How Stereotypes and Labor Shortages Lured Asians to the Sunshine: A Brief Historical and Demographic Review of Asian Americans in Florida.

Asians began to arrive in Florida in the years after the Civil War, concentrated mainly in railroad construction, agriculture, and service sectors such as laundry, restaurant, and grocery business. Their population grew very slowly until after World War II, when the discriminatory immigration policies were finally lifted. The 1965 immigration reform act, openings of the Walt Disney World and other tourist attractions, the end of the Vietnam War, the thriving sunbelt economy, and the rapid population growth have all brought numerous new Asian immigrants to the southernmost state in America. Shaped by multiple waves of immigration and various socioeconomic factors, Asian Americans are among the fastest-growing census groups in Florida. Like in other parts of the United States, Asian Americans’ experiences in Florida are rich and diverse. Although the presence of Asian Americans in Florida may not be as historically significant as in California or New York, there is still a fascinating tapestry of endeavors that reflect their struggles since the late nineteenth century, as well as multiple contributions made by this dynamic demographic group in our multicultural society of today. This essay will first review the early encounters of Chinese and Japanese pioneers in Florida, then examine the development of Asian Americans after World War II and their rapid growth as reflected in recent census reports to highlight the progress made by Asian Americans in the land of sunshine often times against harsh and discriminatory practices

2025 Crummer Truist Portfolio

SunTrust (now Truist) endowed this portfolio to provide scholarships for future Crummer students and to give current students a practical, hands-on learning opportunity. This year, we are pleased to be able to disburse $50,000 to be used for scholarships. We are extremely grateful for this generous investment in higher education. We have all learned a great deal from this experience and the responsibility of managing real money. Our first challenge is to establish a portfolio position that takes advantage of economic opportunities while avoiding unnecessary risk and conforming to the Crummer Truist Investment Policy Statement (IPS). We are also tasked by the IPS to operate at two levels simultaneously – tactical for the near term, and strategic for the long run. Additionally, this portfolio presents some unusual portfolio management challenges by trading only once a year, in early April. Our tactical approach began with a top-down sector analysis. We established an economic forecast based on research and consultation with economists, including Professor Dan Biller of the Crummer School and Philip Rich of UCBI. We based our equity and fixed income split on that forecast with a 20% allocation to bonds, at the highest level allowed by the IPS. That forecast also drove our allocation among the eleven S&P sectors: Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financials, Healthcare, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities. Based on our economic outlook (which is most consistent with the economy being in the late stages of the business cycle), we tilted the allocation towards sectors that should do well in such a macro environment while paying attention to political factors as well as industry-specific dynamics. Our asset allocation embodies the long-run strategy of our portfolio. The IPS sets asset class ranges from low to moderate risk to keep the portfolio from being whipsawed by transitory market cycles. Our equity allocations signify an opportunity to take on some risk, consistent with our economic outlook through the end of March 2026. We maintain an allocation to a sector ETF in each sector to achieve passive exposure. Due to enrollment constraints, we actively manage eight sectors this year with a limit of two individual stocks per sector. The remaining sectors are invested 100% in their sector ETF. Fixed income is our anchor sector, providing a hedge against the risk of an economic slowdown adversely impacting our equity holdings. Consistent with our yield curve projection of lower short-term rates with stable long-term rates, we are at the high end of our IPS range for fixed income at 20% and taking on a bit more interest rate risk than the average permissible duration. Furthermore, we have continued to incorporate investment themes. This year, we will maintain the dual themes of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing and Artificial Intelligence in our portfolio selection process. Regardless of a security’s consistency with either of these themes, all recommendations must be undervalued after rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. In other words, our intent is not to maximize the ESG or AI impact of our portfolio but to tilt toward these factors. While we are now several years removed from the COVID-19 pandemic, markets are experiencing a new set of impacts as we come off of a recent election and experience the uncertainty of a new (but not completely new) administration. Inflation levels, monetary and fiscal policies, and global conflicts that were all unprecedented have contributed to an increased level of uncertainty. We do not intend to simply follow the crowd. Yet, echoing the philosophy of Warren Buffett, “our opinions and beliefs, grounded in economics and guided by all of those who have counseled us,” lead us to a strategy that is not significantly different from many investors. Even so, we accept responsibility for our investment decisions. We are investing for the long-term and we have been conservative in our forecasts and recommendations. Simultaneously, in the short term, we are mindful of the need to protect the portfolio’s commitment to scholarships