After receiving requests for an event focusing on Women’s Health, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be hosting a live in-person Women’s Health Townhall on June 7th at the White House.
Kathleen Sebelius and Mayra Alvarez speaking at Minority Health Townhall in April. HHS photo by Chris Smith
The Women’s Health Townhall will be an interactive, pen dialogue with stakeholder groups and bloggers to highlight what the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, means for women. Senior White House officials representing the US Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius and Mayra Alvarez will be in attendance along with many other distinguished guests.
The event also will have breakout sessions focusing on specific topics and discussing outreach to women. The event will be streamed live on June 7th, 10am-1130am via www.whitehouse.gov/live and www.hhs.gov/live.
What do you think this year’s Women’s Health Townhall should talk about?
For the two year Anniversary of the re-authorization of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by President Obama, White House Initiative co-Chair Christopher Lu held a conference call with White House AAPI Initiative director Kiran Ahuja on Tuesday October 11.
The call served for Lu and Ahuja to highlight the Initiative’s historic accomplishments, outline a vision for its future, and to preview major anniversary events planned for this month.
Just last week, President Obama designated Lu to join Education Secretary Arne Duncan as co-chair of the White House Initiative. President Obama also appointed Olympic skating champion Apolo Ohno, Professor May Chen, and Dr. Tung Thanh Nguyen to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The White House Initiative was signed in October 2009 by President Barack Obama. The Initiative’s goal remains to improve the quality of life and opportunities for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by facilitating increased access to and participation in federal programs where they remain underserved.
For more information about the White House AAPI Initiative, please visit http://whitehouse.gov/aapi.
On October 13, 2011, the White House was filled with the beautiful music of the three Korean American sisters, the Ahn Trio, as part of a Welcoming State Dinner for South Korea. Continue Reading »
Awesome news of the week: Kal Penn will be returning to Hollywood to play Cobie Smulder‘s love interest in How I Met Your Mother!
The Washington Post has reported that Kal will be leaving his position as associate director in the Office of Public Engagement at the White House for a role on the hit CBS sitcom.
I love Kal in anything he does, whether it’s as an actor or as a government official. But I’m especially excited because I love Kal Penn and I love How I Met Your Mother!
It’s also exciting to hear that one of the lead females on prime time television will have an Asian American love interest. We’re already familiar with Asian Female – Caucasian Male relationships in Hollywood. It’s about time we show some love to our Asian American men out there!
How do you feel about Kal Penn on How I Met Your Mother?
Get your chips, dip and plenty of beer ready. It’s the Superbowl!
And just in time — we have this exclusive, must-see pre-game video of Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers, talking about not just growing up Korean and African American, but why he’s proud to be appointed to the White House’s Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Go Steelers!
Just out: the White House announced that Chinese American Tina Tchen has been promoted to Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady.
Tina Tchen, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the First Lady.
The First Lady released this statement:
“I am thrilled to welcome Tina to my team. I have admired her work with the White House Council on Women and Girls and her leadership with the Office of Public Engagement. Tina’s tenure at the White House has focused on ensuring that communities across the country have a voice and a presence at the White House, and her office has worked closely with mine to develop many of our outreach efforts, so she was the natural choice for this role. We particularly share a commitment to nurturing young women and utilizing the White House as a platform for education and inclusion, and I look forward to continuing that work together.
“When selecting a replacement, I looked for someone who had the right experience to lead my team and am grateful to bring on Tina, whom I’ve known and respected for 20 years. Tina’s success leading the Office of Public Engagement, reaching out to people across the country and encouraging Americans from all walks of life to feel connected to this White House, makes her uniquely qualified to step up to this position. I look forward to working with her in the years ahead to develop effective strategies for the Let’s Move! campaign, to broaden our work on behalf of military families, to continue the arts and cultural events in the White House, and to advance our international agenda.”
Tchen began her work for the President and First Lady during the 2008 campaign. Prior to that, Tchen was a partner at the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where she worked for 23 years in corporate litigation, representing public agencies including the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS), the Illinois Department of Public Aid and the Chicago Housing Authority.
