Happy New Year! 2021 was a challenging and exhilarating year. As vaccination rates grew amid the pandemic, NYC reopened and we hosted our first in-person events and steering committee meetings for the first time in over a year. We spoke loudly against Asian hate, stood by small businesses, protected our environment, developed leaders, and expanded our community events. There’s more work to be done, but we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished.

450+ hours served

2,000+ community members reached

$8,000 raised for our beneficiary, Think!Chinatown

Protecting Our Environment

Our 2021 campaign focused on Asian Americans and the Environment. Protecting Our Environment captured environmental justice, climate change, and Stop Asian Hate initiatives. From neighborhood cleanups to self-defense resources, we strove for a safer, healthier, and more accessible city.

Environmental Justice & Climate Change

• Cleaned up neighborhoods & packed meals. From planting flowers, removing weeds, and covering up graffiti, we volunteered at neighborhood cleanups in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Brooklyn’s Vinegar Hill, and Fort Tryon Park. We also prepared meals following up to Thanksgiving at The Bowery Mission.

• Supported our Beneficiary Partner, Think!Chinatown. In addition to awarding Think!Chinatown a grant of $8,000 for their community work, we organized Project LEAD, our annual idea-thon, where 30+ volunteers spent 4+ hours developing tangible solutions to Think!Chinatown.

• Published our Cases 2021 Report on Chinatown small businesses. We canvassed Chinatown to survey small businesses’ sentiment on the future of Chinatown and the impacts of Stop Asian Hate for our annual Cases initiative. You can read about our findings here.

• Sold out Plate by Plate on a Boat and raised $19k. As our annual fundraising gala, Plate by Plate is meant to fundraise and raise awareness of our annual campaign. This year, we held Plate by Plate on a boat with exhibitions around Chinatown’s history and the environment. The event sold out with 300 attendees. And thanks to our generous silent auction donors and attendees, we raised $19k.

Stop Asian Hate

Distributed Educational Resourced

• Published a free Asian American Resource Guide. In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, the PbP NY & LA chapters created and shared local Asian American Resource Guides, free downloadable PDF files to share with friends, family, and coworkers. The guide was compiled by the NY and LA chapter, and includes an overview of the recent rise in attacks, the exclusionary history of Asian Americans, documentaries, books, zines, podcasts, nonprofits, and social media handles to become an active ally to the AAPI community. Our resource guide was shared across companies including Accenture, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. We hope to continue to make noise and shine a light on our community and heritage.

• Highlighted AAPI Issues on Social Media. Across social media, we leveraged our platform to educate our network and beyond on AAPI issues, garnering over 1,000+ shares across our posts around the Asian American experience. Content included the bamboo ceiling, bystander training, reporting AAPI hate, nonprofits to support, the model minority myth, anti-Asian violence history, the AAPI income disparity, transcontinental railroad, and AAPI history. Check out our Instagram here to learn more.

Offered Free Safety Awareness Events & Resources

• Organized free Safety Awareness and Self Defense Classes. We hosted a free outdoor Krav Maga self-defense class for 30+ attendees as well as a self-defense class for residents at a low-income senior housing residence.

• Protected Our Community. We set up a booth in Chinatown and gave away booklets on How to Report a Hate Crime by Hate Crime Book (@hatecrimebook), self-defense alarm keychains, lead water testing kits, and beverages and instant noodles from Moshi, Brooklyn Crafted, and Bull Head to over 100+ local residents.

• Hosted a Safety Awareness Workshop. 100+ households at Chung Pak LDC/Everlasting Pine HDFC low-income senior housing residence took a self-defense class and received goodie bags containing personal safety alarms, hate crime reporting booklets, PbP swag, beverages, and bites.

Building Our Community

Outside of our annual campaign, we host social events that are free for the public to attend, including happy hours and Instagram live streams.

Here were some of our highlights-

• Asian Community Check-ins. We held two safe space sessions (one on Clubhouse, one on Zoom) for the AAPI community to connect, discuss, and grieve together as we processed the events that occurred in Atlanta earlier this year. With this check-in, we gave a voice for people to share their thoughts, opinions, and feelings. The session was led by community leaders from PbP, Subtle Asian Life, and Asian Creative Network. Over 100 individuals came together to share and listen with love and vulnerability.

• Moon Viewing Party. In honor of the Mid-Autumn Festival, we co-hosted a Moon Viewing Party with Subtle Asian Life. There was live music, singing, dango, mooncakes, beverages, and mochi with 50+ attendees.

• PbP x SAL Holiday Party. To bring the AAPI community together and to thank all of our volunteers in 2021, we co-hosted with Subtle Asian Life (SAL) a free end-of-the-year holiday party with egg tarts, pork buns, and Moshi giveaways at Den Social.

Developing Leaders

Project by Project (PbP) is a 100% volunteer-run organization, comprised of young professionals who are passionate about the AAPI community. Along with building a strong AAPI community, we also aim to develop leadership skills for our Steering Committee volunteers to build stronger AAPI advocates.

• Organized an annual Steering Committee Retreat. At the beginning of each year, our steering committee dedicates one weekend to a PbP NY retreat, where we bond and brainstorm ideas for the upcoming PbP year. Connecting our AAPI community begins with making sure our steering committee is all on the same page!

• Asian American History with PbP co-founder Liliana. To kick off the year and to train new steering committee members on AAPI history, we held a national PbP Asian American history event with co-founder of Project by Project, Liliana Chen. One day we hope to make something like this open to the public!

• Profession by Profession. In the interest of developing leaders within our Steering Committee, we dedicated the last portion of our monthly meetings to sharing our life stories, how we got to our current professions, and our future aspirations. Many of our members are interested in potential career pivots and this mini networking session was meant to give our Steering Committee members an opportunity to connect with one another on a professional basis.

Thank You to Our 2021 Partners & Sponsors

Think!Chinatown, Moshi, WeWork, VICI Properties, Morgan Stanley, Safe in the City Grant, TAP, SAL, ISS, Chinatown-BID, AAFederation, Hate Crime Book, BKCrafted, Bullhead, Lo and Sons, MKC Threads, Brooklyn Brewery, Sun Noodle, Laduree, DO, Grace Street, The League of Kitchens, Mr. Jones Supper Club, Omsom, Kemi Dessert Bar, Edwin Wong, Asian Boss Girl, Patagonia, Dagne Dover, Maison Miru, Breguet, Central Rock, Cousins Paintball, Frames, The Cliffs, Top of the Rock, Six Flags, Roberto Falck Photography, Kramer Portraits, XIAO Fine Art, Stephen Taylor Portrait, New York Comedy Club, Strand Bookstore, McKittrick Hotel, Sia’s Beauty, Snap Inc.

Interested in Joining the PbP Team?

Apply to join our 2022 Steering Committee here!