December 2025

UPCOMING AK CONNECTION EVENTS Jan. 11: AK Connection January Social! We’re kicking off 2025 with a 21+ social night! Come grab a drink, catch up with old friends and make new ones. Korean adoptees and their loved ones are welcome! AK Connection will provide appetizers, and there will be additional drinks and food available to purchase. No RSVP needed, just show up!  When: Saturday, Jan. 11  Time: 6-9 p.m.  Where: Malcolm Yards (501 30th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414) - look for AK Connection signs on tables when you arrive Cost: Free!  COMMUNITY EVENTS

Highlighting Korean-American and adoptee community events Now - Jan. 15: Apply for the 2025 Korean Cultural Tour with Chicago Arirang Lions Jan. 11: Free Name and Gender Marker Change Clinic for AAPI People in Minnesota Jan. 25 - April 14: Korean Institute of MN Korean Classes Jan. 26 - May 4: KAAM Korean Language & Culture Program Feb. 1: Korean Cultural Association Seollal (Lunar New Year) Celebration Feb. 6-8: Cuckoo at the Walker Art Center March 14-30: When You Trap A Tiger at Stages Theater Company June 20-22: KAAN Conference  WHAT'S NEW Updates to AK Connection Board We’d like to share that Vice President Ashley Holmes and Treasurer SoYoung Park will be retiring from the AK Connection board effective at the end of this year.  We are deeply grateful for Ashley’s mentorship and leadership and for SoYoung’s hard work to establish a solid financial foundation for AK Connection. They both leave a strong legacy of care and dedication to our community that will continue to inspire us as we move forward. We are happy to share that Jenny Ries – an existing board member – will be stepping into the role of Treasurer. Jenny has been an invaluable part of our board and we are excited for her leadership in this new capacity. Please join us in thanking Ashley and SoYoung for their service and welcoming Jenny to this important role! Share Your Winter Market Feedback! If you attended our first-ever AK Connection Winter Market on Dec. 8, we’d love your feedback! Please take this short survey - it should take no more than 1-2 minutes to complete. As a small non-profit run entirely by volunteers, we rely on your feedback to guide our efforts to create events for our community. TAKE SURVEY New Legal Resources Page for Intercountry Adoptees Adoptees United – a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of adopted persons – recently launched a new resource page that provides general information for intercountry adoptees. It provides guides and FAQs around topics like requesting immigration records, applying for or getting reissued citizenship certificates and more. By Jan. 31, 2025: Submit Essays, Poetry, Stories, and Art About Transnational Adoption Transnational adoptees are encouraged to submit their stories about origins and family for use in a book proposal about adoptee origins edited by Dr. Sarah Docan Morgan, Dr. Kimberly McKee, Ansley Moon, and Alessia Petrolito. Forms accepted include personal essay, poetry/hybrid work/lyric essay, short story, visual arts, graphic memoir, and research. Learn more about the project and submit your proposal.  BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOTE In each newsletter, you'll hear from the board members who organized that month's event. Learn more about our all-volunteer board.  Celebrating Community, Connection, and Collaboration We are so grateful to everyone who supported our first-ever AK Connection Winter Market earlier this month. We were blown away by the response – we had more than 250 attendees and news outlets like KSTP and AsAmNews covered the event. We especially appreciate our vendors and performers, all of whom are Korean adoptees (check out the full list and support and follow them!). Because of the market’s success, we’re excited to announce that the Winter Market will return next year! This event was truly a labor of love and we walked away feeling proud of and inspired by the talent, entrepreneurship and sense of community we saw. As we reflect on 2024 and look forward to next year, we’re committed to fostering that spirit of solidarity and creating ways that we can lift each other higher and go further together.  That commitment feels especially meaningful as we enter 2025 because it’s also AK Connection’s 25th anniversary! Our 2025 programming will include our signature events like Seollal, Children’s Day, the summer picnic, Chuseok, and social nights. Thanks to your feedback, we’re also adding new educational events, including a Korean cooking class. Plus, we’ll be celebrating our anniversary with a special gala in November that you won’t want to miss. We’ll share more details soon!  Thank you again to everyone who supported AK Connection throughout 2024. Whether you attended events, volunteered, or donated, your involvement means the world to us. We’re so grateful to be part of this community with you. DONATE TO AK CONNECTION