| |
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are groups of employees who join together in their workplace, based on a common characteristic like ethnicity, gender, age, religious affiliation, etc. Also referred to as fraternal or affinity organizations, ERGs provide support for their members and work to enhance career development and professional networking in the workplace. The Office of Diversity & Inclusion works closely with many of these groups, and maintains a list of UCS-ERGs on the ODI website.
Meet the NYS Courts Asian Jade Society
By Melissa A. Wade
Office of Diversity and Inclusion
 The story of the Asian Jade Society (“AJS” – an Employee Resource Group or ERG) within the New York Unified Court System, began with a conversation in 1999 – that finally came to fruition over 20 years later. In the late 1990s, Court Officer (now Lieutenant) Henry Chen, AJS president, was working in Bronx Criminal Court, when members of the Asian Jade Society of the Department of Corrections asked if he would like to join them as they marched in the Lunar New Year parade in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
“After that great experience,” Lt. Chen recalled, “I contacted Sammy Lam, a Sergeant I knew from the Court Officers Academy and asked him why the Unified Court System did not have an AJS chapter.” Lam told Chen that he would love to see that, but in his estimation, there weren’t enough Asian employees within the ranks at that time to support a chapter. Fast-forward 20 years: as Major Lam was preparing to retire, he called Chen and indicated that, based on hiring trends, the time had arrived to launch an Asian Jade Society chapter within the UCS. Lt. Chen was ready to make it happen… and then the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
By 2021, Lt. Chen found himself having conversations with colleagues about issues that were impacting the Asian community, and many of them shared his excitement at the idea of starting an AJS chapter within the UCS. As interest grew, an email about plans to start the chapter was inadvertently sent to several judges and department heads, who, despite the misdirected email, nonetheless responded enthusiastically and offered their support, which helped to galvanize the AJS efforts.
“I give credit to Lt. Erica Prosper from the Latino Court Officers Society for helping us navigate the vast paperwork and process of starting a new group,” said Lt. Chen. Leah Richardson from Tribune (Society) was also helpful in providing advice and encouragement, and the NYPD chapter of AJS helped us get the UCS chapter off the ground.” Chen noted that there is a lot of support among the fraternal and affinity groups, and members often attend each other’s events in a spirit of unity and camaraderie.
The UCS’ AJS mission statement reads:
Our goal is to develop a bond amongst its members by promoting cultural diversity through our common interests. We seek to advance the interests and welfare of all members as well as promoting career development, public service, and community relations. Through membership activities we hope to educate others about Asian culture, foster respect, goodwill and strive to increase Asian recruitment within the NYS court system.
To advance that mission, AJS works to keep its members informed of job openings and promotional opportunities. AJS is also committed to community outreach initiatives, including a basketball clinic for children, held last Summer in Queens. In addition to the clinic, and in response to the increase in bias crimes against Asian people, AJS members went to a local park and handed out pamphlets (in multiple Asian languages) on how to report a crime, as well as safety whistles, ID card applications, and other court-related items that were provided by the Office for Justice Initiatives; similar community-based events are also planned for 2022.
The current board of the AJS is comprised of:
- Henry Chen, President
- Anthony Mung, 1st Vice President
- Barry Gong, 2nd Vice President
- Peter Tran, Treasurer
- Mary Wu, Recording Secretary
The Board of the AJS at a community event (Left-right): Henry Chen, Mary Wu, Anthony Mung, Peter Tran, Barry Gong.
The Board is committed to diversity, and when forming the AJS, Lt. Chen said that he specifically sought out women for leadership positions. Capt. Anthony Mung, AJS’s 1st vice president and a certified Master Instructor at the Brooklyn Court Officers Academy (who has also served as a firefighter in his neighborhood for the past 17 years), mentioned the board’s desire to have representation from the wide variety of ethnicities among (and beyond) the court’s Asian employees.
The AJS board is deeply connected to its members, and Lt. Chen mentioned that they appreciate the “enthusiastic feedback” from them, in response to the AJS’ various efforts to communicate regularly with the group, which includes several social media platforms. 2nd Vice President Capt. Barry Gong (Court Officers Academy) stated: “My hope for the Asian Jade Society is to grow the membership and recruit more Asian members. We have almost 300 members, which is truly amazing because we don’t have that many Asian employees. This is an example of how supportive the court community has been, and we are truly grateful for the support we have received.”
Of the images of barbecues, parades, community events, membership meetings, and activities that fill the AJS website, Capt. Mung says, “Join us! Or join one of the others (Employee Resource Groups). There are a lot of them. It’s easy to stand in the corner, but the only way to move the job forward is to participate. And it’s a lot of fun! Come out and socialize- do it for your mental health; what we do is food for the soul.”
Members of the NYS Courts AJS marching in the Lunar New Year Parade.
For more information on the NYS Courts Asian Jade Society visit their website at: https://nyscajs.wordpress.com.
In addition, be sure to listen to the Diversity Dialogues podcast interview with Lt. Henry Chen at: https://ww2.nycourts.gov/diversity-dialogues-28056.
*Editor’s note: The Asian Jade Society of the NYS Courts is a (current) Employee Resource Group that is open to all court personnel. The Jade Council was an organization for Asian judges and court employees, that was founded by Hon. Doris Ling-Cohan, who retired in 2020.
|
|
