Mary Anne Foo is executive director of the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA).
Foo’s volunteers speak fourteen different languages —Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Hindi, Gujarati, Samoan, Tongan, Mo’ang, Lao and Thai— so that they can register the many Asian American nationalities that live in Orange County. Foo states, “I really see people wanting to engage. When they see Asian Americans running for office, when they see that their vote matters, they become more engaged.”
America By The Numbers with Maria Hinojosa (ABTN) will examine engaged voters like Mary whose power and influence are growing in a 2016 election special titled “The New Deciders.” The one-hour program will air on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 on PBS and local public TV stations (check local listings). For more information, click here.
Image: Portrait of Mary Anne Foo. Credit: Paul de Lumen.
