Civic Engagement & Organizing

We aim to build a sustainable, community-centered movement to affect deep, long-term shifts in power, behavior, and culture through community-building and education, leadership development, issue-based and electoral campaigns, and multicultural, multiracial coalition building.

  • Voter Engagement

    Voter Engagement

    Our team works with community partner organizations to make sure Georgia’s Asian American and immigrant communities have all of the in-language information and support they need to register and vote successfully.

  • Election Protection

    Election Protection

    Our team provides on-the-ground voter support in order to protect voting rights and make the voting process as accessible as possible. In addition to monitoring the polls, we provide transportation, interpretation, and hotline assistance.

  • Community Organizing

    Community Organizing

    Our organizing work focuses on building a strong and principled community that mobilizes for immigrant rights, racial justice, queer and trans justice, and more. We do this through political education, autonomous organizing, issue organizing, and leadership development.

Additional Projects

  • We provide fresh groceries to local communities through a monthly free grocery distribution pop up market, where community members are invited days in advance to come out and pick out their own fruits, veggies, and other food items. During this event, we engage community members in 1:1 conversations, collect community surveys, and provide voter information. We also partner with community organizations to expand our reach at times, such as We Love Buford Highway and Home of Helping Hand. We are currently working on a translated digital comprehensive community resource guide to share with our community members. For more information, please contact Joel Manrique: jmanrique@advancingjustice-atlanta.org

  • We attend and monitor Board of Elections meetings in 5 counties to assure we keep our communities up to date on ongoing changes to polling locations, election procedures, or any election deadlines. We invite community members to attend and make any public comment if there's any subject of interest or concern. If you are interested in attending your designated Board of Election meeting please visit your local county website or if you want to get involved in our monthly monitoring please contact Berenice Rodriguez: brodriguez@advancingjustice-atlanta.org

  • This research project investigates the impact of politics, ethnic identity, and acculturation on intergenerational conflict and well-being in the Vietnamese American community. Politics could be a source of intergenerational conflict among Asian Americans; however, none of the major measures of intergenerational conflict or acculturation have items that assess politics or civic engagement in any way, and there have also been no studies that have looked at how political affiliation may impact intergenerational conflict in Asian American populations. The survey will be conducted online, take roughly 30-60 minutes to complete, and participants will be reimbursed. If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact Van Phan: vphan@advancingjustice-atlanta.org

Mutual Aid

History & Accomplishments

  • 2022

    In May, we mobilized to support voter engagement and turnout efforts for the 2022 primary elections in Georgia. We helped to turn out the AAPI, Latinx, and immigrant vote for these elections by registering over 200 new voters, mailing over 180,000 mailers to targeted voters in multiple languages, knocking on more than 10,000 doors, making over 132,000 calls, and sending nearly 181,000 text messages.

    Through our mutual aid program, we reached 4,000 families with groceries, school supplies, and PPE supplies. We distributed 2,000+ hygiene kits and 3,150+ grocery boxes. After the first few months, the program evolved to include a weekly grocery distribution and PPE distribution. A few rounds of distributions also included school supplies. 

  • 2021

    During the Georgia Senate Runoff Elections, we connected with voters in multiple languages and expanded language access at the polls. We connected with voters in 9 languages by sending out 171,000 mailers, calling 228,000 voters, sending 435,000 texts and knocking on 8,100 doors. Our advocacy led to DeKalb and Cobb counties voluntarily providing officially translated composite ballots for the first time in state history in an Asian language (Korean) and Spanish.

    During the November 2021 municipal elections in Georgia, we helped to turn out the AAPI, Latinx, and immigrant vote by registering nearly 500 new voters, mailing more than 2,500 mailers to targeted voters in 5 languages, knocking on more than 2,000 doors, making over 11,000 calls, and sending over 31,000 text messages.

  • 2018

    We reached out to 37,931 voters at their doors and 109,083 voters on the phone. These efforts yielded 10,469 face-to-face conversations and 11,109 phone conversations in at least five different languages.

    More than 61% of the voters contacted by the GIACE coalition turned out to vote. Overall, voters contacted by us were 43% more likely to go to the polls than the average Georgia voter.

    The number of votes by AAPI and Latinx folks more than doubled from 2014. The AAPI and Latinx vote had double the impact in this election than it did just four years ago, signaling clear change in the South.

  • 2017

    Our work in the Special Election for the 6th District elevated historically underrepresented AAPI voices. Asian Americans comprised 11% of the total population in the 6th congressional district, and our efforts greatly increased the number of Asian American votes.

    With the help of our coalition partners, we knocked over 5,600 doors and sent over 28,500 robocalls to more than 1,100 voters. For the first time, we launched a text program facilitating one-on-one conversations with voters about the importance of voting and information like polling locations and times.

    Our civic engagement work impacted the increase of AAPI voter turnout, which was 6% higher than the district at large. 63% of community members we had conversations with through texts, phone calls, and door-to-door canvassing turned out to vote.

  • 2016

    We executed our most robust voter engagement program to date, bringing on over 25 partner groups. With the Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS), we founded the first-ever coalition in Georgia serving communities of color: The Georgia Immigrant Alliance for Civic Empowerment. Our new coalition registered over 6,500 people to vote in Georgia and over 5,300 people in other states. We sent over 175,000 Voter Registration mailers to people in Georgia, California, Illinois, Michigan, and Washington, registering a grand total of 11,856 voters.

    We extended our work outside Metro Atlanta into other GA cities, knocking over 11,400 doors in 11 counties. We also executed our most expansive Election Protection program to date, providing in-language assistance and poll monitoring at 36 different precincts on Election Day.

  • 2014

    We helped to register more than 6,400 new voters in Georgia, knocking on more than 9,000 doors. We also called more than 40,000 households in Georgia, training and coordinating hundreds of volunteers through the Pan Asian Action Network.

    Our work helped to increase AAPI voter turnout in Georgia by 25%, compared to the 2010 midterms. In contrast, voter participation levels at the national and state level both decreased.

    74% of Korean American voters who received our GOTV direct mailers turned out to vote in 2014. The statewide percentage voter turnout for 2014 was only 38.2%.

  • 2012-2013

    Our municipal work in Clarkston increased voter turnout by 40% compared to the previous election. Our field work and outreach to Southeast Asian refugees in Clarkston was featured in Maria Hinojosa’s documentary America By The Numbers: Politics of the New South.

    Our 2013 municipal work in city of Duluth, Georgia more than doubled the number of voters that came out to vote compared to the previous municipal election.

    In 2012 we registered hundreds of new voters at USCIS naturalization ceremonies, revealing serious problems with the enrollment of newly naturalized citizens and beginning a battle with the Georgia Secretary of State.