna Ladao) Well, I work a lot and volunteer with ACDC.

And what I like is their power to educate a lot of people here in Las Vegas.

Truthfully, we must continue to go out there and educate because when people move in here, they don't have the slightest idea of what it is about what you must do with insurance.

So for instance, I have people moving in here making their own decisions for their family.

Kaiser, for instance, is not in Las Vegas.

And so when they move in here, they would keep their family in an insurance in California that's not over here.

And then they would say, Oh, California has the best insurance.

We're not switching you to an insurance here in Las Vegas.

And they're lying about them not living in California anymore, and so they're not seeing doctors here in Las Vegas.

What they're doing is when they're sick, they will bring them to California.

Is that really the best way to take care of a loved one?

I don't think so.

I had a lady who was very, very sick.

And the reason she had reached out to me was because she went to the emergency room, and she was told at the emergency room she didn't have insurance.

And the whole time, she thought that she had insurance.

But she was in an HMO.

And when you move to another state, your insurance changes.

There's a lot of hearsay.

"I was told by my friend that this is how you do insurance."

No.

Let's get a licensed insurance agent to talk to you about insurance.

Let us know, is it easier for us to speak to you in Chinese?

Is it easier for us to speak to you in Tagalog?

Because oftentimes I see that there are people-- I'll speak about the Filipino community, especially the elderly community or the elderly.

Oftentimes there's a need to fit in.

And they would say, Yes, yes.

Well, what is it that you're saying yes to?

You're signing up for a plan that you know nothing about, and then you're afraid to go to the doctor because you think it's going to cost you an arm and a leg.

-I want to go to you, Doreen.

Out of those issues, food insecurity, housing insecurity, the first being healthcare access according to Vida, what do you think?

(Doreen Hall Vann) Absolutely.

It's a great question.

For Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, health insecurity is so prevalent today.

Our barriers is not-- is not the language barrier.

Our barriers is affordability.

Right?

When we compare health plans to Hawaii, we have higher deductible plans here.

So that's a, you know, a really concerning thing.

I also think that we have doctors that we need to be more comfortable with, more Asian American, Filipino doctors that we're used to back home.

I know there's a low percentage of physicians in our area.

I know I had a hard time finding a physician that was Asian American or Filipino background.

Just comfortable, you know, just to be comfortable.

I also see that a lot of our people when it comes to medicines and prescriptions that they are diagnosed with different prescriptions, as if they were in Hawaii, believe it or not.

So and even with the American Asian community, right, prescriptions are done Western way, if I may say.

And we're more, we just handle things a little bit different on that platform.

-How?

-So a lot of the Western techniques may adhere to the caucasian community or the European.

It doesn't adhere to us.

So they-- you know, multiple times, they have to go back to the doctor to find that regiment that fits our needs.

So that was one of the cries in the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander community.

-Give me an example.

-So for example, diabetes treatments.

There may be medicines that, you know, the Western society says, You need to take this.

But it doesn't go with our culture, our bloodline.

It's just handled differently.

So that's one of the issues.

In fact, I just talked to another community leader, and they were right on spot, finding medications that work for Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders.

It's just different.

-Eric, let's get your reaction to those three issues: health care access, food insecurity, housing insecurity.

(Eric Jeng) So I think today we are here celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

We have about 409,000 people coming from 40, 50-plus different ethnicities, different cultures, different languages that they speak.

So when we talk about is health equity.

We talking about is housing justice.

We are talking about food security and food sovereignty.

This is important for us because Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, just by the acronym itself is not the monolith.

There is no model minority that has been-- we need to dispel that myth, is Asian a high achiever or they're successful in this area or that area.

We know, like all Nevadans, we come from all kinds, all walks of lives, all kinds of backgrounds.

And especially for the Asian American community and the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander community, it's also why they moved to Nevada.

Some of them are refugees from their native countries.

Some of them are coming here for better cost of living, for better opportunity, like all Nevadans.

Outside of the indigenous community, we're all here fighting for that dream, fighting for the American dream, fighting for the Nevadan dream.

So with that, that comes with our infrastructure is really trying to catch up.

It's a very fast growth, and we're seeing all the influx of community members.

