Hi everyone!
Can you believe we’re already halfway through Filipino American History Month?
It’s been a busy October for our community, and I hope you’ve had a chance to enjoy some of the events and celebrations happening across New Jersey and beyond!
On our end, we’ve been keeping busy, too! Between connecting with folks at Ligaya Fest, gathering feedback from our interest survey, and working toward officially reestablishing the FANHS New Jersey chapter, there’s a lot to share.
Here’s a quick update on where we are and what’s coming next.
Great Seeing Everyone at Ligaya Fest!
It was wonderful to see so many familiar and new faces at Ligaya Fest in Metuchen this past weekend!
There’s something special about connecting in person, especially as we work to bring our Filipino American community together across New Jersey.
A big thank you to the Ligaya Fest organizers for creating such a wonderful space for our community to gather!
If you missed it (or just want to relive some of the fun), here are a few recaps from the Ligaya Fest team.
From Zero to Nearly 70!
One thing we’re especially excited about: in just three months, we’ve gone from zero to nearly 70 people on this list!
We’re still in the early stages of rebuilding FANHS NJ, but it’s been incredibly encouraging to see how many people want to connect, learn more, and be part of bringing the chapter back to life.
Thank you to everyone who has filled out our interest survey, shared it with friends, joined our conversations, or simply signed up to stay connected.
It’s exciting to see this community growing, and we’re just getting started!
What’s Next for FANHS NJ?
With feedback from our interest survey and conversations so far, we’re now working on two important pieces of the chapter’s future:
Chapter bylaws: Drafting the governing documents that will help guide how FANHS NJ operates.
Future programming: Exploring the kinds of events, initiatives, and opportunities that our community would like to see across New Jersey.
Our goal is to bring this work to the Filipino American National Historical Society’s national leadership as we take the next steps toward officially reestablishing the New Jersey chapter.
We’re grateful for the work of those who came before us and hope to build on that foundation as we bring FANHS NJ into its next chapter.
We’re still very much in the building phase, and we want this to be a community-driven process.
Want to Help Build FANHS NJ?
We’re happy to organize another meeting over Zoom, but we also recognize that finding a time that works for everyone’s schedules has been challenging.
Rather than lose momentum trying to coordinate calendars, we’d love to start putting together a smaller working group of folks who are interested in helping move things forward.
If you’d like to help shape the bylaws, brainstorm programming, or take on some of the work to get the chapter off the ground, please reply to this email and let us know!
You don’t need to have attended a previous meeting to get involved. Whether you’ve been part of the conversation from the beginning or are just joining us, we’d love to have you participate.
And if you’re not in a position to take on more right now, that’s completely fine, too! Staying connected, sharing our updates, and helping us reach more Filipino Americans across New Jersey are all meaningful ways to support this effort.
Thank you again for being part of this growing community. It’s exciting to think about what we can build together, and we’re looking forward to what’s next.
Talk soon!
MJ
FANHS NJ
fanhsnj.org