Dates & Times:    

Saturday, February 20        Festival: 10am – 5pm & Parade: 1pm – 3pm

Sunday, February 21           Festival: 10am – 5pm

Location:               Festival - 401 Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012 (Chinatown). NW Corner of Broadway & Cesar Chavez.                 Parade – the streets of Chinatown

LA 18 KSCI-TV is the Title Sponsor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Lunar New Year Festival in Chinatown.

This Pan-Asian event is a free two-day event, Saturday, February 20, 10am – 5pm and Sunday, February 21, 2010 10am – 5pm.

On February 20^th, the 111^th Golden Dragon Parade will take place on the streets in Downtown Chinatown from 1pm – 3pm.

With over 100,000 individuals lining the parade route every year, the Golden Dragon Parade is the premiere cultural event in Southern California’s Asian American community.  LA 18 will broadcast a Lunar New Year Special, hosted by popular LA 18 talent, providing parade and festival highlights.

The Golden Dragon Parade, scheduled on Saturday, February 20, features a magnificent procession of floats, marching bands, Asian American stars and entertainers, government officials, dignitaries, and cultural groups.  The two-day family-oriented Festival, February 20 and 21, offers an impressive array of food, entertainment, prizes, and games.

Local talent and cultural groups performing (scheduled to appear, subject to change):

Saturday | Cultural – San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural, Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko, Martial Movements, Hi-Za Yoo Korean Dance Institute

Saturday | Local Talent – Mike Isberto, Thomas’ Apartment, Sam “Geunjin” Kang (LA 18 Kababayan Superstar Finalists:  Jolly Rodriguez & Joe Sellner, Krystle Tugadi, Winner Joseph Encarnacion & Kababayan Superstar Judge Michelle Andria), Legaci, Local Mojo

Sunday | Cultural Groups – Halau Nu Pua Lehua, Northern Shaolim Kung Fu Association, UCLA Vietnamese Student Union, Kishin Daiko, LA Little Angels’ Children Chorale, Lan Ling Studio

Sunday | Local Talent – Clarissa Park, LHTP Modern & Traditional Dance Team, Eugene Huang, Vudoo Soul, One2Swing Jitterbugs Dance, Connie Lim & The Forrest Philosophy, Local Mojo, Alfa Garcia, Seriously, Jennifer Chung, Kiyoshi Graves.

For more information, please contact:

LA 18 KSCI-TV

(310) 478-1818

www.la18.tv

www.la18community.com

 Due Date March 12, 2010

The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Asian Pacific American Students Increasing Achievement (ASIA) Scholarship Program will be awarding 21 - $2,000 RMHC/ASIA scholarships. In addition, a $500 honorarium will be awarded to the community based organization of the recipient’s choice.

Eligibility

Currently enrolled high school seniors who have at least one parent of Asian Pacific heritage and who are eligible to attend an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocation-al/technical school with a complete course of study. Applicants must be legal U.S. residents, be less than 21 years of age, have a minimum 2.7 GPA and reside within the geographic boundaries of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino or Ventura counties. Applicants may apply for more than one RMHC of Southern California scholarship program, but can only receive one scholarship award.

For a scholarship application to be:

Mailed - please call (310) 478-1818

Email - community@la18.tv

Download - www.westla-production.com/rmhc/rmhc.pdf

Application Requirements

Eligible students must submit a complete application and attach all of the required documentation or their application will not be reviewed.

Applications must be postmarked no later than March 12, 2010.

Scholarship Terms & Conditions

RMHC of Southern California will award 21 - $2,000 RMHC/ASIA scholarships. In addition, a $500 honorarium will be awarded to the community based organization of the recipients' choice based upon their community involvements as described in their personal statement. Recipients will be selected by an advisory board consisting of educators, and com-munity and civic leaders.

Scholarship recipients must enroll in and attend a two- or four-year accredited college or university or vocational/technical school in the academic year following their selection. Verification of enrollment is required. Scholarship funds will be paid via check directly to the accredited institution in which the student enrolls. Scholarship funds will not be paid directly, nor reimbursed, to an award recipient.

Supporting Documents

Transcript, Personal Statement, Letter of Recommendation REQUIRED

A certified high school transcript that contains the student’s class rank and test scores must be submitted with the attached application. Applicants must carry a minimum 2.7 GPA.

