Cultural education is unevenly available.
Students do not all receive the same access to Asian American history, immigrant stories, or language for belonging.
AAPI Legacy Project
A student-led nonprofit project turning Asian American history, immigrant belonging, and community stories into lessons, story pathways, and service work that helps younger learners see their families as part of the American story.
01Why It Exists
Belonging begins with what students are taught to see.
AAPI Legacy Project responds to gaps in classroom materials, family histories, and community stories that many immigrant children and Asian American students notice before they can name them. The project turns that absence into approachable education, careful listening, and service.
Explore the workYounger learners need mirrors and context.
Lessons and stories help students connect family memory, identity, and American history without reducing any community to a single narrative.
Community stories deserve protection.
The project treats story gathering as a responsibility built around consent, privacy, and respect for the people who share.
02Mission and Vision
Educate, empower, and build cultural understanding.
The project exists to educate and empower youth by bringing Asian American history into mainstream learning, fostering cultural understanding, and supporting immigrant children as they enter new communities. Its vision is a more inclusive community where Asian American stories are recognized, appreciated, and celebrated.
Make overlooked histories teachable.
Students encounter Asian American history through lessons, discussion, and resources designed for younger classrooms.
Build a community that recognizes more stories.
The project works toward a school and community culture where Asian American experiences are part of the shared civic story.
Let pride and inclusion work together.
Inclusivity, cultural pride, education and awareness, and collaboration guide how resources are made and shared.
Use education as social contribution.
The organization treats learning as a practical way to increase empathy, reduce isolation, and create student service pathways.
03Who It Serves
A project built around students who can feel unseen.
AAPI Legacy Project serves immigrant children, Asian American youth, and local American students who need clearer ways to understand one another. It also supports schools, teachers, families, and community partners with materials for conversation and belonging.
Immigrant children.
The project supports young learners entering new communities by making history, identity, and belonging easier to discuss.
Asian American students.
Students gain resources that help them see family histories and community experiences as part of American history.
Local American students.
Classmates encounter stories and lessons that build cultural understanding instead of leaving difference unexplained.
Schools, teachers, and the wider community.
Educators and families can use the work as a bridge for classroom discussion, public programs, and community care.
04Educational Products
What the project builds for younger learners.
AAPI Legacy Project begins with 10 Asian American history lessons and expands into picture books, multimedia projects, public programs, and social media outreach. Each format gives students a different way to learn, remember, and share.
- Lessons
- History made classroom-ready.
- Books
- Picture books can reach earlier readers.
- Media
- Multimedia helps stories travel.
- Outreach
- Social outreach keeps learning visible.
Early Immigration and Exclusion (1800s)
Asian immigration and exclusionary policy
Japanese American Internment (1940s)
World War II and civil liberties
Post-War Immigration and Model Minority Myth (1950s-1960s)
Stereotypes and post-war immigration
Lessons 04 to 10 continue in the video library.
05How Students Lead
Leadership becomes credible when it is organized as service.
The project operates under Project Next Foundation and is designed for student chapters in Orange County, California, with a first chapter model at Crean Lutheran High School. Board roles, volunteer pathways, and chapter responsibilities make the work repeatable rather than symbolic.
A defined board keeps the work accountable.
Chairperson, vice chairpersons, treasurer, and secretary roles help students plan, document, and follow through.
Chapters make service local.
Student clubs can adapt lessons, storytelling prompts, public library programs, online resources, and outreach for local needs.
Volunteer roles stay concrete.
Students can help with lesson development, lesson delivery, multimedia production, social outreach, and special projects.
Leadership grows through reliable contribution.
Responsibility increases through consistent service, care for younger learners, and accountability to the community record.
06Our stories continue
Story of US
Personal stories from across America, growing out of Heritage Lens’s Share Your Stories initiative.
Explore the map here. Read and share stories on Story of US.
Explore the story mapStories from Story of US. Only published stories with public map locations are shown.
61 stories on the map. Public city or state-level locations.
07Roadmap and Sustainability
Build a foundation before asking the work to scale.
The roadmap starts with foundation building, expands through chapters and educational products, and then moves toward advocacy for wider curriculum inclusion. Sustainability depends on responsible fundraising, college counseling seminars, private donors, and community partnerships.
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Phase 1
Foundation building.
Refine core lessons, define student roles, create outreach materials, and document a repeatable chapter model.
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Phase 2
Expansion through chapters and products.
Support more clubs, create picture books and multimedia resources, and bring the work into school and library settings.
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Phase 3
Advocacy and policy conversation.
Use community feedback and student learning needs to inform future conversations about Asian American history in school curricula.
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Support
Sustainability must be practical.
Funding ideas include college counseling seminars, private donors, fundraising events, and partnerships with schools and nonprofits.
08Impact We Will Measure
The project measures usefulness before scale.
AAPI Legacy Project can show progress without inventing impact numbers. The next stage should measure whether students engage with lessons, teachers find materials useful, community members trust the story process, and outreach reaches people beyond one classroom.
Engagement and reflection.
Track participation, questions, reflection quality, and whether students connect lessons to identity or community experience.
Classroom usefulness.
Collect teacher feedback on curriculum fit, clarity, age appropriateness, and ease of use with younger learners.
Reach and trust.
Evaluate approved stories, community partnerships, event attendance, survey feedback, and social media reach as future indicators.
Curriculum inclusion over time.
Long-term progress can be measured by whether materials are reused by clubs, teachers, schools, or partner organizations.
09Legacy Continues
Explore the lessons. Share a story. Help the work continue.
The homepage is only an entry point. The larger project grows through lesson development, approved community stories, volunteer leadership, and partnerships that help more young people understand where they come from and how they belong.
Share your story on Story of US ↗