Our Mission
We are a social justice network organization with a mission to harness our collective power to improve the lives of community by connecting, learning, and acting together.
Our Vision
The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) envisions a just and joyful future where all Minnesotans, regardless of background, have the power to shape decisions that affect us and live with dignity in thriving and caring communities.
Our Work
Network Weaving: Building relationships, curating learning spaces and celebrating the contributions of Asian Minnesotan leaders.
Advancing the Community’s Priorities in Education Equity, Community Prosperity, and Safe & Welcoming Communities: Working on the community’s shared priority issues in education, economics, immigration and anti-racism through organizing, policy and research
Leadership Support: Strengthening the social justice movement capacity of Asian Minnesotan leaders through investing in their ideas, skills and relationships.
Solidarity: Building multicultural and multiracial formations to ensure communities made most vulnerable are working together for a shared future where justice, equity, prosperity exists for everyone.
Our Impact
Check out these numbers that help us tell the whole story of our work and impact:
Grew CAAL’s network to 4,500 leaders!
Finished the third #MinneAsianStories storytelling book, exhibit and on-line storybank that reached over 90,000 people
Created the Stronger Together Fund that provided 22 grants of over $250,000 to Asian Minnesotan organizations supporting communities made most vulnerable during COVID pandemic
Worked with 28 youth leaders that reached over 30,000 Asian Minnesotan voters
The Spark Leadership Fund provided over $50,000 to Black, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx leaders who used their expertise to address urgent community needs
Hosted programming for over 3,200 leaders
Provided 20 trainings to private, public and nonprofit audiences
“Please tell everyone at CAAL that this pandemic is not stopping you. You modeled that organizing leadership development and activism is totally possible, and very much needed and appreciated.”
– 2020 MOVEE Leader
2020 Highlights
Co-created Asian Minnesotan Alliance for Justice to respond to anti-Asian violence and advance intersectional justice
Organized individuals and families impacted by anti-immigrant and anti-refugee policies to keep families together, centralizing a new intake process and form for multiple organizations to use
Successfully completed the 4th cohort of the MOVEE Social Justice Movement Leadership Program growing our alumni to 88
Successfully hosted a virtual 6-part State of Asian Minnesotan Series bringing timely knowledge, research, information about the Asian Minnesotan community to a board audience and completed written briefs for each session
Published reports and created videos about the impact of COVID on Asian Minnesotans
Launched a new cohort of the BOBA Youth Leadership Program
Published papers on heritage language preservation and redefining wealth using cultural and communal assets
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