Our Mission
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta is the first nonprofit legal advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) and Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities in Georgia and the Southeast.
Through our work, we envision a social movement in which communities of color are fully empowered, active in civic life, and working together to promote equity, fair treatment, and self determination for all.
Founded in 2010 as the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center (AALAC), our organization became part of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation in 2014. Since then, we have re-organized our focus areas more specifically into four groups: Policy Advocacy, Civic Engagement & Organizing, Impact Litigation, and Legal Services.
Our Values
Bottom up vs. top down: community members inspire our work.
Community groups are not our clients but our partners.
We believe in collaboration and movement building.
Human rights is the core of our work.
Why Our Work Matters
Asians are the fastest growing ethnic and racial minority in the country. The South experienced the fastest Asian population growth and Georgia is the flashpoint with one of the largest foreign-born populations in our region. Georgia’s Asian and Pacific Islander populations nearly doubled and now make up 350,000 or 4% of the state’s total population. Gwinnett County is home to the largest Asian community with approximately 97,960 Asian American residents (~11% of the total population).
The huge influx of Asian Americans and other immigrants has heightened anti-immigrant sentiment in our state at levels not seen in recent decades and led to the introduction of discriminatory policies that have negatively impacted our community members. Despite the population growth and counter to the ‘model minority’ myth, Asian Americans in Georgia remain underrepresented and underserved.
Asian and Pacific Islanders living in poverty is one of the fastest growing groups in the country, and the South endured the largest increase with low-wealth Asian immigrants and refugees increasing by 55% in the last decade.
Asian Americans have the lowest percentage voter turn-out rates in Georgia out of all groups, despite their registration rates being the second highest in our state. 1.3% of Georgia active voters identify as Asian American.
Cultural diversity stymies civic and social integration, and presents unique challenges with education and mobilization efforts.
Nearly three-quarters of all Asians are foreign-born, and the average age of Asians in Georgia is 39 which means many receive no formal education on American civics.
42% of Asian adults and 25% of Asian youth as a whole are Limited English Proficient.
The Asian immigrant and refugee populations are incredibly diverse and comprise of more than 15 major ethnic groups, each of which have their own cultural, linguistic and religious background.