So a lot of it, when we really talk about the needs of the community, the gaps that we need to be able to meet them in where they are, goes down to data disaggregation.

We need to be able to know which community needs what so we don't lump everyone together and have a "one solution fits all."

-Well, let's get everyone's perspective on this.

The AANHPI communities, should they be grouped together as one with so much diversity?

Vida, I'll start with you.

-You really can't group us as one.

We have over 35 different languages, access and language, right?

Communication is probably one of the things that's so important.

So the Asian Community Development Council, what we do, we really educate, connect, and empower community.

So when it comes to healthcare, we talk about healthcare, we have these health fair that talk about early detection of diabetes and how to get tested ahead of time.

But you're right about when it comes to-- you can't just give us a pill or something to make the diabetes go away.

It's more educational piece, which I think, you know, even our culture, our food, when it comes to the Asian, the Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, we eat a lot of rice.

And rice, you have to kind of control that because that's a high way of causing the diabetes to go up, right?

So the educational piece is important.

And according to everyone here, we have to educate our community more.

And that's why we have these organization is to make sure that we can do that.

-So Native Hawaiian was added to the AANHPI title, I think you told me, in 2021 by President Joe Biden.

Is that appropriate?

Do you agree with that?

-Yes, I do.

We all should be included, for sure.

-But at the same time, not group-- you can't group everyone?

-You can't group everybody together.

In each of the culture has a different need.

What we can do is recognize how important we are, how much the Asian had contribute, and the AANHPI has contributed to not only in Nevada, but the whole United States.

And we have been left out way too long.

-Anna, where do you stand on that?

-Namewise, yes, I agree with the name.

We must be inclusive-- Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander.

But I also get your question and what Vida is saying over here, how different we all are separately.

When I spoke, I had to talk to you about this.

With Sheriff Kevin McMahill, when he addressed this with the Asian Chamber, he talked about how he acknowledges that the Asian community is so different in so many different ways and how they want to reach out to all of these different cultures, because people do look at all of us as we're all just Asians under one blanket.

But when you really look at us, we're very different altogether.

And I think that's what we want people to know.

Get to know each of us and who we truly are.

Get to know the Chinese people, who the Filipinos are, who the Native Hawaiians are, who are the Pacific Islanders.

Get to know us.

Don't put us under just one blanket.

Doesn't mean we're not unified.

Doesn't mean we're not together.

And so just hearing our stories, right?

-Doreen?

-Yeah.

Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, we fought really hard to get that acronym corrected.

We are different, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Native Hawaiians, we are the largest of Polynesians.

We are from different regions, right?

Pacific Islanders are in a different region than Native Hawaiians.

Our dietary are different.

Our issues are different.

So to categorize us as one, no.

But similarity among AANHPI, we do have some similarity.

But just like Vida said, we all have our differences.

And that's where we can come together.

What is our differences?

How can we support one another as a whole?

So that's important.

-Do you have anything to add?

-I think this is what is beautiful about our discussion here.

AAPI or now AAHPI is not new.

It's not a new term, but it's also created for political advocacy.

It's coming in the '70s, when the community is facing anti-Asian hate.

And even now, because sometime one of our communities members are hurt, all of us get together and help out.

And I think the both sides of-- I love what Secretary Norman Mineta, who was Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Labor, once said, We're like-- It's not as mixing salad bowl; it's like a woven tapestry.

Every single community is like a fabric that woven together that build what our AANHPI community is like.

And now contribute to the larger, greater Nevada and community.

-Anna, when you talk about working with Metro Police and the sheriff, was it him who reached out to you and was this in relation to a rise in Asian hate?

-No, not at all.

So I am an ambassador with the Asian Chamber of Commerce, and I also attended an event with the Asian American Group, where the sheriff brought all of his captains with him.

And I sat with Captain Dave Sims, who's a community engagement captain, and I just learned something so empowering.

They said over there, they don't want us to just reach out to them when a tragedy happens.

They want to know all of us, who we are and the different communities.

And I think that's so empowering for all of us to get to know Metro during good times.

When we have an event, they want to be there.

They want us to-- I had lunch with Captain Geiger from the Spring Valley Area Command, and we brought them to a Filipino restaurant.

We had lunch together.

They enjoyed our Filipino food.

