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.

Featured story

“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.

For millions of Californians, Medi-Cal is a lifeline, especially those who are aging, low-income, live with disabilities, or have various immigration statuses. @CAgovernor is proposing to cut care for the members of our community who are struggling the most in his #CAbudget. Now is the time to get loud and fight back!

Help us make sure #CAleg hears our plea; share this post, make a call, and send a letter at the link in @healthaccessca bio!

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🚨Today, the California state Assembly PASSED AB 1537 by Asm. Bryan, the No Side Jobs for ICE Act!

As ICE tears families apart and terrorizes local communities, it’s also spending millions trying to recruit local law enforcement into its ranks. Despite the protections passed in CA, nothing in state law prevents local police and sheriffs from ‘moonlighting’ as deportation agents.

AB 1537 will CLOSE this loophole and bring urgently needed transparency. THANK You to Asm. Bryan (@isaacgbryan), the co-authors, all legislators who voted “aye,” and all of the community organizations that came out in support. Now, on to the Senate!

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Every student deserves to be seen and heard. Our data must reflect their unique lived experiences. When Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students are lumped into broad categories, their struggles and their strengths both become invisible. 

This AANHPI Heritage Month, SEARAC proudly supports the reintroduction of the All Students Count Act of 2026. This bill would require the federal government to collect and report education data disaggregated by distinct AANHPI ethnic groups.
 
Thank you to Sen. Mazie Hirono and Rep. Pramila Jayapal for championing this bill. 

🔗 Learn more at the link in our bio.

#AllStudentsCount #CountUsAll

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Last week, SEARAC hosted the third installment of our Rising Up webinar series, examining gender disparities in Southeast Asian American students' educational attainment. Kham Moua, SEARAC National Deputy Director, shared how immigration policies in the 1990s criminalized Southeast Asian boys and men. This created not just a school-to-prison pipeline, but a school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline. 

You can join SEARAC tomorrow, May 19, for the next installment of our webinar series at bit.ly/RisingUpPt4.

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Education is a right, not a privilege. Join SEARAC on May 19 for our Rising Up webinar series as we explore how community colleges are increasing access and affordability for Southeast Asian American students. Featuring Dr. Tchay Her of Fresno City College's United Southeast Asian American Program (@fcc_useaa). RSVP today: bit.ly/RisingUpPt4 or at the link in our bio!

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