Project by Project

An update on our 2008 partner campaign by Dan Au

Santa Monica, CA – LA party people looking for a good time last Friday found it at Wokcano in Santa Monica, where Macy Gray provided her star power and disc-jockeying skills to the Center for Asians United for Self-Empowerment (CAUSE) and Project by Project's (PbP's) voter registration party. The event's organizers asked partygoers to register to vote in lieu of paying the $15 cover. The event was resounding success. Over 200 people in the notoriously difficult to reach "youth" demographic registered over the course of the six-hour event and more paid the cover to pack the house before 10PM. As a bonus, volunteers helping to register their fellow Americans were rewarded with over $600 in coupons to some of LA's most renowned restaurants, including Cafe Del Rey, Luna Park, and Ketchup

It was a star-studded and event-filled evening hosted by NBC's "Heroes" James Kyson Lee. Asian-American celebrities John Cho (Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist), Nicole Bilderback ("Cold Case", "Heroes"), Beau Sia (Def Poetry Jam, Rachel Getting Married), Aaron Yoo (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Wackness), Ted Chen (KNBC's "Today in LA"), and Olivia Munn ("Attack of the Show!") all stopped by to get their groove on with DJ Nemesis Jaxson (Macy Gray) and the vivacious crowd. The Projekt NewSpeak-sponsored Sketch Comedy Show warmed up the crowd with an energetic stand-up comedy routine and was followed by Kollaboration musicians Sam Geunjin Kang and Jason Arimoto. Alex Hwang (Kollaboration and Projekt NewSpeak) and Beau Sia also performed. Great weather at the indoor/outdoor venue also contributed to the event's success. "It was an incredible turnout," said PbP Director of Volunteers, Gina Lee.

Indeed it was, and not just by the stars and partygoers. Volunteers from non-profits' Islander Vote ("I-Vote"), The Asian Professional Exchange ("APEX"), Asian Pacific American Legislative Staff Network (APALS), and Kollaboration all came out to lend CAUSE and PbP a hand in making the event successful.

Besides being a rockin' good time for all who attended, the event was an important last-minute push by the organizers to get voters in the API community registered before the October 20th deadline. CAUSE has worked tirelessly this election year to get potential voters in the Asian-Pacific Islander community registered. The organization got a big boost in its efforts when PbP, a non-profit that helps other non-profits, selected CAUSE as its partner for 2008. Together, the two organizations have registered voters at a number of community events such as the Pacific Islander Festival held in May and last month's LA18 Harvest Moon Festival. CAUSE has also hosted its own voter registration parties prior to the Wokcano event, most notably its voter registration Public Service Announcement party with George Takei and Kelly Hu.

Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE) is a 501(c)(3) (Tax Exempt Id., 95-4458597) nonprofit, non-partisan, community-based organization with a mission to advance the political empowerment of the Asian Pacific American community through non-partisan voter registration and education, community outreach, and leadership development. www.causeusa.org