A junior at Wellesley University in Massachusetts is leading the effort to produce the first ever report on Asian Americans in the Boston area, reports
Wellesley News.
Tarnee Varma hopes her report will help the state legislature to create laws and policies benefiting the Asian American community.
The idea of compiling the data into one comprehensive report came when she realized how difficult it was to find information about the AAPI community in her state.
“I saw that some cities and states actually make it a point to publish a report on the status of Asian Americans. But Boston doesn’t do anything like that. My idea was: what if a group of Wellesley College students created that report?” Varma said.
She feels disagregating the data will reveal trends and possibly dispel myths that Asian Americans don’t experience poverty, issues with education and rising incarceration rates.
Senior Vivien Lee is joining Varma in her efforts.
“Knowledge of these differences can help policymakers tailor policies to most effectively benefit minority groups. Unfortunately the Asian American community is often neglected—perhaps due to a lack of data, a lack of interest, or the model minority myth,” she said.
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