Summer Activist Training

by repost Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2010 at 12:31 PM

April 10, 2010

Dear Friends and Allies:

The annual Summer Activist Training program (SAT) seeks your help to identify and recruit candidates for this year’s training. SAT was founded in 1993 to provide young Asian Pacific Islander Americans an opportunity to learn valuable skills in community organizing and direct action campaigns. This program brings together like-minded APIAs to help create a community of young activists and organizers, many of whom go onto work in various community-based organizations and unions. This year's training will take place July 8-11, 2010. If you know of young Asian Pacific Islanders with an interest in community organizing and social justice, who plan to be in the LA area or can make a trip of it, please encourage them to apply!

Founded in 1993 by the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), SAT’s mission is to seek out motivated and dedicated individuals who are active in effecting positive change in their communities. The first group of SAT participants included young Korean American activists from California’s Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York. They were brought together in a ground-breaking program to give them the skills to organize a campaign. Since 1993, sponsorship of SAT expanded to include Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR, founded in 1980); Pilipino Workers Center (PWC, founded in 1997); the Thai Community Development Center (THAI-CDC, founded in 1994); the South Asian Network (SAN, founded in 1990); the Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SEACA, founded in 2002); and the Chinese Progressive Association – San Gabriel Valley (CPA-SGV, founded 2008).

Summer Activist Training (SAT) has been working with young leaders for years to build solidarity and equip them with information and the know-how to further their work toward positive social change and justice. The sponsoring organizations seek to build a network of young organizers and activists in the greater Asian and Pacific Islander community with skills in outreach, organizing, and direct-action campaigns.

Now in its 17th year, SAT provides an introduction to a wide range of experience in mobilizing people, coalition-building, raising public awareness, and addressing issues impacting oppressed and disempowered communities. SAT and graduates of the program continue to make a mark on the APIA community; many alumni have gone on to work in various community-based organizations and unions. We hope you will help us recruit the next generation of APIA movement leaders.

The program includes meals and lodging for the 4 days and 3nights of the training and promises an opportunity to meet and network other young activists, and a chance to develop better relationships with APIA organizations in the Los Angeles area.

Feel free to forward the application along to any students, clubs, organizations or others who might be interested.

The application deadline is Friday, May 21, 2008! For more information, don't hesitate to contact us! You can call our coordinator, Lucia at 240-388-5261. Thank you!

In Solidarity,

Your friends at CPA-SGV, KIWA, PWC, NCRR, SEACA-LA, SAN, Thai CDC