What a whirlwind this election season has been! Our team knocked on over 11,695 doors and spoke to over 3,630 residents in Santa Ana, Westminster, Garden Grove, and Midway City. Thank you so much to our amazing canvassing team for all of their hard work these last several months!

This past month, we collaborated with and hosted the Center for Third World Liberation’s (CTWO) West Coast Community Action Training. We focused on what real social change looks like and developed practical skills like canvassing and volunteer recruitment to help turn our vision of justice into action. It was a great chance to build leadership, share knowledge, and strengthen our movement from the ground up. Thank you CTWO for providing this training to Orange County residents!

We have continued to host weekly Digital Empowerment Workshops with Vietnamese seniors that cover such topics as how to browse the internet, how to avoid phishing scams, how to send text messages and group messages, and how to use email and Zoom. Our community members show up each week, ready to learn new skills and practice them with one another, and it has been a joy to our team to watch as the participants grow more confident and excited to use previously daunting technology. These workshops will return in February 2025, so keep an eye out for future workshop announcements and updates!

On October 15th, we collaborated with UCLA’s Vietnamese Student Union (VSU) to discuss the impacts of immigration policy and ICE transfers on the Vietnamese American community. Tin Nguyen, a system-impacted community leader, joined us to share his insights on the prison-to-deportation pipeline and the campaign to prevent his deportation. This was the first workshop of a 2-part series. The next event will be a letter-writing workshop in support of the #Pardon4Tin and #KeepAnHome campaigns. Thank you to VSU for hosting us and Tin for mobilizing young people to fight for immigrant and refugee rights.

#NoncitizenVoting — Check out this article highlighting our campaign to expand voting rights to noncitizens in Santa Ana! Our fight to expand voting rights is rooted in people and community power and the belief that all people have a right to a government that is accountable and responsive to them. Thank you to the many volunteers, canvassers, elected officials, and partner organizations that have grown this movement to what it is today. Read more about the noncitizen voting campaign here.

#DoMustGo — An unconfirmed list of former Supervisor Andrew Do’s ‘punishment’ for stealing millions in taxpayer funds and enriching his family and close circle:

• maximum 5 years in prison
• a fine of at least $250,000
• restitution to the victims of between $550,000-730,000
• Rhiannon Do must fulfill her deal with federal authorities, called a “diversion agreement,” which lets her avoid criminal charges, has her face 3 years of probation, and requires her to cooperate with authorities during the investigation
• in addition, Rhiannon Do must continue to attend law school at UC Irvine and prepare for the State Bar exam or work.

This month, we are excited to highlight Naja Spotsworth Christmas, one of our members and volunteers since fall of 2023! Naja holds B.A.s, Asian American studies, East Asian cultures, and minors in Korean literature and culture, and international studies. She became involved as a volunteer after seeing a presentation by our staff during a Vietnamese Studies class at UCI. Since then she has advocated for immigrant and system-impacted communities at city council meetings, canvassed to win voting rights for all Santa Ana residents, and volunteered with other efforts. Naja’s goal is to serve as a bridge for Afro-Vietnamese folks to an organization that serves the Vietnamese community. She hopes to continue to grow with VietRISE and be able to contribute more as an advocate after she attends and finishes law school.

Thank you, Naja, for all of the heart and energy you put into organizing with us at VietRISE and the community!