Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP) held national forum on promoting Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) heritage in Washington, DC on September 14-16, 2014.

APIAHiP’s National APIA Historic Preservation Forum attracted over 150 community leaders from APIA preservation-related organizations and projects across the country making it one of the largest gatherings of community-based preservationists, policymakers, and legislative representatives working with APIA-related heritage and preservation across the United States and American territories. Hundreds have participated and attended the biennial National APIA Historic Preservation Forum since 2010. 

The 2014 Forum provided an opportunity to connect APIA communities across the United States and to engage more deeply in policy and advocacy related to APIA heritage and preservation. With the theme, “Building National Visibility and Partnerships to Promote APIA Heritage,” the 2014 Forum was a unique opportunity to:

• Interact with local and national preservation organizations to develop innovative solutions and build partnerships;

• Dialogue with experts on preservation policy issues;

• Advance community-based solutions that collectively address the increasing need for more visibility of historic sites and more engagement in historic and cultural preservation;

• Advocate and preserve APIA historic sites and cultural resources; and network and collaborate with APIA preservation-related organizations and leaders to build national partnerships to promote APIA heritage.

The 2014 Forum provided an opportunity to connect to more APIA communities beyond the West Coast and to engage more deeply in policy and advocacy related to APIA heritage and preservation. This proved to be an important moment to strengthen connections at the federal level with the recent efforts by the National Park Service Asian Pacific Islander Initiative.