VietRISE, Harbor Institute, El Centro Cultural, Tenants United Santa Ana, and community members envision and organize for a more inclusive Orange County 

GARDEN GROVE, CA – VietRISE and partner organizations in central Orange County are launching a new video series, “Power in Belonging,” to tell the unheard stories of Latinx and Vietnamese communities joining together to demand a more representative and responsive government. 

The documentary-style videos were created through Orange County community organizations’ partnership in the Blueprint for Belonging project, a statewide collaborative focused on bridging divides to overcome exclusion and inequality that is anchored at the Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI) at UC Berkeley. Time of Day Media produced the videos. 

 “I have high hopes for a vibrant, inclusive Orange County, because of the solidarity I’ve witnessed in Santa Ana, Westminster, and all across Little Saigon. I’ve seen what it looks like when community members have the power to voice their experiences, and for that power to actually come to fruition,” explains Tracy La, Executive Director of VietRISE. “This is why it is important for us to engage in cross-community organizing.” 

The three six-minute videos, offered in English with subtitles in Spanish and Vietnamese, tell the unlikely story of local leaders and residents coming together to bridge across tricky divides – of generation, racial and ethnic identity, and language. VietRISE, Harbor Institute for Economic and Immigrant Justice, El Centro Cultural de México, and Tenants United Santa Ana are featured in the videos, which are intended to be shown in high school and college classrooms, as well as through social media. 

Each video features community members telling first-hand stories of three recent campaigns in Orange County related to sanctuary policies, voting rights, and rent control. Together, they add up to a bigger story that goes beyond the campaigns themselves, and illustrates the connective power of mutual care, empathy, and solidarity. 

The ‘Power in Belonging” video series highlights how to build and foster relationships of trust across racial and cultural differences, and reminds viewers that communities are weakened when different segments are kept apart, disconnected, or even pitted against one another. 

Local leaders’ accounts of the campaigns emphasize that when community members have opportunities to understand their neighbors’ diverse experiences and histories, they are eager to learn and find points of commonality. At the same time, they also amplify one another’s voices and experiences without diluting or erasing what makes each unique. 

VietRISE is a community-based organization dedicated to advancing social justice and equity for Vietnamese and immigrant communities in Orange County. Through grassroots organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement, VietRISE works to empower marginalized residents, defend immigrant and tenant rights, and increase voter participation.

Watch the full length versions here. Viewers guides available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

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Media Contact: Ivan Natividad, ivan.natividad@berkeley.edu, 510-325-3349