FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: emma@ncapaonline.org
June 25th, 2021
Washington, DC—The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) issued the following statement regarding the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework. The Framework would allocate $1.2 trillion towards strengthening the infrastructure of clean transportation, clean water, universal broadband, clean power, remediation of legacy pollution, and resilience to the changing climate.
The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is encouraged by the progress being made by our country’s leaders towards an ambitious infrastructure plan that will solidify our national recovery. While revitalizing national infrastructure has been long overdue, we cannot ignore the inequities that have been laid bare by the pandemic.
As details continue to be finalized, we believe that investments must be made in communities that have been most under-resourced. This means infrastructure investments in AANHPI cultural centers and communities across the country. This means ensuring that closing the digital divide includes language access so that immigrant communities can also benefit.
Past recovery efforts sacrificed equity for expediency–and we urge the Biden Administration and Congress to ensure that this is not repeated.
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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 38 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.