Hi TACLFam,

Can you believe it? We had our first convention in two years since Atlanta in January 2020. A little over two months ago from February 18th to 21st, we finally had a chance to have a #taclfam reunion, and we were beyond excited to Reunite, Reconnect, and Rediscover – this time, hosted in Los Angeles!

We know not everyone could attend this reunion, but we certainly hope everyone has been staying safe and healthy these days. As we continue to get used to our new “normal” daily routines, we wanted to share a few updates with the community on some of the initiatives that TACL is working on currently.

We kicked off the weekend with our usual National Convention TAPpy Hour at Cheers Bar & Grill in San Gabriel as the visitors from out of town started settling into the city. Both new and familiar faces came out and got to catch up over some drinks and bites!

Saturday began with quick announcements about our new TACL board members – say hello to our newest additions: Chris Balmaseda, Julie Shen, and Tiffany Yang.

We then mixed things up with an icebreaker breakout to get the members to meet and mingle in small groups.

Our Census Director, Christina Hu, then helped lead a session on learning how to use IPUMS Census and Survey Data (https://usa.ipums.org/) to better understand the people in our local communities. This data helps us better understand and serve our community. 

Our afternoon continued as we virtually hosted our keynote speaker Charles Yu, award winning author and writer for both film and television (HBO, FX, and AMC). Members were able to interact with Charles and ask questions about his experiences, background, and what drove him. Take a look at the recorded keynote here. Additionally, together with TaiwaneseAmerican.org, Charles has also sponsored the Betty L. and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes for Taiwanese American students. Learn more here: 2022 Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes

We ended the day with some storytelling of our own in our Campfire Stories breakout session. 

After an eventful day of group interaction, we wrapped up the day with small group dinners as people spread out to try the good eats the LA scene has to offer.

On Sunday, we got started by having each member of different chapters meet their counterparts from other regions. It was followed by more team building activities focused on reigniting the community, and wrapped up the afternoon with some friendly competition between the chapters with a showdown of Family Feud in which LYF Camp won! Not only did they have bragging rights to be #1, the winners also received signed copies of Charles Yu’s book, Interior Chinatown.

Last but not least, we capped off the convention weekend with our Leadership Banquet Sunday night at the Monterey Park Marriot with the keynote speech delivered by former TACL President, Ben Ling, and hosted various guests of honor. We also announced the start of our new initiative, the TACLegacy Fund. While TACL has thrived as an organization for many years since its founding in 1985, its success remains heavily dependent on the enthusiasm of its volunteers.

By establishing the TACLegacy Fund, we are looking to bring TACL to the next level as a non-profit organization—where TACL and our various programs’ operations and campaigns can be supported by full time staff. We also look to TACLegacy Fund to help us market and grow as an organization as well. We believe the TACLegacy Fund will enable TACL to build a more sustainable future for the next generation.

This was a night to remember as we continue to look forward to the next convention in a few more months. Speaking of which, any guesses on where we’ll be headed to in September? Find out by watching a special reveal video with the exciting announcement! 

Till then, thank you everyone for taking part of this special convention and hope everyone enjoyed getting back together as #taclfam after so much time apart. Special thank you to the TAP-LA team for hosting all of us in Los Angeles, and we can’t wait to see everyone again!

National TACL Board