2022 AAOP Wrapped

Just like that, 2022 has come to an end! 2022 was a year of growing, adapting, and evolving. We navigated a return to in-person work and events while keeping ourselves and our community safe during the ongoing pandemic, continued to wrestle with the impact of systemic racism on our communities, especially amidst the murders of Daunte Wright and Amir Locke, and recognized the urgency of our reproductive justice work in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

We continued to prioritize the development of our youth leaders and programs to equip them with the tools and skills to become changemakers in their communities, as well as continued to grow and strengthen our advocacy and civic engagement work to meet the needs of those we serve.

As we transitioned back into in-person programming, we were excited to host a number of in-person events and workshops this past year. Here are some of our highlights:

1. APIDA SPEAKS: Workshop series held throughout the summer as a sex positive, queer inclusive, space for Asian folks to learn and talk about sexual wellness and reproductive justice
2. Policing, Capitalism, & the Criminalization of Asian Americans: Workshop for young Asian Americans created by the Organizing Fellows as a part of their work surrounding community safety and Asian perspectives on policing
3. AAOP Open House: Our very first open house! Community members got to know our staff, see our new office, play games, and check out youth artist vendors
4. Sexual Wellness & Care Journaling: Community event aimed at exploring our own sexual wellness through community engagement in dialogue, resource sharing, and bullet journaling to create tools we can use to take care of our bodies
5. APIDA Health Provider & RJ Advocacy Panel: A collective Asian-centered space for our community to ask questions about sex, relationships, reproductive health, and abortion care to a panel of Asian healthcare providers and reproductive health advocates

This past year, we were also proud to be a part of various campaigns, alliances, and partnerships that strengthened our ties to the community and helped ground our work in advocacy. Here are a few of our partners that we’d like to share:

1. UnRestrict Minnesota works to protect, expand, and destigmatize access to abortion care and reproductive healthcare in Minnesota. We’re proud to be a partner in the UnRestrict coalition alongside other community organizations. We participated in the Reproductive Freedom Lobby Day, featured members of the UnRestrict team in our podcast, and stayed up-to-date and engaged with abortion policy in Minnesota.
2. The Minneapolis People’s Budget Coalition is a coalition of community members and organizations, including Black Visions Collective and ACLU-MN, aimed at bringing forth an alternative vision for the Minneapolis municipal budget that encapsulates a more equitable distribution of resources, as well as a fundamental change in the budget process itself. As a member, we turned out to actions and testified at hearings to make our voices heard in front of the Minneapolis City Council.
3. Get Out The Vote: Minnesota Asians for Civic Power: This election season, we helped host the largest Asian-focused nonpartisan GOTV event in Minnesota! Alongside partner organizations Minnesota 8, CAAL, SEIU Healthcare MN & IA, APALA, The SEAD Project, SEWA-AIFW, Twin Cities JACL, Siengkane Lao of Minnesota, and FIRM, we organized over 180 volunteers to door-knock & phone-bank Asian American voters across Minnesota to encourage them to vote and share culturally-relevant voting resources.

AAOP continued to share the important perspectives and stories of our young Asian people in Minnesota. Whether that’s through a zine, on our website, through our New Narratives podcast, or social media, these stories are important to make visible — especially when mainstream media often skips over our Asian American stories. Our young leaders created a variety of creative and research projects this year. Here are some of the highlights:

1. New Narratives Podcast: Gathering the stories of Asian America from the model minority myth, anti-Blackness, to heritage languages, and more
2. Virtual Events Recaps: A series of quick and easy recaps of virtual events you may have missed
3. Eyes On: A series where we take a snapshot of the political issues taking place globally that you should know about
4. Good Eats from Asia Zine: Highlighting the stories and communities around 13 Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities
5. Planting the Seeds of Activism Zine: Created by the Summer Youth Fellows, featuring various facets of Asian American activism
6. Uncovering Asian American experiences with community safety and policing: Documentary created by the Organizing Fellows
7. Reproductive Justice on Abortion Rights & Access in APIDA Communities: Five-month research project led by RJ interns
8. Abortion Awareness & Advocacy PhotoVoice: Project by Abortion Support Research Fellows to destigmatize abortion care and foster community support and solidarity
9. Queersian Pride Series: Spotlighting local queer Asian folks whose innovation uplifts and enlivens our Minnesota community for Pride Month
10. Skyline Mini Golf: This year’s Walker Art Center Skyline Mini Golf course featured a hole designed by AAOP’s own Youth Action Team in collaboration with artist Pao Houa Her that honored Hmong culture and community

The Midterm Elections took place this past November, in which Minnesotans voted for Governor and Lt. Governor, US Representatives, State Senators, and more. Despite local elections typically generating less excitement and lower voter turnout than Presidential Elections, AAOP civic engagement efforts remained in full force. Here are a few ways we ensured our Asian community was informed and ready to vote:

1. National Voter Registration Day: Volunteers spent two days in September canvassing our Asian community members in the Twin Cities area to register people to vote, identify transportation and translation needs, provide information on how and when to vote, and inform people about who’s on the ballot and provide resources to learn more
2. Ongoing canvassing efforts by our team of door and phone canvassers who spent the summer and fall doing on-the-ground field work to inform our community about the elections
3. AAOP Midterm Elections Voter Guide: A digital guide containing basic voting information, a summary of the policy views of dozens of candidates in key races down the ballot, and a questionnaire in which candidates submitted their responses to five questions related to Asian American issues.
4. Blog post on the importance of Midterm Elections
5. Get Out The Vote: Minnesota Asians for Civic Power: A two-day collaboration canvassing event with partner organizations
6. Two full days of GOTV efforts on November 7th and 8th in collaboration with CAPI USA to provide last-minute voter resources to eligible Asian voters across Minnesota

Throughout 2022, AAOP’s leadership team has included: 

• Staff: 10
• Gender Justice Leaders: 6
• Organizing Fellows: 3
• Summer Youth: 8
• Youth Leaders: 3
• Communications Interns: 4
• Canvassers & Canvasser Organizers: 13
• Board of Directors: 7

This work could not be possible without our amazing team and leaders, as well as those who continue to support AAOP’s programming. Thank you to everyone who donated to our organization throughout the year, and during our #GiveInMay and #GiveToTheMax campaigns! With your support, we can’t wait for even bigger and brighter things at AAOP in 2023.

Like every year, 2022 was full of ups and downs. Two years out from the beginning of the pandemic, we’re still learning how to adapt and grow. We’re excited to continue to build new and better experiences for young Asian Americans and continue to serve our community the only way we know how to- grounded in justice and care for one another. Remember to give yourself grace and let go of any disappointments from 2022 and look to a brighter 2023. We hope your year is filled with healing and fulfillment, and we look forward to growing with you!