Toyota Helps Asian American Pacific Islander Communities to Withstand COVID-19 Crisis

A lot of small to medium enterprises are struggling to keep themselves afloat amid the COVID-19 crisis. The Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) heeded the Asian American-Pacific Islander (AAPI) entrepreneurs and helped them sustain their businesses by supporting various initiatives together with its Pan-Asian nonprofit partners.

With their aid, resources have been made available to entrepreneurs while information dissemination on government has become easier for nonprofits.

The TMNA Vice President and Chief Social Innovation Officer expressed the urgency to support Asian American/Pacific Islander business owners by making resources accessible until the operating environment stabilizes.

“For this reason, we are committed to supporting resources for the community as for many, this could mean the difference between surviving this crisis or closing their doors permanently,” he said.

The initiatives that Toyota is supporting with its partners include:

• The Asian & Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE) where targeted virtual gatherings were hosted to communicate timely information available from government agencies. Moreover, they created www.ACESmallBusiness.org to serve as the organization’s COVID-19 Small Business Emergency Resource Hub, providing in-language resources.
• Ascend Pinnacle that has supported the fourth Annual Asian Corporate Directors Pinnacle Summit Month-Long Virtual Series and compiled the Ascend COVID-19 Resource Guide tailored to the needs of the Pan-Asian workforce. They had also held hands with other organizations to sign the Ascend COVID-19 Action Agenda.
• Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) developed a landing page with COVID-19 and community-related resources, as well as arranged weekly teleconferences featuring leading Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.
• Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholars (APIA Scholars) created a digital welcome package to congratulate 22 APIA/Toyota Scholars who have been given two-year scholarships to support higher education. The Scholars were supported with wraparound services, which include a COVID-19 resource guide and one-on-one support.

These organizations have been proving their commitment to service and Toyota has been working with other like-minded organizations as well that can support their year-round programs to empower and offer resources to the AAPI community. These organizations are the Japanese American National Museum, Asian American Journalists Association, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, and the U.S.-Japan Council.

These initiatives only show that together, we can slowly rise above this crisis.