Systems of deportation, incarceration, and displacement continue to tear Southeast Asian families apart. At the Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN), we fight to keep families together—and whole—by organizing, healing, and building power across generations, from Minnesota to California and beyond.
Our member organizations provide culturally-rooted support for impacted families every day—navigating deportation defense, providing healing justice programs, youth leadership development, mutual aid, civic engagement, and policy advocacy so our people don’t just survive—but thrive.
And we know financial support is only one part of the solution. That’s why SEAFN also strengthens our movement ecosystem with:
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- Leadership & organizing training
- Community healing spaces and retreats
- Connections to allied funders and partners
- Convenings that build shared vision and strategy for the next 50 years
What Does Building a Bigger “We” Look Like?
Building a bigger “We” means expanding who is seen as part of our community, who has power to shape our future, and who is resourced to lead. It’s not just a vision—it’s an ongoing practice of actions, relationships, and shared responsibility.
Growing Connection & Shared Identity
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- Host cross-community dialogues (youth, elders, refugees, adoptees, formerly incarcerated, farmers, artists).
- Create storytelling circles to capture oral histories, community memory, and collective grief/joy.
- Develop digital tools (story archive, map of SEA communities, family migration stories).
- Facilitate community dinners that bring people together across geographical regions, ethnicities and generations.
- Organize healing retreats for organizers.
- Create shared resources: communications toolkit, grant-sharing network, safety planning and rapid response protocols.
UNITI Festival
Your donation this year helps us plan for our inaugural Spring 2026 UNITI Festival .
Our convening will bring together 150–200 grassroots organizers, cultural workers, youth, and community healers, farmers and leaders from across the U.S. for a two-day cultural and political festival in California. This gathering will feature:
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- Campaign Strategy on gender justice, deportation defense, food justice, and queer liberation.
- Leadership Development Workshops for emerging Southeast Asian organizers.
- Arts, Culture, and Healing Practices to create community connections through shared history and visions for liberation.
Together, these spaces will build the social, cultural, and political infrastructure our communities need to thrive and lead for generations to come.
Why This Moment Matters
Southeast Asian communities are navigating overlapping crises — rising deportations, underfunded refugee-serving organizations, militarized policing, and attacks on queer and trans people. Many of our long-time organizers are aging or facing precarious immigration status, leaving our movement infrastructure vulnerable.
This convening is both a healing space and a strategic space to sustain leadership pipelines, deepen cross-generational solidarity, and co-create a national advocacy agenda that centers Southeast Asian self-determination and joy.
How You Can Help Today
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- Become a peer-to-peer fundraiser—ask your friends and family to give.
- Make a donation and share why this matters to you.
- Post a story, memory, or reason you fight for Southeast Asian liberation using #KeepUsTogether #GivingTuesdaySEAFN
We are more committed than ever to building systems of care—not cages, deportations, or displacement.
Together, we can ensure that Southeast Asian families are not just remembered in history—but resourced for the next 50 years and beyond.