The Greater Cincinnati Chinese Cultural Exchange Association's Youth Leadership began in the spring of 2021 in response to a jump in anti-Asian hate crimesacross the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, the organization has been finding ways to empower Asian youth in the Cincinnati area and embrace their culture. One way they've been able to do that is through food. This year, the youth group published a book called Our Family Kitchen. The cookbook features 50 family recipes and stories from Asian immigrants in Greater Cincinnati.
Now, GCCCEA and the Asian Youth Alliance are going one step further with their "Build a Longer Table" sessions. The events are designed to bring youth from all backgrounds together to share their experiences with race and get them talking about solutions to build strong bonds between different ethnic communities.
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The first event was last weekend at the Walnut Hills Public Library. This time around, they plan to host a bigger event at the Cincinnati Chinese Church in Mason Aug. 5, complete with food demonstrations and speakers, including Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney.
Youth are invited to take part in the demonstrations to create a five-course meal. GCCCEA co-founder and chair Felicity Tao says the experience intends to help young people open up so they can have honest conversations about the impact of race and culture on their lives.
"We just feel like there's not a whole lot of opportunities intentionally designed by the school, by any organization, to bring kids from different backgrounds together and talk about things that they're interested in," Tao said. "The traditional kind of summit or leadership workshop isn't engaging or hands-on enough for the kids to enjoy."
She says for a long time students have stayed in their own cultural bubbles and don't always branch out to become friends with their peers from other ethnic groups. While that's changed over the years, Tao says it's still a reality for some students.
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According to Tao, these students have the desire to expand their social circles and learn more about all the different people in their community. It's just a matter of getting them to sit down at the same table.
On top of discussions about race, event organizers say students are also interested in talking about how rapidly changing technology will affect their future careers.
The Build a Longer Table event will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at 766 Reading Road in Mason. A youth leadership workshop will be held beforehand. Registration for interested youth can be found here.
