CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities -

CJP and CTU In the News, Opposes Unfair Development

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:51:34 -0500

The Chinatown Justice Project (CJP) and The Chinatown Tenant Union continued their efforts to combat gentrification and displacement of the Chinatown community this summer, and were featured in two local papers. Navigate over to our media page to learn more about how CJP created a game to educate the community about gentrification,and about CAAAV's role in a City-wide network fighting gentrification.

Also, on July 2, 2007, the Chinatown Tenant Union gave public comments on the City of New York's Economic Development Corporation's plan to develop the waterfront of Manhattan near Chinatown. While development and improvement of the area is certainly needed and desirable, the CTU demands more investigation into whether the proposed development will lead to primary and secondary displacement of residents and small businesses in the area. Click here to read the comments.

CAAAV Receives Social Action Award

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:51:44 -0500

On August 11, 2007, CAAAV Received the Social Action Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, an community of scholars, practitioners, advocates and students dedicated to the study of vital social problems. To learn more about the award, please click here.

Thank You! CAAAV's 20th Anniversary Celebration a Success!

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:58:42 -0500

To the over-three hundred friends, allies and supporters who attended our 20th anniversary celebration, Our Roots Grow Deep, on Friday, May 18th, we would like to express our deepest appreciation. We were deeply touched by the incredible turn-out and tremendous show of support; in one evening, CAAAV received pledges totaling over $20,000! Thanks to you, our event was an amazing success. We hope you were as inspired by our speakers, performers, and members as we were by your presence and gestures of appreciation.

With your support, CAAAV continues its community organizing and movement-building efforts with the Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee community in the Bronx, low-income tenants and youth in Manhattan's Chinatown, and Asian immigrant women working in low-wage service industries city-wide. Your support also ensures that we will be able to continue with our movement-building alliance and coalition work locally, nationally and internationally - most notably as we continue to build for the first U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta (www.ussf2007.org) which will take place from June 27 to July 1. We thank you for taking action, for joining us in this critical work, and for being a part of CAAAV's ever-growing community.

Please visit our website again in the near future for a recap of the evening which will include photos!

A Letter from CAAAV's 20th Anniversary Benefit and Host Committees

Wed, 09 May 2007 10:23:32 -0500

Click here to read a letter from CAAAV's 20th Anniversary Benefit and Host Committees!

Chinatown Tenants Win Campaign Against Negligent Landlord

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:55:44 -0500

On April 10, 2007, Chinatown tenants celebrated a victory against their landlord, who had been cited with over 500 housing code violations and subjected the tenants to some of the worst living conditions in the city. The victory came after tenants, with the assistance of CAAAV and the Chinatown Tenants Union, organized a rent strike and negotiated with the landlord. The landlord has agreed to grant rent abatements for the tenants, renew leases, and make regular and timely repairs. For more information, see the press release here.

20-Year Anniversary Issue of the CAAAV Voice Published!

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:22:50 -0500

A special 20-year anniversary issue of the CAAAV Voice has been published. For our friends and supporters on our mailing list, you should be receiving a copy in the mail soon. A PDF version of the CAAAV Voice is also available here.

You can also find a PDF version of last year's issue of the Voice on that page as well.

If you are not currently on CAAAV's mailing list, and would like to be added, please send an email to justice@caaav.org with your request.

CAAAV Tests the Effectiveness of 311* For Assistance to Our Communities

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:45:47 -0600

Each CAAAV program area (Chinatown Justice Project, Women Workers Project, Youth Leadership Project) chose a day for members to call 311 to flood their lines. CAAAV wanted to test the timeliness of getting a translator, as well as the quality of the translation. At the November Chinatown Tenant’s Union meeting, there was a discussion about how tenants can get repairs and the importance of calling 311. Three tenants shared their stories of how they have changed their attitude towards calling 311 and feel more confident to do so. The youth then split into groups with the tenants to go over their repair issues and called 311 together.

*311 is New York City's phone number for government information and non-emergency services.

CJP Begins A New Tenant Advocacy Campaign at 55 and 61 Delancy Street

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:36:06 -0600

The Chinatown Justice Project and CAAAV legal advocates decided to organize the two buildings since work has already been done with a few of the apartments in these buildings around evictions and lack of services. CJP decided to create a campaign out of the organizing of this building, since a few of the tenants are active in the organization and one of our youth members lives there. There have already been two building-wide meetings where many of the Chinese tenants seem excited that we’re there and angry with the landlord for discriminating against them and ignoring their requests for repairs. Please click HERE for the press release.

