“X” celebrates ten years of UniPro history, community, and progress. As we collectively reflected on the 10th anniversary of the organization, we also entered emotionally-charged conversations that address difficult topics and varying perspectives that impact the Pilipino American community. In “X,” we invited attendees to engage and reflect on Experience, Exclusion, and Extension, in order to mobilize and unite our community for the next “X” years.

Tri-Directors: Carlo Antonio, Kevin Cabanayan & Katherine Reyes

“Isang Bagsak - La Lucha Sigue” - in two different languages - Tagalog and Spanish - means “one down, the struggle continues.” With the upheaval and division in our country, Americans are becoming louder than ever by demonstrating more transparency on their values, and leading national discussions and movements. Our focus is to challenge those participants to create a template of action, find new ways of communicating their thoughts and stories, and mobilize their communities to persevere.

Co-Directors: Alicia Ricafrente & Adrianne Nguyen

“Persist” was inspired by the heightened awareness of the cultural, political, and social justice issues that have arisen in our communities. While there is no easy answer on how to address or solve the issues that our Pilipino American communities face, UniPro is making a commitment to centering these conversations and stories of social change through UniPro Summit 2017. Our call for persistence is a push for our community to stand up to the challenges confronting us and organize so that we can move forward together.

Tri-Directors: Christine Sicwaten, Anthony Castro, Kristina London

The theme for 2016 was “Reach.” It was chosen by the Co-Directors to embody the actions of the organization as it reached outside of New York to host Summit and as it continued to expand to other cities.  The work done at Summit was intended to be internal; with internal dialogue critical to understanding identities, the intersectionality of those identities and how one walks through the world, personally and professionally, based on experiences. This internal work must be done in order for all of us to engage in critical productive dialogues that will progress the community.

Co-Directors: Melody Kidd, Rose-Ann Gutierrez

The theme of “Recognize” continued the spirit of challenging the Pilipino American community at each Summit.   In 2015 we challenged our attendees to recognize our shared experiences with other communities of color and our role as allies in social justice movements.

Co-Directors: Patricia Dayleg, Dominique Deleon

“Your Move” continued on “Rise’s” theme of movement building and challenged delegates to contribute to the community by finding their niche, connect with community organizations and fill our community needs.   With a goal of raising awareness on climate change and its ever increasing impact to the Philippines, the conference featured a typhoon response panel highlighting the relief efforts of Pilipino Americans post-typhoon Haiyan. With a goal of inspiring action, the conference also featured a panel of speakers who were past delegates and workshops in civic engagement & public service, entrepreneurship, and arts in action.

Co-Directors: Noel Aglubat, Jennifer Delos Santos

The theme for our third Summit was born out of self critique during a Staff brainstorming session. The questions posited were; How can we take the next step from the “Renaissance”? How can we harness the overwhelming inspiration from our second Summit and convert it into practical action so that we can make real and tangible change? “Rise” was both a command and challenge for delegates to form collaborations that would benefit not only themselves, but their organizations, and others.

Co-Chairs: Iris Zalun, Gecile Fojas

Riding the momentum of our first Summit, our second Summit, “Renaissance” wanted to highlight the accomplishments of our community in multiple sectors and shed the label of the invisible minority.  “Renaissance” also focused on creating an environment that would continue the Pilipino American Renaissance by equipping delegates with knowledge and inspiring them as they worked to push progress forward.

Co-Chairs: Rachelle Ocampo, Judy Yem

Our first ever Summit, “Building Bridges” was inspired by a vision to convene Pilipino American leaders from across the country with the purpose of discussing ways to to form a more united and collaborative Pilipino American community. Over two days, delegates from throughout the country, Europe and the Philippines connected and established relationships that otherwise would not have been possible outside of Summit. This was a big step toward reaching our vision. 

Tri-Chairs: Kristina Joyas, Rachelle Ocampo, Justine Ordinario