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State Librarian names new Civil Liberties director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2005
CONTACT:
Sarah Dalton
California State Library
916/654-1483
State Librarian names new Civil Liberties director
SACRAMENTO - State Librarian of California, Susan Hildreth, has named Elaine Yamaguchi, a long-time activist in the Asian Pacific American community, the new director of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a competitive grant program housed within the California State Library.
Yamaguchi comes to the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program after nearly eight years as a special assistant to the Speaker of the California Assembly. Prior to her work in the California Assembly, Yamaguchi was managing director of San Francisco's National Asian American Telecommunications Association, an organization that produces programs by and about Asian Americans on national public television and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Created in 1999, the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP) provides grants for public education activities and educational materials whose purpose is to ensure the public understands the events surrounding the exclusion, forced removal and incarceration of civilians and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry, and to also ensure that no other group is deprived of civil rights. To date, CCLPEP has funded nearly 200 groundbreaking projects, including exhibits, websites, oral histories, musical programs, dramas, documentaries, and books.
Susan Hildreth says of Yamaguchi, "I look forward to working with Elaine and continuing the great activities sponsored by CCLPEP as well as retooling for future activities."
Former director Diane Matsuda led CCLPEP since its inception, and under her stewardship, the program funded a number of remarkable and insightful projects. Matsuda left CCLPEP in 2004 to become the Executive Officer of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, which administers the Proposition 40 funds dedicated to preserving historic and cultural resources.
Matsuda says, "We are very fortunate to have Elaine Yamaguchi join the California State Library staff as the new program director of CCLPEP. CCLPEP will definitely benefit from Elaine's interest and dedication in sharing the story about the Japanese American experience during World War II to our broad and diverse community. We all look forward to working closely with her in the near future.
"I'm very honored to take the driver's seat of CCLPEP," said Yamaguchi. "It's a little daunting to follow Diane Matsuda, but I am looking forward to the many challenges ahead, and the opportunity to serve the community in this important program."
For more information, please contact Elaine Yamaguchi at (916) 651-0383, or visit the CCLPEP website at http://www.library.ca.gov/grants/cclpep/index.html.