Hi all,

First, a little housekeeping.

I know we started out with a Google Group, but for my sanity — and because my brain works much better in templates — I’ve moved our updates over to Beehiiv.

This should make things a little more plug-and-play on my end and easier for everyone to follow as we keep building. You’ll still get FANHS NJ updates directly in your inbox, just in a much cleaner format.

More importantly: thank you.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our September 9 interest meeting, and thank you to everyone who has filled out the FANHS New Jersey interest survey so far. I’ve really loved seeing the ideas, connections, and insight coming in.

We’re still very early in this process, but after last night, I think we’re starting to see what FANHS NJ could become.

Here’s where we landed:

So far, 18 people from 8 New Jersey counties have responded to our interest survey.

That’s already a much broader response than I expected at this stage.

Across the responses, four themes keep rising to the top:

History. Culture. Community. Connection.

People want Filipino American history talks, oral histories, archives and historic site visits. They want books, films, artists and creative work. They want gatherings, youth programming and intergenerational spaces. And they want stronger connections between the organizations, businesses and people already doing good work throughout New Jersey.

The actual ideas have been even better:

Kwentuhan at Kape. Children’s storytimes. Filipino American book and film programming. Artist and author showcases. Oral histories. Kamayan and food-centered gatherings. Filipino martial arts. Historic site visits. Even a statewide directory or map of Filipino businesses and organizations.

And yes, the campaign to get Seafood City to New Jersey has officially entered the chat.

What feels especially clear is that people aren’t asking FANHS NJ to be just a historical organization or just another events group.

There’s an opportunity to create a space where preserving our history, celebrating our culture, and building real community all live together.

And we’re still listening.

We also started talking about what it would actually take to formally establish FANHS New Jersey.

One thing that’s important to us: we’re not starting from the assumption that Filipino American history in New Jersey — or FANHS in New Jersey — begins with us.

There are people who have built, organized, documented and preserved our community here before us. Part of this process is understanding that history, reconnecting where we can, and figuring out what the next chapter should look like.

We discussed membership, bylaws, leadership structure, and what we can learn from neighboring FANHS chapters. Danika is sharing FANHS Metro New York’s bylaws and leadership structure with us as a reference.

We have enough early interest to start having these conversations.

But we’re also intentionally not rushing to create an organizational structure just for the sake of having one.

The question we want to keep coming back to is:

What kind of FANHS chapter would actually serve New Jersey’s Filipino American community well?

That’s something we want to answer together.

Another thing that came through strongly during our conversation is that FANHS NJ shouldn’t operate in a silo.

There is already incredible work happening throughout our community.

We talked about relationships with FANHS Metro New York, FIND District 3, Future Ancestors, Studio Ligaya, student organizations, and other Filipino American groups throughout the region.

Rather than asking, “How can FANHS NJ do everything?” I think a much more interesting question is:

Who is already doing good work, and how can we support, connect, document, amplify, or build alongside them?

That feels much more useful.

A few follow-ups came directly out of our meeting:

If you’re seeing this and think: I can help with that, please say something! None of this needs to belong to one person.

We’d like to get together one more time before Ligaya Fest.

We’ll share whatever we’ve learned since this meeting, talk through our presence in Metuchen, continue the chapter conversation, and figure out what we actually need to get done before October 10.

Whether you’ve been part of every conversation so far or this will be your first one, you’re welcome.

→ Add your availability to the meeting poll

We’re still listening.

If you know someone in New Jersey who cares about Filipino American history, culture, storytelling, community — or who simply keeps saying, “Why don’t we have more Filipino things happening here?” — send them our way.

Forward them this email.

Invite them to Ligaya Fest.

And most importantly, ask them to fill out the FANHS New Jersey Interest Survey so we can continue learning who our community is and what people want this chapter to become.

→ Take the FANHS NJ Interest Survey

Eighteen responses from eight counties is a great start.

Let’s see who else is out there.

Thank you again for being here this early.

We’re building — and rebuilding — this together.

We hope you can join us!

Ligaya Fest 2026 is happening Saturday, October 10 from 2–6 PM, followed by a dance party from 6–8 PM, all at The Studio Ligaya in Metuchen.

FANHS NJ will have some kind of presence there — a table, people, flyers, something. We’re figuring out the details now!

What we do know is that we’ll be there meeting people, talking about FANHS, and inviting more folks to sign up and become part of the chapter as we build it.

We’re thinking of Ligaya Fest less as a formal “launch” and more as our first chance to show up together in the community.

Come find us. Hang out. Meet some of the people who have been part of these early conversations. Celebrate Filipino American History Month with us.

And bring somebody who should know about FANHS NJ.

There is A LOT happening in the Filipino American community over the next few weeks, so I want to start using these updates to share some of what’s on our radar, too.