The Volunteer-Powered Publication, Which Looks To “Inform And Empower” AAPI Communities, Will Help Advance AAJA’s Strategic Priorities And Support Student Journalism.
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) announced on Friday, May 13, 2022, that it will become the fiscal sponsor for The Yappie, a nonpartisan publication dedicated to tracking the rise of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) political power.
Inspired by the Asian Creative Network and a Wong Fu miniseries by the same name, The Yappie was founded as a student newsletter in 2019 but has since grown to become an essential briefing on the national policy news and activism affecting AAPI communities.
Under the agreement, The Yappie will become an AAJA-sponsored project eligible for grants, and AAJA will accept tax-deductible contributions on behalf of the publication as it works to obtain IRS tax-exempt status. The Yappie is currently engaged in several reporting projects through the Solutions Journalism Network’s Advancing Democracy initiative and recently secured a $10,000 award via the 2022 Next Challenge for Media & Journalism. It was also a semifinalist in the 2022 President’s Innovation Challenge at Harvard University.
“AAJA is proud to be a fiscal sponsor of The Yappie and to support their mission and growth as we lean into our strategic priorities of member engagement and thought leadership,” said AAJA’s executive director Naomi Tacuyan Underwood. “Publications like The Yappie that educate and foster dialogue for AAPI communities are crucial. We’re thrilled to support AAPI-led media endeavors that share our mission of ensuring accurate representation of AAPI communities, and we hope that this partnership will help them in expanding their reach and visibility.”
“The Yappie was created to inform and empower the next generation of AAPIs, and we appreciate AAJA for offering guidance as we explore paths towards long-term sustainability,” said Andrew Peng and Andrew Huang, co-founders of The Yappie. “This agreement moves us in a direction where we can more easily seek out funding and fairly compensate contributors. Because our missions are perfectly aligned, we also hope The Yappie can become a future home for great AAPI stories and journalism that young AAJA members may struggle to pitch elsewhere.”
“We are grateful to have AAJA’s support as we aggressively expand our coverage to include a broad range of AAPI experiences,” said The Yappie’s editorial director Shawna Chen. “The AAPI community has reached a new level of visibility, for better or worse, and is actively shaping American politics and policy like never before. As a result, the need for careful and nuanced reporting has never been greater. AAPIs deserve to read about the people who are working to address their challenges, and we believe this exciting partnership will enable us to navigate the next chapter of history.”
The fiscal sponsorship advances the strategic priorities unveiled by AAJA in January, where the organization pledged to support “journalists and storytellers as they build their own initiatives that will transform the industry.” The majority of The Yappie team are members of AAJA.
About the Asian American Journalists Association
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a non-profit professional journalism organization dedicated to ensuring fair and accurate coverage of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and helping Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists succeed in the newsroom and the industry. AAJA, founded in 1981, has more than 2,000 members across the United States and Asia. Since its founding, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. Learn more at www.aaja.org.
AAJA contacts: Sofia Koyama, sofiak@aaja.org, Daniella Ignacio, daniellai@aaja.org
About The Yappie
The Yappie is a nonpartisan publication fiscally sponsored by the Asian American Journalists Association and dedicated to tracking Asian American and Pacific Islander power, politics, and influence. Learn more at theyappie.com/about.
The Yappie contact: Andrew Peng, andrew.peng@theyappie.com