NEW YORK: The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), a pan-Asian children's rights organization, has hired Noilyn Abesamis-Mendoza as the Manager of Health Policy.

As Manager of Health Policy, Ms. Mendoza will take the lead in CACF's Health Advocacy Project to improve language access, cultural competence, and health care affordability.

Among her major responsibilities is Project CHARGE (Coalition for Health Access to Reach Greater Equity), a pan-Asian network of 14 partners aiming to expand financial access to health care.

Accepting the challenge Ms. Mendoza said, "Today, we face ever-rising costs of health care, an increasing number of uninsured, hospital and clinic closures, and a health care system often ill-equipped to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of immigrant communities.

CACF is launching Project CHARGE at a very critical time in the nation's discussion on health care reform." Before joining CACF, Abesamis-Mendoza was the Deputy Director of Outreach and Programs for the NYU School of Medicine's Center for the Study of Asian American Health (CSAAH).

In 2004, Abesamis-Mendoza co-founded the Kalusugan Coalition, a Filipino health collaborative, where she currently serves as the Board Chair.