Coalition of Asian American Leaders

In 2023, CAAL continued the important work of the Linking Leaders Partnership and secured enough funding to pay for .5 FTE and a consultant to manage the program; there was a focus on developing clear messaging about the partnership and planned prioritize for 2024; additionally, the partnership launched the Truth and History Project, where 16 community leaders and 4 academic historians were interviewed to capture the lived experiences from each cultural community. All videos have been recorded and will be released in 2025.CAAL also built stronger relationships with the Edina Asian American Alliance and the Saint Paul Public School parents and students to organize a candidate forum.

CAAL increased their network from 5000 to 5500 in the last two years due to our leadership support programs. CAAL also had a record number of participants in our programs, especially in our youth and parent programs. CAAL is now in 7 major school districts - Lino Lakes, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Edina, Inver Grove Heights, Anoka, and Washington. The parents and students from these school districts continue to participate in our advocacy work on Ethnic Studies and Anti-Asian Hate to ensure that Asian American students feel seen and heard in their schools and most importantly they feel safe.

CAAL worked on multiple bills this legislative session and it was a huge success. Details on page 44. In additional to important legislative wins, CAAL continues to be a trusted voice at the legislature building bipartisan relationships and working with all elected officials who care about Asian American issues. CAAL works in partnership with multiple organizations through cross-racial coalition work and our systems change successes are a result of these cross-racial coalitions

Network Weaving: Convening, facilitating and gathering leaders across sectors, generations and ethnicities.

Other 2023 Accomplishments: CAAL initiated the first Education Racial Solidarity program with funding from the Saint Paul Public Schools, training 15 parents, hosted a family retreat for 40 people, and collaborated with other organizations of color to convene a School Board candidate forum with all candidates. CAAL also distributed its first round of Stronger Together Small Business grants, hosted learning sessions, and connected with financial institutions. In regards to CAAL's legislative agenda, it won big in 2023 starting with a $4 million appropriation for the Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program that started in 2017 at $500,000 and has grown to a $4 million appropriation. Additionally, we passed important policy initiatives with Ethnic Studies, Driver's License, Combating Hate, and supporting immigrants in healthcare and other safety net programs. Equally, we had an extremely successful Day at the Capitol with over 200 attendees and 20 legislative visits. The Governor and Lt. Governor were both present along with bipartisan legislative supporters. We also partnered with Greater Minnesota organizations to reach out to Asian Americans in rural communities with less resources and serves. We were in Worthington, Rochester, and Duluth. We made significant hiring with a new Associate Director and two Movement Building Program Managers. We increased our Spark Grant amounts; we pushed for the re-classification of Hmong Americans under Southeast Asia; we traveled to DC to advocate for increased support for Anti-Asian Hate initiatives and funding.