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The Asian Roundtable of Colorado (ARC) held its first symposium at the Filipino American Community of Colorado Cultural Center on April 10, 2004. Entitled "The State of the Asian/Pacific Islander Communities – A Reality Check," the symposium was attended by almost 50 members of the Asian Pacific American community leaders and students.

The panelists included Dr. Richard Lin, of the US Census Bureau, who spoke on the Asian Pacific Islander demographics. Dr Lin provided handouts on the various demographic statistics of particular interest to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Colorado. Among the categories he selected from the US Bureau of Census 2000 reports were:

Dr. Katy Meng, from the State Department of Public Health, provided information on Asian Pacific Islander Health Statistics covering among other topics: Age, Fertility rates, Education of the mother, Births to unmarried Asians, Smoking during pregnancy, Low birth weights, Prenatal care, Gestational diabetes, Longer life expectancy, Lower mortality rates, Lower infant mortality rates, Leading causes of deaths.

Ms. Martha Spears, Community Relations Specialist and Congressional Liaison, Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Service spoke on the topic of The Department of Homeland Security and its impact on the APA communities. She described the transition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003. She also described the Office of Citizenship and its role on the community-based organizations. The legislated mandate is to promote instruction and training on citizenship responsibilities for immigrants interested in becoming citizens. She focused on the outreach programs to the community, among other goals is to identify specific community needs and appropriate delivery channels for services.

The last group of panelists was composed of Asian American students (AAPAC) from the University of Colorado at Boulder, led by Mr. James Chiu, who spoke about their Campaign on preserving Ethnic Studies. Jenny Guo gave a brief historical discussion of the various Asian American groups in the University of Colorado and their activities, and later spoke about the tuition hike and increase of student fees to $400/semester to cover the cost of constructing a building for the Law School or else they lose accreditation. Cassie Ta discussed the troubling effects of budget cuts in CU to Asian American programs while Lisa Nguyen gave an impassioned plea for support particularly for the Asian cultural programs. Because of budget cuts, the number of staff and student counselors were reduced 13 %; peer counselors and support programs were likewise reduced in number. As a final plea, James Chiu asked for community support particularly the need for role models, recommendations for faculty who can teach Asian studies, and mentoring program volunteers.

Questions were asked after each panel member completed his/her presentation. Stella Yu said the ARC can help plan together with the students about finding solutions to their issues, offering community resources instead of dollars. Marge Taniwaki suggested looking at the legislative process as a place to seek support for the students’ concerns. George Kuwamura proposed parents, community leaders working together with students about their issues. More questions were asked and answers given during the symposium.

Gloria Williams presented plaques of appreciation to the panelists. Supported by Premier Bank, the Symposium offered valuable information to the audience and the APA community certainly is looking forward to the next ARC Symposium.