Cora retired from the U.S. Department of State on April 1, 2007 with some thirty five years of experience as a Foreign Service spouse, a Foreign Service Officer, and a Civil Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. She served as Chairperson of the Secretary's Open Forum, Senior Economic Analyst, INR Program Manager, Congressional Fellow -- and led the Asian Pacific American Federal Foreign Affairs Council (APAFFAC -- renamed AAFAA in 2007).   Cora has received the Director of Central Intelligence Exceptional Analyst Award, the State Department EEO Award, and numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards. Cora Foley has managed programs with the World Affairs Council, Asia Society, NBR, the Atlantic Council and the Stimson Center.  

 

 

Cora Foley in January 2008 was appointed by Fairfax County Chairman Gerry Connolly to serve as a Board Member of the Fairfax County History Museum Subcommittees.  In June 2009, Cora Foley was appointed to serve in the Fairfax County Census 2010 Complete Count Committee.  She served as a Founding Member in 2009 of the Friends of the Virginia Room of the Fairfax County Public Library System.  She was an author in the Fairfax County Jamestown Legacy Book "Fairfax County Stories 1607 - 2007."

 

On June 1, 2009, Cora Foley was honored as 2009 Lady Fairfax At-Large by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova for her work on the Fairfax County Asian American History Project and for initiating and organizing the Burke/Springfield District Senior Center Without Walls.  The Lord and Lady Fairfax Awards are part of Celebrate Fairfax!.

 

She served as a State Department Congressional Fellow in 1992 with then Congressman Norman Y. Mineta (CA-13) and was the lead congressional staffer in his office who managed the successful passage of H.J. Res. 271 authorizing the Go for Broke National Veterans Association to establish a memorial to Japanese American Patriotism in Washington, D.C. (http://njamf.com).

 

Cora Foley has also initiated and managed  several exhibits honoring Filipino Americans, including:  May - July 1989 Smithsonian Exhibit honoring 226 Years of Filipino Americans who established a 1763 settlement in Louisiana  (the exhibit was sponsored by the interagency group FAPAC of which she was a founder and a chairperson) ; and June - July 1998 State Department exhibit highlighting Filipino American History in Hawaii sponsored by APAFFAC in cooperation with the Bishop Museum to commemorate the centennial of Philippine Independence. 

 

She has also initiated and developed several exhibits honoring other Asian Americans, including: a 1997 State Department Exhibit cosponsored by Hawaii's Bishop Museum that highlighted the history and culture of Hawaiian Americans; and a 1999 State Department Exhibit on Japanese American patriotism in World War II in 1999 in cooperation with the Japanese American National Museum.

 

She organized the first tabletop exhibit of the Fairfax County Asian American History Project displayed at the October 20, 2007 History Conference sponsored by the Fairfax County History Commission.  She was a speaker at the 2008 Fairfax County History Commission Conference.

 

Cora Foley and her family have lived in Fairfax County, Virginia since 1980 after overseas tours with the U.S. Department of State in Haiti, the Philippines, and Russia.  Cora graduated with a B.A. in Economics (magna cum laude) from the University of the Philippines and an M.B.A from George Washington University.  She is married to Michael Daniel Foley and they have two children, Joshua Daniel and Melinda Corazon.  

 

She was born in Manila, Philippines and her Filipino family --  Sandovals and Tinios -- come from Palawan and Nueva Ecija provinces.  As of 2007, Cora Foley has been a US citizen for some 35 years and a Fairfax County resident for 27 years.  She has been writing Fairfax County Stories for local newspapers.  

 

Cora Foley could be reached at corafoleyfanhsnova@hotmail.com.

   

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Fairfax County Stories

APAFFAC

FCAAHP Interview Responses:

1.   How did the Fairfax County Asian American History Project get started?

The project started with my volunteer work in 2007 with the Fairfax County Jamestown 400 Committee.

We developed many public programs to honor the 400 years since the settlement of Jamestown.

A key project is the legacy book entitled "Fairfax County Stories 1607-2007."

My immediate response to the legacy book project is that it is a great idea but I asked how a book like that could be written without a story about the Asian American community.  I pointed out that the Asian American community has been the largest minority group in Fairfax County since 1990.

The response was "why don't you write the story."  So, I did.  Since I am Filipino American, I decided to write a story entitled "It Began with the 1898 Spanish-American War: Filipinos and other Asian American in Fairfax County."

After the legacy book was published, I asked Gerry Connolly, Chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, why there has been no historical research done on Asian Americans in Fairfax County which prides itself on doing extensive local history projects.  Chairman Connolly referred me to Vice-Chairman Sharon Bulova who sponsored "Braddock's True Gold," a local oral history project on Braddock District.

I talked to Sharon Bulova during Memorial Day 2007, the 50th anniversary celebration of Fairfax Memorial Park --  where my father, Graciniano Sandoval, was buried in 2004 when he died of cancer.

Sharon Bulova was very receptive to my idea and agreed to become the lead sponsor for the Fairfax County Asian American History Project.  Our kick-off meeting was held on January 23, 2008.  We formed a team of Fairfax County Asian American volunteers and I created the FCAAHP website in which our project materials are stored.

Our goal is that by May 2010, FCAAHP will publish our first book(s), articles and video documentary.  We are working with the George Mason University Center for History and New Media to create a permanent website for FCAAHP.

As a Board Member of the proposed Fairfax County History Museum, I am developing FCAAHP as an organization that could ensure that the story of Fairfax County does not have a blank space when it comes to recognizing the contributions of Fairfax County Asian Americans.

 Note:  April 4, 2008 Washington Post article on Journeys to the Heart of Fairfax.