“Your Move” continued on “Rise’s” theme of movement building and challenged delegates to contribute to the community by finding their niche, connect with community organizations and fill our community needs. With a goal of raising awareness on climate change and its ever increasing impact to the Philippines, the conference featured a typhoon response panel highlighting the relief efforts of Pilipino Americans post-typhoon Haiyan. With a goal of inspiring action, the conference also featured a panel of speakers who were past delegates and workshops in civic engagement & public service, entrepreneurship, and arts in action.
“Your Move” was used as a theme for 3 other Pilipino American conferences throughout the country with a hope that it would jump-start a movement of cohesion between all Fil-Am leadership conferences across the country. The Filipino Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro) Summit in Hawaii, the Empowering Pilipino Youth through Collaboration (EPYC) pre-conference in San Diego, and the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND) in New Jersey all used “Your Move” in 2014. Rachelle Ocampo, President of UniPro, stated; "We wanted to show that unity can be accomplished and all it took was to reach out and talk to each other. The usual talk about collaboration among Filipino organizations across the nation is old news, but this milestone is significant. We encourage organizers with similar interests to contact us."
Program
“Your Move” featured a panel on typhoon response, a community forum facilitated by past Summit attendees, two workshop sessions and four Keynote Speakers; retired Major General Antonio M. Taguba, Race Car Driver Michelle Bumgarner, Film Producer and Actor Georgina Tolentino, and NBC Reporter Rose-Ann Aragon.
Rose-Ann Aragon, a NBC Reporter from the Midwest attended “Building Bridges” in 2012 and “Rise” in 2013. Her message to delegates was that it is our time now. Our time to step up as leaders. She shared what she believes are three things we will always have; our values, our family and our education and we have to keep all three in mind when making moves.
Georgina is the owner of Icarus Films Studios and is developing the true story of Victoria Manalo Draves, the Filipino American British diving Olympic gold medalist. She began her Keynote speech with a video of Sacheen Littlefeather refusing Marlon Brando's Oscar. Her message to our delegates was to keep winning in sports and film. Both would close the gap in diversity at the Academy Awards and Olympics.
Michele debuted in racing at the age of 10 in the National Karting Series in the Philippines. She won the Rock Island Grand Prix in 2008 and 2009 and is known as the Asian Queen of Karting. She is the first filipina to race at the professional level of open-wheel racing.
Retired MG Tony Taguba served in the army for 34 years and gained national recognition for the Taguba Report which detailed prisoner abuse by U.S. military forces in Iraq. He is the Chairperson of the Pan-Pacific American Leaders and Mentors (PPALM) and Chairman of The Filipino Veteran Recognition and Education Project (FIl-VetREP). Tito Tony challenged UniPro in his closing keynote speech. He asked that we become more inter-generational, invite more of the older generation to our events so that their struggles are not forgotten and their wisdom is not lost.
Quick Links: Printed Program, Magazine
