Seven organizations and 28 leaders receive CAAL funds to respond to COVID-19 needs in Asian Minnesotan community

For Immediate Release        

October 28, 2020

Contact

Julia Gay julia@caalmn.org | (216) 744-4956

St. Paul, MN – The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) redistributed an additional $103,000 to support Asian Minnesotans addressing COVID related community challenges and advance community solutions to achieve racial equity. To date, CAAL has provided nearly $250,000 to support Black, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx leaders and Asian Minnesotan nonprofits to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and racial inequities in health, economics, education, immigration and other social challenges facing the most vulnerable community members. 

To better understand the challenges facing the ecosystem of Asian Minnesotan organizations, CAAL surveyed groups throughout the summer and compiled a report that provides a window into some of the challenges facing Asian Minnesotan organizations and opportunities to support these organizations. The report is available for download at www.caalmn.org/stronger-together-fund.

Through its Stronger Together Fund, CAAL awarded another round of grants to seven Asian Minnesotan organizations. These organizations will provide leadership development opportunities to LGBTQ+ populations, support communities in greater Minnesota, supply groceries, meals and PPE to families in need, and support Southeast Asian nail salons navigating challenges due to COVID-19.

“We believe in community care and know we are only as strong as our community. That’s why we can’t just hope for the best, but we must do all that we can to support individuals and organizations,” says Bo Thao-Urabe, CAAL’s Executive and Network Director. 

The seven funded organizations are the Cultural Society of Filipino Americans, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum – St. Cloud Chapter, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment, SEWA-AIFW, Southwest Hmong Association, Transforming Generations and Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota.

Simultaneously, CAAL funded 16 Black, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx leaders to carry out projects that addressed urgent community needs through its Spark Leadership Fund. A few projects include:

• Heather C. Lou will create block prints with messages of hope, resilience and love to send to community members and local businesses.
• Andrew Valeria Duarte-Alonso’s project called ‘Stories from Unheard Voices’ will  capture oral histories of first and second generation immigrants from Southwest Minnesota. 

Individual funds also supported Asian American youth leaders to facilitate healing for young people, and five youth fellows to work on research undertaken with the University of Minnesota and Children’s Minnesota to understand how young Asian Americans experience anti-Asian racism and resilience before and during COVID-19.

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About Coalition of Asian American Leaders: 

The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) envisions a State where all Minnesotans, regardless of background, are actively engaged and can achieve prosperity. Our mission is to harness our collective power to improve community lives by connecting, learning, and acting together. To learn more, please visit www.caalmn.org. 

About Stronger Together Fund

The Stronger Together Fund was established to support Asian Minnesotan organizations serving the most vulnerable segments of our community during this time. To learn more, please visit www.caalmn.org/stronger-together-fund. 

About Spark Leadership Fund

The Spark Leadership Fund offers financial support to BIPOC leaders in Minnesota. Individual leaders can apply for $500, $750 or $1,000 to support a project that addresses an urgent community need. To learn more, please visit www.caalmn.org/spark.