Photo L to R: Leon Kimura, Christy Chung, Neil Kozuma, Cindy Sugino, Sharon Uyeda. Photo by Tom Oshidari.

In 2015, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation provided grant funding for the JACL Civic Engagement program to promote voter registration, voter participation, and civic engagement among JACL members and the Japanese American community.

The San Jose Chapter received a sub-grant through this program to offset the cost of attending the 2015 National Convention. Chapters receiving sub-grants were required to attend voter registration workshops at the convention and conduct voter registration drives in their local area.
Spearheaded by Neil Kozuma, the chapter participated in three voter registration drives:

September 19: Moon Festival, Seven Trees Branch Library and Community Center
September 20: Japantown Lions Pancake Breakfast
September 22: National Voter Registration Day, San Jose State University

Through these efforts, 56 people were registered to vote.

2016 will be a big year for elections, and it’s important for our voices to be heard. If you aren’t registered to vote, go to www.jacl.org and click on the red “Register to Vote” widget. After filling out the online form, print out, sign, and mail the registration to the voter registrar.

(by Christy Chung)