'Outreach summits' launched, 1st stop Chicago
A series of Muslim Outreach Summits are planned
coast-to-coast by the Obama administration to get feedback from Muslims on how
the government can better serve them and their specific desires.
The president’s adopted home town of Chicago will be the
first stop.
WND initially discovered documents referring to the Muslim
summits while examining a U.S. Department of Education procurement of
data-gathering and report-writing services.
The services are specific to information being assembled by
the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, or
WHIAAPI, which Obama created via executive order in 2009.
Upon closer inspection, however, WND learned that the
Education Department explicitly will direct the selected contractor to
chronicle findings and recommendations gleaned from the Muslim Outreach
Summits.
The White House views this year’s venues as an extension of
a previous outreach to “new immigrants and refugees – some of the most
underserved in the AAPI community,” according to a document titled “WHIAAPI
2013 Faith-Based and Community Engagement.”
Complementing the prior effort will be the three “regional
convenings,” tentatively scheduled June 15 in Chicago, June 22 in San Francisco
and June 29 in New York City.
“These cities are main AAPI immigrant hubs and entry points
for new immigrants/refugees,” according to a related document, “Questions
Received from Vendors: Development and Preparation of the AAPI Annual Report to
the President.”
“Each convening with [sic] include panel
discussions/workshops with federal officials on key issues impacting the
community and also an open-dialogue session to hear directly from the community
about issues of concern.”
One vendor submitted a question to the Education Department
asking, “Is there separate authorizing legislation for the Muslim Outreach
Summits, or is it included in the AAPI EO [Executive Order]?”
The department, in response, acknowledged that separate
authorizing legislation does not exist.
Rather, it says that Obama crafted the initiative solely
through executive order, which it justified because the endeavor’s goal is to
“improve the quality of life of AAPIs through increased participation in
federal programs in which AAPIs may be underserved.”
The vendor-question document further states that Obama’s
“faith-based outreach summits” will help the government to provide federal
resources to “underserved AAPIs” while determining their ongoing needs.
When Obama signed the executive order Oct. 14, 2009, he also
launched a separate President’s Advisory Commission on AAPI as well as a
Federal Interagency Working Group.
The groups work collaboratively with the White House Office
of Public Engagement and federal agencies “to increase Asian American and
Pacific Islander participation.”
“The initiative seeks to highlight both the tremendous unmet
needs in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities as well as the
dynamic community assets that can be leveraged to meet many of those needs.”
It hopes to address the needs of those communities by
increasing participation in a broad swath of programs, such as those involving
art, business, education, environmental and justice programs.
Sometime after the three Muslim Outreach Summits, the chosen
contractor will develop and then present its summary report to the president
and to newly appointed WHIAAPI commissioners.
The contracting action – the first of its kind since its
inception in 2008 – will help lay the foundation for the initiative’s future
work, the document says.
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