Board honors Asian and Pacific Americans for their service to the community
During its June 4 meeting, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners presented a proclamation declaring May 2025 as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Hung Mai, a leader in the local Asian American Pacific Islander community, accepted the recognition.
Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month was first established by the United States Congress in 1978 to honor the contributions of Asian-Pacific Americans to the sciences, arts, industry, government, and commerce. It originally encompassed the first 10 days of May. But in 1992, Congress extended the observance to include the entire month. Hillsborough County's large population of Asian-Pacific Americans originate from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, North and South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
A number of speakers representing the Asian American Pacific Islander community expressed their thanks to the Board. Mariben Andersen, the chair of the Tampa Mayor's Asian American Pacific Islander Council, said that she is honored and grateful for the recognition and that Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month is vital to strengthening the cultural legacy of Hillsborough County.
"As our forefathers before us, the first Filipinos that came as part of an exhibition of the trade center, the first Chinese who helped build the railroad in the great west, we want to remember and celebrate them because without them, we would not be here," she said.
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