Applicants must submit a personal statement that provides information about their Asian Pacific background, career goals and desire to contribute to their community. Information about unique, personal or financial circumstances may be added. The statement should be double-spaced with no smaller than 12-point font, no more than two pages in length and include the applicant's name and address on the top, right hand side of both pages of the document.

A one-page letter of recommendation from one of the applicant’s teachers or a school official is required. The letter should detail the applicant’s background, achievements, leadership abilities and community involvement. Letters should contain personalized information about the applicant. Form letters will be given minimum consideration.

Please see all details, term and conditions in the scholarship application forms.

For a scholarship application to be:

Mailed - please call (310) 478-1818

Email - community@la18.tv

Download - www.westla-production.com/rmhc/rmhc.pdf

Good luck!

LA 18 KSCI-TV is the Title Sponsor of the 2010 Lunar New Year Festival in Chinatown. This Pan-Asian event is a two-day event:

   - Saturday, February 20, 10am – 5pm

   - Sunday, February 21, 2010 10am – 5pm.

On February 20^th, the 111^th Golden Dragon Parade will take place on the streets in Downtown Chinatown from 1pm – 3pm.

150,000 people attend the two day event. This is an event of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and LA 18 is collaborating with CCC to help produce a bigger and better event next year.

Join us as we celebrate the Lunar New Year – the most anticipated Asian holiday of the year! Marked by colorful festivals, parades and large family gatherings, Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays among Asian Americans.

   - The 111^th Golden Dragon Parade—with over 110,000 individuals lining the parade route, this colorful celebration along North Broadway in Chinatown has become a premiere cultural event in the Southern California Asian-American community—featuring floats, marching bands, dignitaries, entertainers, cultural groups and many others!

   - The Festival features an impressive array of food and entertainment for the entire family to enjoy: booths, cultural performances, local Asian-American talent, food, arts & crafts and prize giveaways.

It should be an exciting Festival! Hope to see you there!

We had the toy drive & reception at the beautiful Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. The floor to ceiling glass windows and modern architecture was the perfect venue for the event. I had afun time along with my friends. There were delicious gourmet food catered, delectable desserts that   satisfied my sweet tooth and an amazing mix of entertainment. There were also fabulous raffle prizes, including a wine & cheese basket, hotel gift certificates, Lawry’s dinner for two and many more!

The talented Helen Ota emceed the event and did a fabulous job. Lawry’s The Prime Rib catered their popular meatballs, creamed corn and creamed spinach. Panda Inn Restaurant brought an assortment of Chinese food and my favorite, white chocolate dipped fortune cookies (I’m eating one right now). Morris Architects was kind enough to provide freshly baked dessert items. There were also free flowing drinks from Hpnotiq, Singha Beer and Starbucks. Throughout the night the crowd enjoyed the sounds from local talent: Fujazz, Clarissa Park and David Choi. David was also generous enough to donate 50% of his CD sales to the Toy Drive! (If you haven't already, go youtube David Choi). At the end of the night, all attendees took home a goodie bag filled with Maggi Seasoning bottles and See’s Candies.

There are 12 beneficiary organizations that are this year’s toy recipients: Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), Asian Pacific Women’s Center (APWC), Asian Youth Center (AYC), Center for Pacific Asian Family (CPAF), Chinatown Service Center (CSC), Korean Health Education Information & Research (KHEIR), Koreatown Youth & Community Center (KYCC), Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), South Asian Helpline & Referral Agency, Thai Health & Information Services, and Western Justice Center Foundation.

THANK YOU to the following co-sponsoring organizations & volunteers: Asian Business League (ABL), Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA), Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance (APAWLA), Asian Professional Exchange (APEX), Japanese American Bar Association (JABA), Korean American Bar Association (KABA), Organization of Chinese Americans Greater Los Angeles (OCAGLA), Philippine American Bar Association (PABA), South Asian Bar Association (SABA), Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA), and Taiwanese American Lawyers Association (TALA).

THANK YOU to the following Corporate Sponsors, listed below:

On a side note, before the December 3^rd event, there was a toy drive from November 16 – December 1 at participating Southern California HSBC bank locations. We’ve collected over 250 toys from the bank locations and congratulations to the HSBC Diamond Bar branch for collecting the most toys!

