2019 Year In Review

This year, LEAP provided 95 workshops and presentations to 2,848 participants. Of these, 42 workshops were delivered to 1,397 participants through community-based organizations such as: Los Angeles Conservation Corps, Anti-Defamation League, Teach For America, and Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers.

LEAP also provided leadership training for mid-career corporate managers, senior staff of nonprofit organizations, higher education professionals, and college and high school students. These programs included:

• LEAP Pathways Program, a 3-day leadership development program designed to promote the professional development of API employees within corporations. In 2019, 39 participants each spent 24 hours in leadership training. 
  

• LEAP Exceed: The Executive Leadership Program (formerly the Asian and Pacific Islander Executive Leadership Program), a customized program designed for a corporation to prepare individuals for executive level leadership. In 2019, 29 participants spent 48 hours in leadership training and 9 hours in executive coaching with certified coaches.
  

• LEAP Advance Program, in partnership with Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE), is a leadership development program for API higher education administrative staff and faculty. In 2019, 36 participants in this program engaged in 33 hours of leadership training over four days. 

• LEAP Impact Program, is a three-part, six-month program designed to develop API staff for leadership and management roles in nonprofit organizations. This program was sponsored by American Express, Gilead Sciences, and Southwest Airlines – The Official Airline of LEAP Impact. In 2019, 16 participants gained 79 hours of leadership development training and 6 hours of executive coaching.

• LEAP Emerge Program, for college age students. This program has multiple strategies that include:

  • LEAP Emerge: Summer Internship, an 8-week paid summer internship program that provides 7 college students with practical leadership skills and experience working in an API-serving nonprofit organization in Southern California. The summer internship was sponsored by Nissan, Southern California Edison, Macy’s, Southwest Airlines – The Official Airline of LEAP Emerge. The summer interns spent 99.5 hours over eight weeks in leadership training. Additionally, they worked on a group project. The Emergeinterns conducted semi-structured interviews with community members in Los Angeles’ historic API enclaves: Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town. The project can be viewed here. 

  • LEAP Emerge: Leadership Retreat Week, a 4-day residential program that invited 5 college students who were involved in partner organizations to attend leadership development alongside the Summer Internship participants. These students represented the Coalition for Asian Children and Families in New York, the East Coast Asian American Student Union, the Midwest Asian American Student Union, and California State University, Los Angeles. They received 40 hours of leadership development.

  • LEAP Emerge: The Classroom Edition, a 16-week program created in partnership with California State University, Los Angeles. This program brings leadership development and a student internship to the campus to increase access for working students. 

• Career and Leadership Seminars, a combination of leadership development workshops and panel discussions for college-age audiences. LEAP delivered 15 workshops and panels to 170 participants. These Career and Leadership Seminars are sponsored by Macy’s and Nissan. 

• High School Leadership Initiative (HSLI), a series of workshops tailored to API high school students between the ages of 15-18 to increase self-awareness as well as think critically about leadership and cultural values. LEAP delivered 6 workshops to 270 high school students in California. Sponsored by General Motors Foundation and Southern California Edison.

Informing Society

LEAP is one of four leading organizations (Catalyst, Inc., the Executive Leadership Council, and the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility) that make up the Alliance for Board Diversity. The mission of the is to enhance shareholder value in Fortune 500 companies by promoting inclusion of women and minorities on corporate boards. 

In 2019, the Alliance for Board Diversity, in collaboration with Deloitte, released its multi-year study on board representation of women and minorities. The report Missing Pieces Report: the 2018 Board Diversity Census, provides insightful metrics on the shift towards greater diversity in board rooms in the US, despite slow pace in relation to the rapidly shifting demographics in the US. To obtain a copy, or review the 2018 report that includes additional data on board diversity in the Fortune 100, Fortune 500 and a list of companies with the broadest diversity on their boards, check out our website here, or visit our partner’s websites at www.deloitte.com / www.theabd.org/.

LEAP’s 37th Anniversary Celebration

LEAP's 37th Anniversary Celebration was held on July 18, 2019 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Los Angeles, CA. The celebration raised approximately $500,000. Our entire 2019 event was a huge success! The celebration began with LEAP’s Leadership Bootcamp in the morning, giving guests and partners a brief insight on LEAP’s mission and programs, and provided a space for leaders of all levels to meet and share experience and knowledge built up over their years. Turnout and engagement for the evening celebration was just as successful! Over 500 guests attended the evening celebration, surrounded by amazing musical talents, great food, and fun games and entertainment for folks of all ages! On this festive evening, LEAP honored the following leaders:

• Individual Leadership Award Recipient

  • Susan Jin Davis, Vice President, Environmental Affairs Chief Sustainability Officer, Comcast Corporation 

  • Wyman M. Fong, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District

  • Geri Yang-Johnson, Vice President & Community Relations Senior Consultant, Wells Fargo

  • South Bay F.O.R. (Friends of Richard)

• David R. Barclay Alumni Leadership Award Recipient

  • Vu Le, Executive Director, Rainier Valley Corps