WWP Fights to Win Justice for Analisa

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:32:18 -0600

Women Workers' Project Members hope to close with victory within 6 months. Our common goals to move forward with her case: (1) Win Justice for Analisa; (2) Shame the employers; (3) Support Analisa and other domestic workers who are suffering to speak out!; (4) Use the media to get the truth out. Our demands are: (1) Justice for Analisa; (2) Damages for suffering; (3) Public apology for the abuse; (4) Legalization for all ; (5) Pass the Bill of Rights in NY State. WWP and the legal teams from New York University’s Immigrant Rights Clinic (NYUIRC) and the Urban Justice Center have been meeting for months to make sure the case against Analisa’s employers is strong. A formal complaint was filed at the Federal court on November 17, and WWP held a press conference at one of the upper Eastside parks. Many workers witnessed Analisa speaking publicly about the abuse and suffering she experienced while working for Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Scheiner. Some workers who were listening to her story couldn’t believe that she was mistreated while others admitted that they also experienced some type of abuse.

November DWU Membership Assembly Attended by 100 Workers

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:29:22 -0600

Members of CAAAV and Domestic Workers United listened to speakers including our very own leaders, Carolyn, Beatriz, and Marilyn, Roger Toussaint, President of TWU Local 100 and Bill Fletcher (educator and long-time labor activist), participated in small group discussions, and received health screenings and other services. The event was exciting, as it brought together new members and old, and members led almost every aspect of the day. We hope that next year's numbers will be even stronger. In addition, the video project is coming along; with almost 150 hours of footage, we finally have enough good footage to finish a paper cut (a script of the whole video). DWU is excited for another year in the fight for respect and recognition for domestic workers.

Our Roots Grow Deep - May 18, 2007 Save the date!

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:26:56 -0600

Our Roots Grow Deep
CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities’ 20th Anniversary Celebration
For more information or to join our listserv:
ourrootsgrowdeep@caaav.org
718-220-7391 *21

A vibrant program looking back and celebrating twenty years of building movement. Come help us envision the next twenty years.

Women Workers Project (WWP) holds annual Asian Women Organizing & Cultural Night Event on September 30th, 2006

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:17:05 -0600

It was a successful event, with at least 40% of the attendees from the domestic worker community. Other attendees were allies, friends and family who came out to support WWP. At the event, Analisa gave a strong speech about her case: “My name is Analisa I’m a domestic worker for 8 years. In December 2000 I worked as a live- in nanny for 2 young children of a wealthy and famous doctor in NY. I worked for below minimum wage and long hours with no overtime pay cooking, cleaning, ironing, doing the food shopping & baby sitting.” Click here for the full speech. Kalayaan/Women Workers Project was proud to hear Analisa’s story because she will definitely inspire others to come out to speak and expose the exploitation they also endure as domestic workers. Analisa also recognized that the only way to improve conditions for domestic workers is when we organize and to join the struggle of passing state legislation that Domestic Workers United is pushing in the New York State Assembly, called the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights. If the Bill of Rights passes all domestic workers will have protections from unjust firing, access to health care, paid vacation, paid legal holidays, sick days, and notice of termination. The bill will also address the exclusion that domestic workers face at the National Labor Relations Act. Currently the only protection that domestic have under the labor laws are minimum wage & overtime pay.

CAAAV Documentary shown at “Representing Ourselves: From the Grassroots” 2006 Film Festival at the Open Society

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:14:02 -0600

On September 30, YLP’s Eating Welfare documentary was screened at the second annual New York Foundation “Representing Ourselves: From the Grassroots” 2006 Film Festival at the Open Society. Click here for information on the Eating Welfare video.

The Chinatown Tenants Union (CTU) continues to grow and push for tenants rights.

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:13:14 -0600

The tenant interns have been busy representing CAAAV and CTU in October 2006. They have already surpassed their membership goals for the year. The tenant interns have been busy in organizing the following: Mr. Li represented CTU at the Annual Westside Tenants Conference; Ms. Liang and Ms. Zheng led a tour of Chinatown for the Ford Foundation Leadership For a Changing World Cooperative Inquiry group; regular and on-going meetings.

The Youth Leadership Project begins a new campaign to improve the health of the Southeast Asian community in the Bronx

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:12:12 -0600

The YLP campaign team did some research on the health of Southeast Asians (SEA) that has been documented across the country in highly concentrated SEA communities. Because the community is living in poverty, our access to healthcare is more limited than in any other ethnic community in the US. This fact reaffirms our belief that healthcare is an issue that YLP must tackle. We also believe that the campaign will unlock many other issues in the community, including unemployment, housing etc. The poor health of the community is a leading factor in SEA refugee poverty and is one of the failures of the refugee resettlement program. The team is continuing to work with NYU on community health surveys. Through talks with the Montefiore Medical Center, we have learned that the Indochinese Mental Health program has been cut in half, to a point where the staff is now working part-time even though the number of patients has increased. Not only are the mental health staff overworked, Montefiore’s administration has not prioritized the needs of the community. The cutbacks came as a surprise to us but they have also allowed us to develop demands that are about investing in the program so that it is more comprehensive. In the next months we will finalize our demands. By looking at the survey findings and also having conversations with community members about what they want and what the Montefiore staff want and need, we will be able to develop demands for a war survivors’ clinic that provides comprehensive care.