Thank you again to everyone who was involved and attended the 10^th Anniversary APA Holiday Toy Drive & Reception. We wouldn’t have collected so many toys and bring smiles to the children’s faces without your love and support. Thank you.

{ UPDATE } 

Notable Highlights:

-  Close to 2,000 toys were donated

-  Monetary donations from Asian Bar Association, APEX, HSBC & David Choi - $7,430

-  Gift cards donated to beneficiary organizations - $2,485

-  Over 400 attendees

-  In addition to the toys, each beneficiary organization will receive $100 Target Gift Cards

-  First year for toy drop-off in a retail setting at HSBC's 17 participating branches

   Volunteers organize over 2,000 toys collected        Volunteers help serve food donated by Lawry's & Panda Inn  David Choi - popular local talent performs a few songs | www.davidchoimusic.com 

Celebrate this holiday season by bringing a new unwrapped toy worth at least $15 or minimum donation of $15 to the Holiday Toy Drive & Reception! Annually, hundreds of thousands of toys have been collected and distributed to children of low income families served by nonprofit groups in the Los Angeles area to make the holidays happier and enjoyable.

Catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones while enjoying drinks, food and entertainment throughout the night!

10^th Anniversary APA Community Holiday Toy Drive & Reception

Date:              Thursday, December 3, 2009

Time:               6pm – 9pm

Location:        Japanese American National Museum (369 E. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012)

Admission:      Bring a new unwrapped toy worth at least $15 or minimum donation of $15

Emcee:            Helen Ota

Entertainment: David Choi, Clarissa Park and Fujazz Band

Media Sponsor: LA 18 KSCI-TV

Official Bank Sponsor: HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

Primary Organizers: APEX, APAWLA, JABA, LA 18 KSCI-TV

Co-Sponsoring Organizations: ABL, APABA, APALC, KABA, OCA-GLA, PABA, SABA, SCCLA, TALA

Beverage Sponsors: Hpnotiq, Singha Beer, Starbucks

Food Sponsor: Lawry’s The Prime Rib, Morris Architects

Video Production Sponsor: Pathlight Studios

Venue Sponsor: JANM

Toy Sponsor: OKK Trading, Inc., Megatoys, Winston Toys

Toy Transportation Sponsor: Manila Forwarder

*~*

Holiday Toy Drive Drop-off Locations at Participating HSBC Branch Locations

November 16 - December 1

If you aren’t able to make it to the Toy Drive & Reception, you can drop off a new unwrapped toy worth at least $15 to participating Southern California HSBC branch locations from November 16 – December 1:

Alhambra, Arcadia, Artesia, Beverly Hills, Diamond Bar, Encino, Garden Grove, Glendale, Irvine, LA Chinatown, LA Koreatown, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Rowland Heights, San Gabriel, San Marino, Torrance.

For more information of participating HSBC locations and bank hours, click the following link - http://www.westla-production.com/harvest/HSBC_Locations.pdf

Yiyi and Andy in character  

Yiyi, Juliette and Sean

For those who aren’t familiar with Power Breakfast, it was launched earlier this year and is the only Chinese-language morning show in the country. It’s a blend of mainstream American morning shows with Chinese-American sensibilities. This two-hour live show is packed with news, traffic, weather, celebrity interviews, local market coverage and much more! It airs from 6am – 8am on LA 18 and re-airs on LA 18.8 from 8am – 10am. Check it out! It’s a fun and refreshing way to start your morning.  

Wake Up with Power Breakfast Morning News - Mon thru Fri, 6am-8am

LA 18 KSCI-TV celebrated our 14^th Annual Harvest Moon Festival on Sunday, September 27^th at the beautiful Arcadia County Park. We drew large crowds from across Southern California and hosted the most exciting festival of the season!

Equivalent to Thanksgiving, the Harvest Moon Festival is a holiday celebrated by many Asian communities and revolves around the family, the provision of bountiful food and the full moon. Families share the holiday by coming together to prepare moon cakes, eating together, paying respects to ancestors and gazing at the moon.