And they said, No, invite us to any of your gatherings because we are a community.

How can we help each other?

And I've always believed in people helping people, not just-- yeah.

-How much of this issue relates to Metro or, as you and I spoke about on the phone, a hesitancy to speak up?

-I believe in our culture, and that's why it's important that Metro made the initiative to do this is that in the Asian community, or I'll speak for the Filipino community, there's still this big-- people don't want to speak up.

When they think Metro, Oh, let's just keep quiet because we're going to get in trouble.

Get in trouble for what?

This is something I want Asians, specifically Filipino, to stop thinking.

Why do we keep quiet?

Why should we keep quiet?

Speak up.

If you're not doing anything, if you're not doing anything wrong, please speak up.

Share your story, right?

Say something.

-Doreen?

-Yeah, absolutely.

I think the stigma is the same.

Back home, I was ahead of the neighborhood security watch, right, because crime was rising in our areas.

And a lot of the elders, they don't want to call 911.

They don't want to call 311 or 611.

They want to stay low-key.

But through education, here now in Las Vegas as we see crime rising in certain demographics, if you don't call 911 and actually put it in document, you know, documenting this action, it's not going to go away.

So it's through education that we have to, our Metro is our friends.

And trust is an issue with them, but they are our friends.

They are the ones are keeping us safe.

And me personally, I have family members that serve back home on the police department.

So that is very important to us as a platform that, for your safety, you have to document things that are happening in your unit.

When you don't speak, then your voice is not heard.

-But I think I also want to mention, outside of the country Mexico, Philippines and China have the largest undocumented Nevadans here in our state.

So before when Metro still had the-- before they had a program where they are able to refer people straight to ICE, and that is a very scary thing for the community.

Why won't community speak up?

Because there was no trust.

Why wasn't the community speak up?

Because we don't know if the sheriffs will refer them to the federal law enforcement and that will caught them up in the immigration and legal issues.

So I think that's something that we urge sheriff and entire Metro force to really being able to rebuild that trust with the community, that they're here to protect and to serve.

They're here to make sure the local matters are dealt locally.

And then also another thing is about language, language access, making sure that they're able to understand culturally, they're understand linguistically.

And this is just statistically.

Nationally, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander have a disproportionate amount of incarceration in the AAHPI community.

And we see that brown, black and brown community now plus AAHPI community, that's often overlooked, caught up in criminal justice, enforced differently.

So I think these are all the reasons why people don't want to speak up.

And I think that's something that we can't force the community.

It has to be, it has to be both sides.

We need to see more community-oriented policing.

We need to see that trust and that outreach initiative being really, being really proactive.

-Doreen, do you want to add anything to the incarceration stat he mentioned?

-We are aware that our people are being incarcerated.

You know, the challenges here in Las Vegas is different than back home.

We have gambling addictions.

We have alcohol.

Drugs is more attainable here.

So yes, our people are incarcerated.

But we cannot justify for one person's doing.

But the challenges are here.

In Hawaii, gambling in Hawaii is illegal.

So now we're tapping that on with casinos everywhere around the corner, alcohol everywhere around the corner.

So they're more visible here in Las Vegas, but every individual has their own choices.

-When you brought up the number of undocumented people, citizenship, the processes citizenship is something that you're working to help people accomplish.

How hard is it to sell that?

-Right.

So one of the things that we do is we have to understand difference between "undocumented" and "permanent resident."

So in our community, many of our community are permanent resident but never became citizen.

In the past when I asked them about that, where we did that program, he said, Well, why I need to become a citizen?

And we had to kind of this why it was important.

Now our community understands the importance of being a citizen.

So we have-- one of the things that stop people from doing it is because language, costs of putting that together.

So ACDC, we actually have a citizenship program.

We do every month to help people, do it for free the application form that they need and get them the test.

And when they get tested, or when they're ready to do the interview, we do a mock interview for them so they can become citizen.

So we have to understand that there's a difference between undocumented and permanent resident.

-What was it that changed to make it easier for you to get people to pursue citizenship?

-I think when I started, when ACDC started in 2015, registering our community vote, that's when I found out how many of our community were only permanent resident.

So we said, These are the, not only do you get to vote and get your voices heard, you've been there for 10, 20, 30 years.

