Partnerships: SEAFN’s Uniti Fest 2026

Purpose and Vision

The Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN) is organizing a national cultural and political festival to mark the 50th anniversary of Southeast Asian resettlement in the United States. This milestone gathering will bring together 200 grassroots organizers, cultural leaders, and community advocates from across the country to honor our shared history and build unity, nourish, inspire, transform, and ignite a collective vision for the next fifty years of Southeast Asian (SEA) liberation, leadership, and belonging.

The festival will serve as a turning point—a time for reflection, healing, and forward strategy. We will connect intergenerational leaders across Hmong, Lao, Khmer, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian diasporas to:

  • Build the social and political power of SEA communities through a shared vision and agenda.
  • Strengthen the infrastructure and collaboration of SEA organizations nationwide.
  • Develop a shared policy and advocacy platform that advances racial, gender, and economic justice.
  • Provide healing, storytelling, and cultural space for organizers to rest, reconnect and reimagine.

Context and Need

Fifty years after U.S. wars displaced our families, Southeast Asian communities still face overlapping crises: deportations, incarceration, climate vulnerability, gender-based violence, and economic inequity. Many of our longtime leaders are aging or under threat of deportation themselves, leaving fragile infrastructures in communities that continue to carry the legacies of war, trauma, and survival.

At the same time, a new generation of SEA leaders—farmers, healers, artists, organizers, and scholars—is rising with bold visions for the future. Yet they often lack access to intergenerational mentorship, movement infrastructure, and coordinated national advocacy platforms. This festival aims to bridge those gaps, cultivating a durable ecosystem of Southeast Asian leadership rooted in cultural power, collective care, and policy impact.

The Festival Objectives

  • Build Collective Power – Create a unified space for SEA organizers to align around shared values, strategy, and collective power building.
  • Advance Healing and Cultural Resilience – Offer storytelling circles, art, and wellness practices that acknowledge intergenerational trauma and nurture long-term sustainability for leaders.
  • Strengthen Movement Infrastructure – Support organizational capacity-building and collaboration across local and national networks.
  • Shape Policy and Advocacy Agendas – Develop an actionable agenda to address deportation defense, gender and queer justice, climate justice, food sovereignty, and leadership pipeline development.

Quantitative Metrics

  1. 150–200 total attendees representing 50+ organizations.
  2. At least 50 directly impacted families supported through travel scholarships.
  3.  5–10 new collaborative partnerships or coalitions launched.

Qualitative Outcomes

  • Participants report increased sense of belonging, support, and shared vision.
  • Development of a clear SEA policy and advocacy agenda.
  • Strengthened intergenerational leadership and national visibility for SEA organizing.
  • Post-convening, SEAFN will publish an Impact Report summarizing outcomes, policy priorities, and commitments from member organizations. We will also launch follow-up working groups to sustain collaboration.

We invite funders, donors, and partners to co-invest in this historic moment for Southeast Asian communities. Your support will:

  • Fund travel scholarships for grassroots organizers and impacted families.
  • Sustain healing and cultural spaces at the festival convening.
  • Strengthen long-term infrastructure for SEA-led movements.

This festival is not simply an event — it is an invitation to celebrate who we are and build a bigger “We”, rooted in solidarity, care, and collective imagination for the next fifty years of Southeast Asian freedom. We would be honored to have your support as we build the next chapter of Southeast Asian freedom and solidarity. Please contact Nancy Vue Tran, Development Director, at nancyvuetran@seafn.org to discuss sponsorship opportunities or co-sponsorship collaborations.

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