LA 18 staff and I spent many months planning for this event. The temperatures were in the high 90s, but that didn’t seem to deter people from attending the Festival. Arcadia County Park was transformed into a world full of exciting activities and pavilions for the kids and family. Festival goers learned useful financial planning tips at the Business Square; received free medical screenings at the Healthy Family Expo; children explored their artistic side at the McDonalds Children’s Village; sampled delicious Korean noodles at the Korean Wave area and cheered for our festival’s entertainment headliner, Quest Crew.

I was the Stage Manager for the entertainment stage and was excited to have many Asian American local cultural groups and talented musicians come perform at our Harvest Moon Festival. Each cultural group performed a couple numbers and wore beautiful outfits. We invited back the energetic One2Swing Jitterbugs Dance group and they were a hit with the crowd! There were so many screaming fans for AJ Rafael, Paul Dateh, David Choi and Quest Crew. The lines at the autograph booth were unbelievably long, but all the fans were happy to meet their favorite performers.   

It was a long day and a great turnout. I didn’t eat much during the day and was so hungry by the time the festival ended. Some friends and I ate a local Chinese eatery called Sinbala. So delicious.  What a satisfying way to end a hard day’s work—with yummy Chinese food. J

So far so good.  We have not received a torrent of calls from viewers who cannot watch LA 18.  We expect that as the day goes on there may be more.  The challenge for us is to provide service to the community in the different languages we serve ranging from Korean to Chinese to Tagalog.  We suspect that the vast majority of calls will come from our most vulnerable viewers who are likely to be ellderly and linguistically isolated.  Other stations have reported an overwhelming number of calls from viewers who can no longer watch their favorite shows.  While we are expecting some disruption for viewers, overall the Asian Pacific American audience in LA is far better acquainted with digital TV than other populations because so many stations, including channel 18, have been airing digital channels for the past year or so.

We'll have an update later in the day to keep you posted on how the first day of digital television is proceeding.

The Mayor honored Emile Mack, Dominic Ng, and Tyrus Wong for their lasting achievements in public safety, business and the arts. Read below for the bios of each award honorees. (Bios derived from Mayor APIAHM Press Release, 4/21/09).

Emile Mack, Chief Deputy of Administrative Operations at Los Angeles Fire Department

Spirit of Los Angeles Award

Emile Mack has led a three decade-long career at the Los Angeles Fire Department. His inspiring story begins with his family. Born in Korea, Mack was adopted by an African American family and raised in the United States, where he attended UCLA and then joined the LAFD. He then rose up the ranks to become second in command of one of the largest fire departments in the nation. Mack also helped restructure and expand the Bureau of Fire Prevention’s Underground Tank Regulation Program, which protects the drinking water systems.

Dominic Ng, President & Chief Executive Officer of East West Bancorp, Inc

Dream of Los Angeles Award

Dominic Ng transformed East West Bank from a saving and loan with $600 million in assets in Los Angeles to a full-service commercial bank with $12.4 billion in assets and 71 locations throughout California, Texas, and Hong Kong. Ng is also well known for his philanthropic endeavors and most notably for his bold leadership as the first Asian American Campaign Chair for the United Way of Los Angeles.

Tyrus Wong, Renowned Artist

Hope of Los Angeles Award

Tyrus Wong has a prolific career in the arts. Still cultivating a thriving career after 70 years, Wong has done everything from painting and illustrating animated films, where he served as the lead artist on Bambi, to designing greeting cards. At the age of nine, Wong came to the US through the Angel Island immigration center. He recently visited the nearly untouched detention barracks where he spent weeks in confinement separated from his family. These experiences have greatly influenced his art, and in turn Wong inspires others with his remarkable story of success.

LA 18 is also airing 30 second vignettes on the station of the APIAHM award honorees. To view these spots, please visit the Our Role Models section.

Mayor Villaraigosa and his award honorees take a photo op with LA 18 employees in the Mayor’s conference room during opening ceremonies

L-R: Emile Mack, Dominic Ng, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Tyrus Wong, Joyce Shimazu, Kelly Che, John Chang

On a side note: In recognition of APIAHM, Director of Community Relations Joyce Shimazu and I will be attending a reception with the Mayor at his residence this Thursday! It should be exciting. :)

-Jennifer