PNDA was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1994. But before then, in 1975, individuals who comprised the original Board of PNDA were instrumental in organizing the Philippine National Day Barrio Fiesta for the Filipino American community in Sacramento. PNDA evolved into a nonprofit with a focus on empowerment projects in the fields of culture, education, and the arts. In 1990, the Outstanding Filipino Youth Awards were organized and the Gintong Lahi Award (Golden Heritage) was conceived. In 1991, the first batch of Outstanding Filipino Youth received recognition awards, namely, Gintong Lahi Award (highest award), Achievement Award, and Recognition Award. The recognition and scholarship project grew as it continued on to the present, through 20 years by 2010 and on to 25 years in 2015.
Its consistency, continuance, and growth is attributed to PNDA's collaboration with other community organizations and the emergence of scholarship granting programs that offered scholarship grants like the Asian Pacific Rim Foundation, Council of Asian Pacific Islanders Together for Advocacy and Leadership (CAPITAL), the Ronald McDonald House Charities/Asia Scholarship Program, California State University Sacramento's Asian Pacific American Community Leadership Foundation, and the Wells Fargo Foundation. The most recent phenomenon is of families who choose OFYA to administer their scholarship foundation in memory of a loved one. Also in 1991, Sinag-Tala Theater Project held its very first show. For 14 years this project launched the Christmas Holiday Season in the Filipino American community in Sacramento as PNDA's project. In 2004, the project separated from PNDA and continued under another Board leadership.
In 1996, the first Filipino American Youth Leadership Conference (FAYLC) was held at California State University Sacramento and continued until 2009. The conference was revived in 2016, and hosted 30 students. This was followed by an attendance of 60 students in 2017. In 2005, LahiARTS, PNDA's premier arts project was launched with a Gala Opening featuring "The Sarimanok Travels," by Francis Tanglao-Aguas on October 23, 2005 at the California Museum, funded in part by the Sacramento Cultural Arts Awards Program of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission with support from the City and County of Sacramento. This program will be revived in 2018. Also in 2018, the PNDA Board of Directors are planning to launch the Filipino American Mentoring program (FAM) as well as a new "student pipeline" project that will help middle school and high school students create and manage their own Filipino culture student clubs.
To create and carry out educational, cultural, artistic, and other programs that contribute to the betterment and empowerment of the Filipino-American Community. To accomplish this mission, PNDA will mentor, educate, and support Filipino youth, in order to promote an appreciation of the distinct contributions of Filipino-Americans to the regional and national communities, to stimulate intergenerational community leadership, and to assemble multicultural partnerships.
Outstanding Filipino Youth Award (OFYA) Scholarships ($20,000): Established in 1990, OFYA is the recognition and scholarship program of PNDA. OFYA recognizes the achievements of 8th and 12th grade students and grants scholarships to deserving high school seniors pursuing a college education. The program requires students to complete an application process, a panel interview and a personal statement. PNDA volunteers evaluate students based on these three aspects and select the deserving awardees. Along the way, students learn more about their Filipino heritage and culture. OFYA has served as a pipeline of future community leaders as several current and former PNDA directors and volunteers were OFYA participants. PNDA hopes to increase the amount of scholarship money available to 12th grade students with a short-term goal of being able to pay for one year of college tuition for one student.
Filipino American Youth Leadership Conference (FAYLC) ($10,000): Organized in 1996, FAYLC is PNDA's intergenerational project. Topics of Filipino/Filipino-American identity, leadership, preparing for college, sexuality, generational/cultural conflicts, empowering/disempowering relationships, family dynamics, and racism are discussed with current issues and relevant trends. Participants learn more about themselves and their society while also being empowered to use what they learn towards their future.
LahiARTS ($10,000): LahiARTS ("Filipino people's arts") empowers the community, stimulates creativity and artistic expression, showcases Filipino artists, and encourages new art forms in order to expose the community to endless possibilities of art.
The Filipino American Mentorship Program (FAM) is a project of the Philippine National Day Association that serves to cultivate leadership and community engagement opportunities for the Filipino American community. Utilizing a Pamilya (family) network, FAM aims to foster meaningful relationships across community members and provide intentional guidance and support to empower college and high school students to engage with their community.
Filipino Community Resource Fair ($1,000): Started in October of 2016 as the "Comm-UNITY Resource Fair" this current event title was created in June of 2017. At this most recent event, PNDA invited many of its community partners, including the City of Sacramento, the California Department of Human Resources, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD), the Bayanihan Clinic of UC Davis, Elk Grove Unified School District, Philippine Nurses Association, My Sister's House, and ACC Senior Services (where the event was held both times). In addition to resource tables, workshops on healthy living as well as legal clinics for undocumented families were provided at no cost to the community.
Organization name
Philippine National Day Association
other names
PNDA
Tax id (EIN)
68-0339655
Mission Category
Community Improvement, Capacity Building
Operating Budget
$0-$50,000
Organization Need
Funding: Program
Address
3810 BroadwaySacramento, CA, US