This was by far the largest turnout for one of our educational forums. The unknown impact of Redistricting changes brought out many of our members and friends to hear and see how the political landscape has been altered for the API community.

• Jennifer Pae of the East Bay Voters Consortium gave a PowerPoint presentation on how the newly drawn district lines have shifted API and other minority communities.
• Michelle Romero presented the Greenlining Institute’s viewpoint on what the nonpartisan Redistricting Commission did and how they responded to community feedback on the new district lines.
• Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski of the 20th Assembly District expressed his concerns on representing divergent groups in different cities that were not previously within his district.

Senator Majority Leader Ellen Corbett made a guest appearance and gave her opinions and overall viewpoint on the redistricting changes and how it would impact the Democratic leadership in Alameda County. She also noted that ours was one of the best redistricting presentations she has attended.

Thank you one and all for participating in this forum. Special thanks go to our panel of presenters for their time and effort. Many thoughtful questions from the audience were elicited.

We are also grateful to Board member Raj Salwan for arranging the use of his father’s home and for the delicious Indian cuisine. Last but not least to Board member Arnie Fong and the Event Committee members for all their work in putting together such a successful program.