Providing Wraparound Services for UCONN’s Asian American Studies

Within Hartford, Connecticut, lies a vast community made up of people from across the Asian continent.

The Asian population in Hartford County alone totals more than 53,000, making it one of the counties in the state with the most Asian residents. This marks an increase of more than 15,000 Asian people in the county since 2010.

The city and area hold a large population of people from places such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, along with more recent refugees from Afghanistan and Syria, according to Dr. Jason Oliver Chang, director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Jason Oliver Chang“The largest country-of-origin group in Connecticut are South Asians, predominantly from India,” says Chang, who identifies as white and Chinese American. “That encompasses a whole other set of diverse ethnicities, covering Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, [and] Buddhist folks.”

More than 170,000 Asian people reside in the state of Connecticut, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Census.

With a new federal grant that Chang and his fellow UConn faculty and staff members have secured from the U.S. Department of Education, the school can better support and serve that sizable demographic, spurring them to become future leaders.

The $1.9 million grant – lasting five years – will go toward what this cadre of faculty and staff are calling the Transformation, Equity, Access, and Sense of Belonging (TEAS) project, which is directly aimed at aiding Asian students at UConn’s regional campus in Hartford.