Chingcha Vang M.

About Chingcha Vang M.

Operating from an equity-minded framework, Chingcha took his passion for Asian American History to the classrooms of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a High School social studies teacher at the Hmong American Peace Academy, Chingcha received the Excellence in Teaching Award during his first year as a teacher and was then promoted to Social Studies Department Chair where he led successful efforts in crafting culturally responsive learning experiences for students. While working as a full-time educator and at the administrative level, Chingcha received his Master\'s Degree in Educational Policy and Leadership from Marquette University. Chingcha shifted his energies to supporting Teach For America with a variety of roles which included recruitment, leadership development, and teacher coaching. In 2021, Chingcha’s two passions of developing leaders and centering Asian American & Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AA & NH/PI) communities at the forefront of his work led him to LEAP. He currently serves as the Senior Program Manager where he leads efforts in designing, crafting, and facilitating leadership programming from an AA & NH/PI lens and framework within the corporate, higher education, public service, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, Chingcha began leadership coaching through Messy Roots Coaching Academy with an intentional focus on coaching and developing young professionals and early to mid career APIs. In his free time, Chingcha spends his time serving nonprofits in various roles from Board President of Our Scholarship Inc, mentoring for APIA Scholars, and former Board Member and Program Task Force Lead for Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL).

Experience

1. Board President

   Our Scholarship Inc

   Sep 2023 — Present · Milwaukee, WI, US

   Our Scholarship Inc. is a nonprofit fully operated by volunteer Board Members and committee members dedicated to closing the education gap that exists for Southeast Asians in Wisconsin. The Southeast Asian community includes ethnicities such as Hmong, Cambodian, Lao, Mien, Karen, Vietnamese, Thai, among others. Why do we exist? In my own words, we exist because there are often too many misconceptions about Asian Americans. The most readily available data, and there’s not much, suggests that all Asian American communities are doing well in the United States. This means the data on Asian Americans paints this picture that we are at or above higher education attainment rates, have higher household income rates, lower poverty rates than the national average, etc. In actuality, when data is disaggregated, we see that the Southeast Asian communities are disproportionately represented, and are oftentimes ranking lowest in many of the categories just mentioned, including highest in poverty rates. This rhetoric is dangerous is because without more context and the disaggregation of data, knowledge like this causes resources to be allocated inequitably, which in turn causes harm to those already most affected.As the Board President of Our Scholarship, I will continue advocating for my community and especially our youth through elevating the issues and challenges our youth face. I personally commit to leverage my network, my skills, and knowledge to create more sustainable change and impact for the Southeast Asian young people in my home state of Wisconsin. We do this through scholarship giving and culturally responsive personal development opportunities.

Education

• Marquette University

  Master's Degree

• D C Everest High School

  High School Diploma

• University of Wisconsin-Madison

  Bachelor's Degree