Community Conversations

The City is grateful to all who took the time to participate in the many community conversations in early 2016. The information gathered will assist the efforts of creating higher levels of community engagement, new policies, and identification of resources to address the needs of the Asian community in Austin.

View the 3,500 comments received from these community conversations, here.

Community Conversations

Nine Community Conversations were held at the following locations:

•             Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce

•             Network of Asian American Organizations

•             Xiang Yun Buddhist Temple

•             The Gus Garcia Recreation Center

•             Asian American Resource Center

At these conversations, many of the participants were happy with their quality of life in Austin with respect to the weather, the live music scene, tech startups, new business environment, access to ethnic food and world class education. 

Among the areas mentioned for improvement included; more Multilanguage services, better and more public transit, affordability,  job opportunities and access to cultural events.

Summary of Conversations

• 75 Conversations Over Tea were conducted in Spring 2016.
• 321 surveys were completed from the Conversations Over Tea
• 1305 comments noted on the enclosed posters
• Conversations Over Tea were conducted all over Austin including businesses, private homes, places of faith and more.

Comments mentioned during these conversations:

• Need for senior services such as translation services, transportation, and health care access;
• Needs for recent immigrants including language services for jobs, assistance with school paperwork, and affordable health care;
• An overwhelming majority of individuals expressed the need for an increase in transit services.

All the participants noted that the AAQOL initiative has engaged or increased Asian involvement in City government.

• Many the participants noted that the AAQOL initiative will increase involvement in City government.

 Twenty-nine Asian ethnicities were engaged during this process some of which included:  Asian Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese, Filipino, Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Afghani.  These conversation represented a majority of the Austin zip codes.

You can continue participating and provide your opinion, here.