Benefiting the Health Justice Network, Plate by Plate

I’ve had the chance now to go to a few culinary events, and the immediate focus is, rightly, on the food: as it is often said, to “eat, drink, and be merry.”  This year’s Plate by Plate SoCal offered guests every opportunity to do just that.  Area chefs worked hard at their stations (and at friendly banter with the crowd) to provide attendees a fine (and fun) dining experience with an impressive lineup of dishes varying in flavor, influence, and dietary preference – from Charlie Palmer’s pomegranate glazed duck meatballs, La Cachette Bistro’s provencal tarts, to One World Vegetarian Cuisine’s vegan cupcakes.

One of the more memorable dishes of the night was Maison Akira’s crab flan with lobster sauce – it was an unexpected treat after the many tartares and seared tunas offered by other restaurants.  Airier and more intensely flavored than crab cake along with the silken smoothness of flan.  Delicious.  One dish that was just fun to eat was Musha’s spicy tuna dip with rice cracker.  It’s a dish without pretensions, but a creative play on the universal appeal of chips and dip.  The popped rice cracker was light and crunchy, the tuna smooth and flavorful, overall a perfect combination. 

And it went very nicely with my Singha beer.  (For isn’t there is something to be said for a dish that pairs perfectly with an ice-cold beer?)  Fraiche was one of the few restaurants that served a dessert along with their savory dish: panna cotta with watermelon soup. 

Panna cotta is such a simple dish – really just a blob of (literally translated) “cooked cream” – but as with a lot of dishes, it’s this simplicity that really brings the quality of the ingredients to the forefront.  Fraiche’s version sat in a pool of watermelon soup, and the refreshing watermelon was a nice complement to the dense creaminess of the – well, cream.  Better adjectives fail me at this point, but suffice it to say, this was excellent panna cotta, and I wished the portions had been bigger.

Complementing the food was, really, any sort of drink anyone could want (tea, beer, sake, wine, cocktails, and even locally-produced limoncello) and a stunning space in which to come together for an important cause.  It was a festive mood, with guests dressed accordingly, and organizers celebratory for all they have accomplished this year in benefiting Project by Project’s partner organization, The Health Justice Network.

But now – in the aftermath of a night of wonderful gluttony (just take a look at the pictures!) – I’d like to focus attention on the community organization that will benefit from Plate by Plate SoCal 2010.  It’s easy to attend these sorts of events knowing that ticket sales alone directly assist great organizations and causes within the community.  And just judging from how easy it was to lose friends in the crowd packed into the spacious Wallis Annenburg Building on this particular summer night, so many individuals came out in a show of collective strength and support for Project by Project SoCal and its partner organization. So I hope readers, those who attended this year’s event, and even future attendees will find it useful to learn a little more about the Health Justice Network.  Because perhaps we can all be reminded that HJN, and other community organizations, need our continuing support.

Scott Chan, a Community Advocate at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) has graciously answered a few questions about the Health Justice Network, an organization “that serves as a collaborative voice for the API community to advance a pro-active agenda around health disparities and the right to quality health services, while growing community leadership and developing advocacy potential in individuals and organizations.”

Could you briefly describe why an organization such as the Health Justice Network is needed in the community?

Scott Chan: The Health Justice Network (HJN) encourages API communities to actively engage in changing health policy, while at the same time, furthering the idea that community members and organizations are the ones to advocate and be the root of this change.

To add to that, HJN also acts as the medium for all these different parties, to build coalitions and work on issues collaboratively.

Tell us more about your partnership with Project by Project.  What strides have you made over the course of the past year with their help?

SC: Project by Project has done much to help expand the capacities of the network. With their partnership this past year, we have already developed a formal logo for our network as well as new outreaching materials, and we have been able to connect volunteers with several of our HJN member organizations. In addition to this, we have continually been developing and revising strategies for an integrated volunteer system for the network, a new website, and new communities to bring in to the network.

Are there any particular issues, policy, or causes you’d like to talk about?  What are some of the most critical issues facing the community at present?

SC: There are many critical issues that need to be addressed in API communities, and it is difficult to really say that one is a higher priority over another.

Given the capacity and scope of work from our member agencies, HJN is currently focused on several key areas, including chronic diseases and language access.

Chronic diseases: There are chronic diseases that impact API communities, and even specific API ethnic groups, more than other communities. One such disease that we decided to focus on is Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B, while chronically infecting only around 1 in 1,000 of Caucasians in the United States, has been devastating towards API communities. In fact, 1 in 10 APIs are chronically infected without even knowing. There are no real symptoms until one has reached the status of liver cancer.

Because of these daunting statistics, HJN’s chronic diseases subcommittee has been hard at work pushing to pass legislation that would not only provide additional funding from the Federal government towards Hepatitis treatment, but it would also help establish infrastructure to educate and prevent the spread of the disease.

Language Access: Imagine going to the hospital, and not being able to communicate with the doctor. Or imagine you are a child going along with your mono-lingual parent to the hospital to help communicate with the doctor. Access to proper language services is another issue HJN works on.

Any government agency that receives funding from the Federal government is required by law to provide services in-language. However, this has not been the case, and as a result we have API community members who are not able to access services, such as healthcare. HJNs language access subcommittee continues to advocate to make sure there is better enforcement of policies already put in place to guarantee language services for communities that truly need them.

How can the average member of the community help? Where can someone look for more information on health justice issues?

SC: HJN is comprised of over 50 community-based organizations, located all across Southern California. These organizations work on a variety of different health issues but do have one thing in common; they would undoubtedly benefit from the involvement of community members.

One way to help would be through donations. So often organizations receive funding that is restricted for certain uses, which does not allow groups to grow in capacity. Donations from community members act as unrestricted funding, that would allow for the organizations to invest in infrastructure building, and staff growth.

Another way to help would be to volunteer at an organization. Not only would the additional people power help, but if the volunteer had any additional skills to offer (such as website creation/design, marketing, PR, etc), that could really help organizations limited in capacity. If one volunteers enough, a next level of involvement could even be joining the board of directors.

Looking forward, what are your goals for the organization?

SC: In addition to continuing our mission, we hope to further expand the network to include groups outside of community-based organizations. We are beginning to work with medical associations and student groups, and we are seeing how work among all these different groups can actually align towards social justice on health issues.

To learn more about The Health Justice Network, visit them online at http://healthjusticenetwork.wordpress.com/.

Photos by Ed Kwon for Appetite for Good.

Project by Project is an Asian-American national volunteer organization of social entrepreneurs committed to championing causes of interest to the Asian-American community. The effectiveness of Project by Project is rooted in its pool of more than 1,500 volunteers nationwide who provide applied skills such as fundraising, marketing and PR consulting, event planning, strategic consulting and other assistance. Each year, Project by Project’s chapters target a different cause and partner with an under-served nonprofit organization dedicated to issues within that cause. Project by Project’s volunteers work closely with partner organizations to tailor a year-long campaign to assist with fundraising, community outreach, and public awareness efforts. For more information, please visit http://www.projectbyproject.org.

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