A New Chapter
A letter from Advancing Justice-Atlanta Executive Director Phi Nguyen
Dear friends,
I am writing to share with you all some bittersweet news. After nearly six years at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, first as Litigation Director and then as Executive Director, I am ready to start a new chapter.
When I joined our organization in 2017, I never could have imagined us growing from a team of 8 to 35. When I first started, our conference room table was a plastic card table – and our entire staff could sit around it! Today, we are recognized and celebrated across the country for how we are building Asian American political power and transforming Georgia. (And we have a real conference room table!)
Over the last six years, Advancing Justice-Atlanta has weathered some incredible challenges – and met these moments with grit, determination, and triumph. We built a legal team to protect our immigrant communities against aggressive detention and deportation policies. We have fought against voter suppression at the Capitol and in the courtroom. We turn out AAPI voters election after election, delivering the margin of victory in races where the whole nation is watching and in local races that are critical to Georgians. We continue to change the face of Georgia and who gets to lead it. Georgia now has the largest number of Asian American state lawmakers in the country, and Advancing Justice-Atlanta is part of that story.
When I stepped into the Executive Director role in 2021, it was shortly after a long and grueling election cycle that took place amid a global pandemic, followed by the spa shootings that killed eight people and shook our Atlanta community. I knew we needed to wrap the same care around our staff as we were wrapping around our wider community.
That’s why during my tenure as Executive Director, we have focused some of our energy inward towards labor that, while often unseen and underappreciated, is critical to sustaining our movements – from strengthening our operational infrastructure to ensuring generous and equitable pay for our staff to creating systems that prioritize the mental health and wellbeing of those on the front lines of our work. At the same time, we’ve continued to deliver for our community. We have helped expand the conversation about anti-Asian violence to include not just interpersonal violence but also systemic and state violence. We grew our election protection and get out the vote efforts to five more counties. We have put language equity on the map as a critical issue not just in elections but also for ensuring communities can access basic needs. We have continued to build a pipeline of progressive Asian American and other immigrant leaders across Georgia by investing resources that help our partners build their capacity and convening political learning spaces.
While my decision to step down as Executive Director was not an easy one, I am excited to see how our work will continue to grow and thrive under new leadership. And though I am sharing this news with you today, I am not saying goodbye just yet. I will continue to lead Advancing Justice-Atlanta for much of 2023 while our Board and staff work closely with Gumbs + Partners, an executive search firm, to conduct the search for our next Executive Director and ensure a smooth transition.
And even after I do close this chapter with Advancing Justice-Atlanta, please know that I am not saying goodbye to the movement that we have collectively built here in Georgia. No matter where this next phase leads me, I will always consider Advancing Justice-Atlanta my first political home and all of you my beloved community.
To learn more about the visionary leader we are seeking to continue to carry our work forward, please take a look at the Executive Director position description, which includes information on how to apply. We ask you to also share it widely with your networks. If you have any questions or want to suggest a candidate for the position, please reach out to Lauren Gumbs via email, lgumbs@gumbspartners.com.
In community,
Phi Nguyen, (She/Her)
Executive Director
Advancing Justice - Atlanta
