In a city known for its activism and civic engagement, a new initiative is quietly shifting the spotlight toward some of San Francisco’s most community-rooted, yet historically underfunded, organizations.
Today, The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) announced the launch of Asian American Voices in San Francisco, a $1 million-plus effort to unlock and invest resources into San Francisco’s grassroots Asian American nonprofits. The initiative will distribute grants to strengthen community-serving organizations, with a focus on safety, belonging, and long-term prosperity.
But this isn’t just another grant program. It’s also an organizing effort to bring together a wide range of neighborhood-based organizations to shape a shared agenda — one that reflects the needs and priorities of Asian American communities across the city. Though this initiative exists outside formal city channels, it may end up helping define the next chapter of civic engagement and leadership for San Francisco’s Asian American community.
That vision is already resonating with many of the grantee leaders, including Amy Lee of Dear Community, a nonprofit that’s become a touchpoint for younger generations of Asian American organizers. “This isn’t about waiting for change — it’s about creating it,” Lee said. “The TAAF grant will allow us to continue building a coalition that reflects the values and concerns of our neighborhoods.”
And those values are strikingly clear. At a time when many Asian American families in San Francisco feel caught between fear and invisibility, this initiative is rooted in a commitment to something more foundational: the right to live without fear, to belong without question, and to build without shame.
These are not ideological demands. They’re everyday expectations.
Safety — for parents walking to the grocery store, for children commuting to and from school, for elders riding public transit.
Belonging — in public schools, in workplaces, in the rooms where civic priorities are shaped.
And prosperity — not as excess, but as the straightforward ability to own a home, build a business, and pass opportunity on to the next generation.
“By providing these vital grassroots groups with significant resources to support their collaborative efforts, we hope to empower local community members as they work to create a safer and more prosperous future for their city.”
— Norman Chen, CEO of TAAF
The organizations participating in this project represent a wide range of experiences, strategies, and voices. They don’t always agree — and that’s the point. The coalition forming here isn’t monolithic. It’s dynamic, diverse, and focused on practical impact. What unites them is a clear-eyed belief that real progress comes from the ground up — and that solutions don’t have to be perfect to be powerful.
For TAAF, the initiative reflects a broader national mission to strengthen Asian American communities through meaningful investment in safety, education, narrative change, and representation.
“TAAF is proud to work with co-funders in the Bay Area to support Asian American Voices in San Francisco, which furthers our commitment to invest in solutions that are community-led and people-centered,” said Norman Chen, CEO of TAAF. “In addition to our Anti-Hate National Network and partnership with local Bay Area based grantees, we believe that this initiative has the power to further support the San Francisco Asian community. By providing these vital grassroots groups with significant resources to support their collaborative efforts, we hope to empower local community members as they work to create a safer and more prosperous future for their city.”
That support extends far beyond funding. Participating organizations will also receive media and storytelling support, convenings to foster collaboration, and an opportunity to help shape a new civic table — one that is more representative of the city’s Asian American population and more responsive to its concerns.
San Francisco is home to countless panels, commissions, and community initiatives—but many local leaders say what’s often missing is sustained investment in the groups that are already doing the work. This initiative offers a different approach: fund the builders, trust the doers, and let the outcomes speak for themselves.
Whether the agenda that emerges from this effort aligns with or shifts other civic strategies remains to be seen. But what’s clear is that something real is taking root — grounded in lived experience, driven by local leadership, and unapologetically proud of what it means to be Asian American in this city.
At its core, this is a project about voice. The voice of the parent trying to protect their child. The voice of the elder who refuses to be invisible. The voice of the small business owner, the community organizer, the nonprofit leader who never stopped showing up. For too long, those voices were sidelined. Now, they’re front and center.
And in a city still working to meet the needs of all its people with fairness and dignity, that might be exactly what’s needed right now.