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| Harry Budisidharta, J.D. |
Since its founding, APDC has successfully tackled the mental health issues facing the Asian refugee population, becoming the only organization in the entire state of Colorado to provide culturally specific services for and staffed by Asians who are bilingual and bicultural. As APDC’s work continued, its service offerings expanded to include primary care, youth and adult education classes, support for survivors of intimate partner violence, legal aid, interpretation and translation services, and more.
Harry assumes leadership of the APDC at a crucial time in its history, as the Center looks at expanding program offerings to serve the growing diversity of immigrants and refugees in the Denver- Aurora area. In this Q&A, he shares his commitment to advancing the work of APDC in providing culturally and linguistically competent services for refugees and immigrants from across many cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
What are you looking forward to the most in your new role at the Asian Pacific Development Center?
I look forward to further expanding our services to the community. Colorado is seeing a lot more refugees coming, not just from Asian, but also from the Middle East and Africa. We serve those communities as well. We are starting to see more non-Asian refugees coming to APDC, so I look forward to expanding our services for those communities.
Potentially, we are also looking at building other locations throughout the state to expand our services.
What do you consider as the most challenging aspect of the work?
The most challenging aspect right now is the uncertainty in the federal healthcare law. Most of our clients are on Medicaid: we serve elders, people with disabilities, and people with low income. We don’t know what’s going to happen, assuming it passes. The most challenging part is trying to do a strategic plan when everything is shifting so much.
How are you and your staff taking care of yourselves as you work with the current uncertainty and social climate?
We have regular staff get-togethers, when a staff member has a birthday, a baby shower, or when we have a graduating batch of interns. We throw small get-togethers and low-key parties to celebrate. Staff has become friends with each other outside of work. So I know some staff who do athletic competitions, hiking, or dinners together. I am glad to see staff being supportive of each other.
Anytime there is a major development in the healthcare or immigration field, we provide updates to staff. We try to do what we can to help clarify what the changes mean. Because the developments tend to be more complex, our explanations come with a lot of caveats, as everything is complicated right now.
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| Harry, far left, stands next to former APDC CEO Christine Wanifuchi |
How has your training and experience in the legal profession prepared you for leadership of the APDC?
Prior to working at APDC, I was a public defender in Adams County. I was a partner in a small law firm doing mostly criminal law and family law.
I got involved in APDC because I like doing advocacy for the community. By advocacy, I mean doing things like hosting candidate debate forums or organizing an Asian American Pacific Islander “Hill Day” at the state capitol. These are activities that are non-partisan and help educate the community. That’s how I first got involved in APDC.
I also started volunteering for the APDC youth program seven years ago. I soon joined the board, and then I became staff when APDC hired me to work on policy issues.
The legal training comes in handy because it helps me to analyze issues and developments at the federal, state and local levels. to analyze contracts, funding requirements and grant negotiations. Funders are often willing to listen to and work with organizations on reasonable changes to the contract, as they want to make sure that we are serving the needs of our community.
How does your cultural background influence your leadership style?
I came to America when I was about 12 years old, right when Indonesia was collapsing during the 1997 Southeast Asian economic crisis. To be clear, I’m not a refugee so I did not go through the refugee process. But I know what it’s like as a child who has to leave a country in crisis.
I remember being a child, watching television news in America, and seeing riots in Indonesia on American TV. When the economy collapsed, race riots erupted. People were getting killed, stores burned, the presidential palace was looted.
My family is Chinese-Indonesian, and we were the ethnic community that was used as a scapegoat and blamed for the collapse of the country’s economy. That’s why my parents sent me to America, because they knew the country was going through a bad time.
Being an immigrant myself, I sympathize with what a lot of the immigrants and refugees go through in adapting to their new home here in the U.S. The reason why I was able to adapt to America was because I had a neighbor who was kind enough to guide and mentor me when I first came here as a kid. That is also why I started volunteering for the APDC youth program, to help pass along support and mentoring to the newer generation.
I believe that one cannot be a leader unless you are willing to do what you are asking your staff to do. You have to lead by example. You cannot be a leader and refuse to clean the bathroom. You cannot be a leader and refuse to set up or clean up after an event. You have to be there with your staff, ready to help them.
What are your top priorities for APDC?
We want to expand our advocacy programs for the refugee community, particularly with doing more educational workshops, “know your rights” workshops, and more empowerment programming.
The community is scared right now, because of a lot of things happening at the federal level. There are many ugly rumors and lies spreading in the community. People are worried that they may get deported, even if they are here legally and have not committed any crimes. That’s partly because people don’t fully understand the immigration system.
I know what that’s like because I came as an immigrant. To many, the immigration system is like a black box that you enter, and hope that you come out OK. No one knows what happens inside. I understand the fear.
APDC is pretty well-connected in the Aurora area, and we want to do more outreach to the Asian community that is spread out throughout Colorado. I would like to establish relationships in places like Colorado Springs, Greeley, Montrose, La Junta, and others. These areas are seeing immigrants and refugees moving in, because they work in farming, ranching or factory jobs. There’s some support for immigrants and refugees in these communities, but I cannot tell you how robust the support is.
Another priority is to further strengthen our finances by doing more fund-raising, locate more grants, government support and community partners. We have over 50 staff members. Different programs have different funding sources. For example, most of the funding for the mental health clinic comes from Medicaid reimbursements. Our youth and adult education programs are funded by government grants, both state and federal. We have corporate sponsors who help pay for overhead and administrative expenses. Because majority of our clients are low-income, Medicaid is our biggest source of funding.
In light of the current threats to healthcare access, how is APDC preparing to confront looming changes?
APDC is part of multiple coalitions of healthcare providers, policy and advocacy organizations. Being on those tables, we make sure that our voices and concerns are, so they can advocate on behalf of our immigrant and refugee communities. We believe in partnership and working together with our groups to combine and multiply our strengths.
APDC leadership meets with our state and federal elected officials to tell them our concerns, and whether or not we support or oppose proposed legislation. We have a full-time policy advocate who also conducts trainings for the community.
What’s on your wish list?
The biggest thing on my wish list right now is an affordable housing solution that will help the community living around APDC. Immigrant and refugee communities are getting splintered because of the lack of affordable housing. Many are getting kicked out of their homes or apartments because the owner wants to rent or sell to the highest bidder. I worry that in as short as five years, we will lose a lot of the immigrant and refugee communities who live around our neighborhood.
Any kind of affordable housing solution would help, whether it’s through a land trust or a special municipal code to protect the neighborhood. That would help solve a lot of worries and anxieties that the community is facing.
APDC is part of the City of Aurora zoning steering committee. Aurora is in the process of updating zoning codes, so we’ve been providing input and feedback about what we’d like to see. I am cautiously optimistic on the outcomes of that process, partly because we know that there’s only so much that the zoning committee can do. Affordable housing is a complex issue that requires a lot of organizations and agencies to work together.
What do you find most fulfilling about the work that you do?
The most fulfilling part of this job is working with my staff. Everybody who works at APDC is committed to serving the community. They’re here, putting in long hours, when they could be making more money in the private sector. They’re here because they care about the community, and they want to help. It’s very gratifying to work with a group of people who really cares about the community.
It’s especially important in this political climate, when there’s a lot of anti-immigrant and anti-refugee rhetoric. There’s a lot of fear and worries in the community, but it’s not all hopeless.
Everyday, I see resiliency and strength in our community members. I see refugee youth going to Ivy League schools to make a better future for their families. I see families opening up their own restaurants and small businesses. I see people openly talking about mental health issues to encourage others to get treatment and help. I am happy to see a lot of hope and resilience in our diverse immigrant and refugee communities.
