YORK COUNTY — Earlier this year, sisters Cailyn and Sophia Jiao started a chapter of Dear Asian Youth in York County — an international nonprofit that aims to empower Asian youth through activism.
“There wasn’t really anything, at least where I grew up, that was centered around focusing on Asian issues, like advocating for Asian youth in our community.” Cailyn Jiao said. “I just wanted to create a space that allowed for that to happen, to create a community where Asian youth can come together, and they can talk about issues that they themselves are facing.”
The organization held an online bake sale, which, according to Cailyn, generated around $600 in profits. The money will be donated to Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility, or CLEAR, a New York-based nonprofit that provides legal support and representation for marginalized communities.
CLEAR is currently representing Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, and Grafton High School 2022 valedictorian Yunseo Chung. On June 5, a federal judge blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining Chung. ICE has been trying to detain Chung since March 9, according to the Washington Post.
“By donating these funds, we’re basically telling them we support them and all of anything that they do,” Cailyn Jiao said.
Dear Asian Youth plans to hold more bake sales and fundraising events in the future, and possibly during the summer.
As a sophomore, Cailyn started a chapter of Dear Asian Youth in Connecticut. After spending a year abroad in Taiwan, Jiao knew she wanted to start a chapter in York County, too.
“Silence is basically like complicity to anything that happens,” Cailyn said. “ And I think what we need right now is change to happen.”
Despite being an organization aimed toward Asian youth, members of all ethnicities are welcome. The club offers a platform for students to educate and advocate for causes or histories that are important to them, particularly with social media. One example is the organization’s informational Instagram post about the Cambodian Genocide.
Raina Vora, DAY’s outreach director, said she was driven to join because there isn’t a lot of representation for Asians in York County.
“Hearing that they are trying to bring this into York County was, like, I thought that was really cool. There’s not a lot of Asians, you mostly see a majority of white people, so seeing that they’re trying to do something to bring Asian was really cool to me.”
York County’s Dear Asian Youth chapter has also participated in a pen pal exchange with students from George Washington University’s chapter of DAY. Additionally, they have participated in volunteer events such as the Earth Day cleanup at Yorktown Beach.
“DAY is really just important to me, especially since minority groups should be heard in society today. Especially students, especially teens, they should have a role and a voice that should be heard,” Sophia Jiao said.
The club started with mostly the friends of Cailyn and Sophia Jiao.
“I think my first instinct was to support them with this, and I was very excited to kind of be able to support them,” Grafton student Allison Arnett said. Despite not being Asian-American, she feels that being a member has been impactful.
“You’re there to try and make a change and uplift a community, and I think that any way that I can do that as a white person, to be an ally to that community, is an important thing for me to do,” Arnett said.
The organization’s membership started small, but York County’s DAY expressed hope and confidence that numbers will grow.
“Small steps are what create change in society”, Sophia Jiao said. “We’re going to slowly grow and hopefully make a larger impact within that, so we just have to trust the process and just keep going and keep doing what we believe in.”
