Chinese for Affirmative Action builds community power and changes the systems that shape people’s lives. We work alongside community members, policymakers, and partners to advance a more just, equitable, and compassionate society.
Direct Services
We provide free, culturally and linguistically accessible services for low-income, immigrant, and limited-English-proficient communities in San Francisco. These services include immigration rapid response hotlines, know-your-rights education, naturalization assistance, referrals, job-readiness services and workforce support, and workshops on critical community issues.
We also partner with others to address technology access, displaced workers, and the needs of specific neighborhoods and communities.
Leadership Development
We believe people most affected by an issue should lead the solutions. We assist community members in building public speaking skills, facilitating meetings, understanding public policy, and leading outreach and education.
Civic Engagement
We support community member participation in civic life to make their voices heard. Our work includes voter registration and education including candidate forums, census outreach, issue-based campaigns, and multilingual civic education — including through Chinese-language and digital platforms.
Policy Advocacy
We work with community members, elected officials, policymakers, and allies to change laws, budgets, and public policies. Through advocacy and coalition building, CAA advances solutions that address inequity and create lasting systems change.
Strategic Communications
We use communications to elevate community voices, counter misinformation, and shape public understanding of the issues affecting our communities. We work with English- and Chinese-language news outlets and operate our own media platforms, including PiYaoBa and Justice Patch. We also partner with artists and cultural institutions to advance narratives that reflect our communities and promote greater equity.
Movement Building
Lasting social change requires more than the work of any single organization. It depends on strong networks that connect communities, organizations, and leaders around shared goals and make collective action possible.
CAA has long played a central role in building and sustaining this movement infrastructure and currently anchors or leads several major networks and partnerships, including:
- Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE)
- Stop AAPI Hate
- AAPI Against Gun Violence Coalition
- Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative
- Coalition for Community Safety and Justice
- Immigrant Parent Voting Collaborative
- Language Access Network of San Francisco
- Movement Solidarity Among AAPI Communities (MOSAIC)
- San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN)
- San Francisco Rapid Response Network