VietRISE

VietRISE advances social justice and builds power with working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities in Orange County. We build leadership and create systemic change through organizing, narrative change, cultural empowerment, and civic engagement.

Orange County is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam, yet working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities continue to face significant barriers to stability, representation, and political power. Many residents—especially youth, renters, and immigrants—are excluded from decision-making processes that directly impact their lives, including housing policy, local governance, and immigration enforcement.

In Little Saigon, economic pressures such as rising housing costs and limited tenant protections disproportionately impact low-income Vietnamese residents, particularly seniors living in mobile home parks. At the same time, immigrants face ongoing threats of detention and deportation, often without access to clear, culturally and linguistically accessible information or legal resources. These conditions create fear, instability, and isolation, making it more difficult for community members to engage civically or advocate for themselves.

Misinformation, language barriers, and a lack of culturally relevant outreach further limit participation in elections and public decision-making. Vietnamese youth, in particular, often lack access to leadership development opportunities and may not see Orange County as a place where they can build power or shape their communities. Meanwhile, dominant narratives about Vietnamese and immigrant communities continue to reinforce exclusion rather than recognize their leadership and contributions.

Without sustained investment in organizing, political education, and community-based infrastructure, these challenges will persist. There is a critical need for trusted, community-rooted organizations to build leadership, connect residents across generations, and create pathways for collective action. Strengthening civic participation, advancing tenant and immigrant protections, and shifting public narratives are essential to ensuring that working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities can shape the future of Orange County.

At VietRISE, we build the power of working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities to shape the future of Orange County. Through organizing, civic engagement, and leadership development, we are turning community voice into real policy change and long-term infrastructure for collective power.

Recent Accomplishments:

1. Advanced immigrant justice infrastructure
We helped develop and lead the launch of the OC Immigrant and Refugee Liberty Fund in 2025, securing $1.5 million in private and public dollars and resources for legal empowerment, Know Your Rights education, and community defense for Orange County residents facing deportation. VietRISE's executive director currently serves as the chair of the Liberty Fund advisory council.

2. Won and defended housing protections
Organized alongside tenants to win rent control in Santa Ana, mobilizing Vietnamese residents—especially Vietnamese seniors in mobile home parks and youth—and working in multiracial solidarity with Latino communities to secure its passage in 2021, then winning a ballot measure to enshrine it in the city charter in 2024.

3. Expanded civic participation
Reached tens of thousands of Vietnamese and immigrant residents through door-to-door canvassing and voter education, increasing turnout and political engagement among working-class and young voters.

4. Built a youth leadership pipeline
Trained and developed dozens of youth leaders through programs like Tự Lực and Thế Lực Cộng Đồng, equipping the next generation with organizing skills, political education, and pathways into civic leadership.

5. Established a trusted community hub
Grew VietRISE into a consistent, physical organizing space in Little Saigon where residents come for support, political education, and opportunities to take action together, and where grassroots organizations use the space at least once a week, free of charge, to host community events.

To carry out this work effectively, VietRISE requires sustained investment in staff capacity, community organizing infrastructure, and a permanent physical space in Little Saigon. Building long-term political power among working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities is relationship-based and labor-intensive, requiring trained organizers who can conduct consistent outreach, develop leaders, and support residents through campaigns, civic engagement, and legal empowerment efforts.

VietRISE also needs resources to maintain and expand core programs, including youth leadership development, tenant organizing, immigrant rights education, and community-based advocacy. This includes funding for program materials, stipends for participants and cultural creators, language access, and outreach tools that allow us to engage residents in culturally relevant and accessible ways.

A permanent, community-recognized organizing space is critical to this work. This space serves as a consistent hub where residents can access support, participate in trainings, attend events, and build relationships across generations. Establishing and sustaining this space requires investment in rent, operations, and ongoing programming to ensure it remains active and widely used by the community.

Finally, VietRISE needs flexible, multi-year funding that allows the organization to respond to emerging community needs, sustain long-term campaigns, and build the systems and partnerships necessary for lasting impact. This includes strengthening internal operations, data systems, and communications infrastructure to support growth and ensure accountability to the communities we serve.

VietRISE serves Vietnamese and immigrant communities across Orange County, with concentrated outreach and organizing in Little Saigon, including Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster, and surrounding neighborhoods.