The Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE) was founded to mobilize policies, programs and partnerships to prepare, promote and empower Rhode Island's Southeast Asian students for educational and career success. Participants will briefly learn about the need for an organization like ARISE (holistic support and development for Southeast Asian students). The session will debunk the model minority myth and establish the importance of ethnic studies as it relates to community investment, representation, and student academic achievement. Successes of the organization will be highlighted as it relates to the partnership and implementation of our ethnic studies course, which explores the impact of the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia and groups who are indigenous to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.
Participants will learn about resources diverse stakeholders can utilize to support the effort for ethnic studies and will examine a successful model for district- and community-based organization partnership.