“My work is about transmuting pain, grief, and loss into something hopeful and beautiful,” [Phingbodhipakkiya] explained. “We deserve to live without fear. We deserve to live with hope and joy. We deserve to celebrate our Asian joy.”

Hires said media coverage of Asian Americans should more often highlight the lack of resources they face, including health care, educational equity and housing. The model minority myth and the aggregation of more than twenty Asian American subgroups into a single category leads to the assumption that they are all doing well. This, in turn, masks the needs of many Asian American groups, and results in a lack of coverage of those needs.

Ben Hires, chief executive at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, highlighted efforts by Quincy residents to create a city department of social justice and equity, as well as state legislative measures, including new educational programs, to help combat racism.

He also called for broader investments in creating access to jobs, housing, health care, and other services for communities of color.

Hires said the support, which comes from a diverse set of donors, means a lot to the Asian community.

“The fact that they reached out and wanted to help Chinatown was super amazing in terms multiracial support,” said Hires. “It has been inspirational and uplifting.”

Ben Hires, chief executive of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, said the Atlanta shootings were “quite the gut punch.”

“I instantly thought about our staff and the people we support . . . The women that were tragically murdered in Atlanta . . . we know them, we serve them every day here locally,” said Hires, who is of South Korean descent.