Get ready to vote and stay informed with our 2024 Election Dates Magnet, which includes dates for both the primary and general election! Stick it on your fridge or any magnetic surface to stay on top of dates like when ballots drop, deadlines to register to vote, and when to vote for both the primary and general election in 2024. If you would like to pick up a free magnet, email indigo@vietrise.org or stop by our office between 11AM and 5PM, Monday through Friday.

We are proud to be a community organization partner for UCI’s CCAP TEACH Project, a 10-week archival internship directed by the UCI Libraries Special Collections & Archives, OC & SEAA Center, for the third year in a row.

For 10 weeks, our student interns Clari, Ariana, and Bradley will work with us to archive and conduct oral history interviews with community members, elected officials, and other community organizations around the fights for rent stabilization in Westminster in 2019 and in Santa Ana in 2021. We look forward to sharing these archives of our local community history!

Thank you to the 40+ attendees who participated in this event. We all learned so much from the meaningful discussions and thoughtful insights we shared with one another. As Vietnamese Americans, we continue to strengthen our solidarity with Palestinians through education and action. We stand with communities across the globe to call for a ceasefire and the end of the violent occupation and genocide of Palestine. We are currently developing a resource for those who weren’t able to attend the event or would like to share this information with their network. Lastly, thank you to members of the Palestinian Youth Movement for working with us on this workshop! If you have any questions about our community listening sessions, feel free to contact us at lisa@vietrise.org and/or dwight@vietrise.org.

We launched our field program for the 2024 Primary Election! While this was a shorter field program, we were able to speak with over 550 residents and knocked on over 1150 doors, making sure that residents are informed about the upcoming local ballot measures, Measure E in Westminster and Noncitizen Voting in Santa Ana, as well as where to find resources for housing support. Thank you to our talented and dedicated team of canvassers: Kelly, Minh, Phuong, and An and to our amazing volunteers!

Thank you to Người Việt for covering our 2nd anniversary of rent stabilization community celebration! We are honored to have co-hosted the celebration with residents from Bali Hi and Kona Kai Mobile Home Parks! As a reminder, Santa Ana residents will have the opportunity to enshrine Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Evictions Ordinance during the General Election in November 2024 to ensure that only a public vote can overturn the ordinance in the future. Read the article here.

This month we are thrilled to spotlight Kenny Le! Kenny has been a VietRISE member, volunteer, and former canvasser since early 2022 and is currently a Junior at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. Over the past month, Kenny has helped lead the important work of advocating for a ceasefire and a free Palestine in the city of Claremont. He has written the language for a ceasefire resolution and successfully advocated for the introduction of the resolution for a vote during the Claremont City Council meeting on Tuesday, February 27.

We’re thrilled to share Kenny’s reflections on his organizing in Claremont and how VietRISE has helped support those efforts: “I co-created a Claremont-area campaign in solidarity with Palestine, when we were able to get a ceasefire resolution agendized within the first city council meeting we requested. Vincent helped mentor me through the process. I also drew a lot of inspiration from VietRISE’s public-facing work, such as phone zapping (banking), creating and sharing public comment templates, and building coalition-wide efforts. Though the Council did not decide to adopt it, we now have a 350+ constituent base and life-long organizing connections that will mobilize for many future campaigns to come.”

We’re thankful to have Kenny as an active VietRISE member and to continue learning and growing together to be active agents of change in our communities. We’re excited to see Kenny continue his organizing efforts to create a brighter future for us all.