Increase federal funding to support SEAA students’ success

SEAAs’ refugee history, their invisibility in education data and policy, and systemic racism create barriers to our students’ educational success. Our government must address the disparities that SEAA students experience and invest in their futures.

Key resources:

SEARAC Executive Director Quyen Dinh speaks at an AAPI rally led by NAKASEC to defend DACA.

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“My commitment to educational advocacy is shaped by my personal experience as a low-income, immigrant Southeast Asian student in the U.S public school system and my professional experiences as a teacher and youth facilitator. As a high school student, I experienced firsthand a lack of a culturally inclusive education and witnessed an unequal distribution of resources between my high school and the wealthier, predominantly white high school just across the bridge. Yet, I did not have the language to name what I was experiencing.”

SEARAC LAT 2019 participant

We need to be actively thinking about creative spaces and after-school programs that encourage participation from refugee parents in preparing their children for college. More importantly, we need to address language access. Without the ability to read documents or understand robocalls, parents are further barred from being informed on their child’s educational attainment and success.”

Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell
People pose, some jumping in the area, around a sign saying Made By Refugees

People Power in Action

Six people wear traditional attire adorned with flowers

Include Southeast Asian American ethnic studies in school curricula

Learning about the histories, culture, and experiences of our diverse communities, including SEAAs, benefits all students

Post-its and handwritten messages on a posterboard labeled with the year 1975

Increase federal funding for Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions

These colleges and universities are essential for increasing higher education access and success to low-income, first generation Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students, including SEAAs.

SEARAC's June 2026 newsletter is live! This month's newsletter features a staff reflection on sabbatical, an overview of recent rulings from the Supreme Court, update on health care in CA, and more. 

Read the newsletter at the link in our bio!

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SEARAC applauds the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship. It affirms the idea that every child born here is entitled to the same rights, dignity, and chance to thrive and rejects efforts to erode the constitutional protections guaranteed to everyone born in the United States.

Read SEARAC's full response at the link in our bio.

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This year, Vyvian from our partners at @vietrainbowoc shared a reflection that we want to leave you with as we close out June: 

“One day, I hope that LGBTQIA+ Southeast Asian Americans, young and old alike, are able to fully express their identity as an homage to our rich histories of Queerness... I know there is endless potential in the Southeast Asian American community for love, action, and justice and my hope is that we come together to maximize it.”

Happy Pride Month 🌈 To our LGBTQIA+ Southeast Asian American community: your history is rich, your joy is resistance, and your community is bigger than you know.

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