Amihan Matias sets goals as new leader of the Massachusetts AAPI Commission

Amihan Matias, the new executive director of the Massachusetts Asian American and Pacific Islanders Commission, says her top goal is reaching the families that averages tend to hide.

A lifetime of community work

Matias calls herself a 1.5 generation immigrant. Her family left the Philippines soon after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended national origin quotas. Her father was a professional who wanted more for his children. The family later settled in the Boston area after he faced discrimination at work.

She was a founding member of Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders for Health and the AAPI Alliance of Western Massachusetts. She also led the launch of the Jasmine Asian Women's Giving Circle and served on the board of the Asian American Resource Workshop. The commission named her to the post this summer.

A fast-growing and varied population

The state's AAPI population grew about 40 percent from 2014 to 2024 and now numbers close to 650,000, she said. It traces its roots to more than 40 countries and speaks more than 100 languages and dialects.

Matias said Cambodian, Vietnamese and Pacific Islander families have real needs that are easy to miss when other groups are doing well. She also wants to help immigrant households under strain from detention and deportation along with AAPI residents scattered across rural western Massachusetts who lack the support found in Boston or Springfield.

Taking on an old myth

She called the model minority myth the biggest misunderstanding about her community. Some groups are thriving, she said, but some immigrant and refugee communities still face lower high school completion rates and poverty.

Created in 2006, the commission gives grants to community groups, runs a youth council and surveys residents across the state. Matias said she wants to bring those communities together so they speak with a louder voice and help build a state where everyone feels welcome and can thrive.