January 2024 marks my 10-year anniversary as Executive Director of SEARAC. In honor of that anniversary, I am kicking off SEARAC’s Annual Week of Giving, where we come together as a community to raise funds to support our community’s future.
My vision 10 years ago was for SEARAC to be an advocacy powerhouse driven by strong communities. Today, that vision is at the core of everything we do as a national civil rights organization grounded in community power, and it is our compass to guide where we go next.
This vision was also central in our new strategic plan, which defines our major strategies and direction for the next five years and informed by more than 40 partner organizations and community leaders. We titled our strategy “Our Civil Rights Vision: Expanding power to welcome the Southeast Asian American 50th year anniversary.”
In this year’s Annual Week of Giving, we will spotlight each of SEARAC’s five strategic priorities to inspire you to be part of building our vision to:
- Build mighty communities
- Shape national policies from the ground up
- Bolster California for national change
- Cultivate leaders and shifting narratives, and
- Build a path forward as survivors who thrive
Each day, we will spotlight the victories we’ve built this year in each of those priority areas, and elevate SEARAC’s vision for how to build what’s next together. We are celebrating the power that the Southeast Asian American community is building as well as our potential in the years to come.
We are so grateful to our community members, organizational partners, legislative champions, Leadership and Advocacy Training alumni, and everyone who comprises SEARAC’s network across the country and the world. We would not exist without you. We hope that you see yourself and your power in our vision for 2025 to be the Southeast Asian American community’s civil rights year. I invite you to contribute to our end-of-year fundraiser to grow our community power leading up to and through 2025 to build thriving Southeast Asian American communities for generations to come.
In gratitude and partnership,
Quyên Đinh, SEARAC Executive Director