It's time for your voice to be heard.

Because the reason why you're here was to make a better life for not only you, but your family and friends.

-I don't think we got to this topic yet, but housing.

I think of the three topics we mentioned at the top, that was the one you said, We have not been able to address.

I mean, it's an issue that everyone is facing.

And it was interesting, Doreen, that you brought up health care costs are different in Hawaii versus here.

We hear so much about Hawaiians moving here for the cost of living, for higher wages.

What is happening within the housing area?

-Absolutely.

As we all know, and the world looks affordable housing in Hawaii is almost gone.

1.2 million average medium to purchase a home.

My children live at home.

They can't afford 1.2 million.

You know, on top of that, with the Maui fire disaster, housing crisis is ultimately at a high.

And so people are moving to Las Vegas.

And through the Las Vegas One Civic Club, we provide the dream of homeownership through our partnerships, through our Realtors, through our mortgage brokers.

You know, it's real here.

It can happen here at 350- 400,000.

However, when Nevada was slowly developing, those homes were 180,000.

So now it's expensive to our people who has been here for 20 years.

But coming from Hawaii, 3- 400,000 is a drop in the bucket.

1.2 million is our homes, and it's a shack.

-Anna, housing is important to you.

What do you see within the Filipino community?

-You know, I feel like, again, we have to go back to educating people about how is it to buy your first home and what are the ways to do it.

Sometimes in my line of work, I go to a home and you see-- I was just telling you about it --eight cars outside of a home.

And I come in, and three families live in a home.

And is it in our culture to do that?

Yes.

But is it for everybody?

No.

And that's why I want to make sure we educate people.

How do I do that?

Because I want to make sure that for mental health reasons, that for people who don't want this, they know the way out of it.

How can I find ways to-- I talked, I have, I talked to seniors or the elderly, and they're like, Anna, please help me.

How can I find ways to like, find my own place?

I go, Oh, do you know like, for instance, Nevada Hand?

You could work with them and apply.

Your income is so low, and this is how you do it.

It's really us helping people.

They are not aware of the programs that are available to them.

And all we can do is really provide resources for people and know for housing, this is where you can go.

Health care, this is where you can go.

And I love this community because that's what we do, providing resources.

-On that topic, Vida, you gave a speech not too long ago, but you talked about the help you provide.

It's not a handout; it's a step up.

-It's a hand up, right.

Yeah.

-And why is that important?

There are issues of pride, correct?

-So in the culture, I do know that we do not let people know that we have issues.

Like if I lose my home or if I don't have any food today, we will go out and not ask for help.

We have to-- when we started the food distribution, I can tell you, if I started the food distribution 10 years earlier, I wouldn't have anyone come in because even though they need it, they won't ask for the help.

But because of the pandemic when everybody lost their job and they didn't know where to turn to, it wasn't losing face or shame to be asking help.

And that's where I think it's very important that when we provided food, not only for them, but culturally sensitive for them, they felt like, Okay, I'm not a shame.

I haven't lost face as not being able to feed my family.

The reason we came to the United States or reason why we came to America was to build a better future.

But there is a time when we do need help.

The pandemic taught us that, right?

Instead of turning them away, we embraced them by having service for them.

We helped them with for a very short time the housing, not to get kicked out of their homes.

And we work with landlords who say, We'll pay for the three or four months to make sure they stay in to all the service we have.

Now my community, after we've been around for nine years, know that we have service.

If they need to purchase a home.

If they need help for health insurance, we have health navigators speaks languages.

If they need Medicare, they qualify, Medicare, they qualify.

We're there to help them.

And I think having that is really important, but also the partnership-- working with the Hawaiian groups or Native Hawaiian, working with a Filipino group, working with the Chinese group --all the different groups we have, we come together and we can support each other.

When the pandemic hit, we want to make sure the vaccine was in the heart of Asia town and educate our community.

They didn't know how to go to online and go across town and Cashman Field wherever to go to get service.

We had a pop-up set up just to make sure our community were educated and served.

So I think that's really important that we have all these services.

-We have run out of time, but thank you for enlightening our viewers.

And thank you for watching.

For any of the resources discussed, go to our website, vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.