Mission

APEN promotes the right of every person to a clean and healthy environment in which their communities can live, work, learn, play and thrive. Towards this vision, APEN brings together a collective voice to bring fundamental changes to economic and social institutions that will prioritize public good over profits and ensure the right of every person to participate in decisions affecting our lives. Our work focuses on the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

What We Do

APEN builds grassroots power, strengthens organizing capacity and focuses electoral power of APA communities. By creating organizing infrastructure for local and state impact, APEN has been lifting voices from the API community on the front lines of climate change and industrial pollution for the past 20 years.

Our Impact at the Local Level:
-Blocked a $1 billion expansion of the Richmond Chevron refinery (already the biggest stationary polluter in California), stopping an additional 900,000 tons of greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants from entering the air
-Instituted the APEN Academy: an 8 week leadership training course--in 4 languages-- for community leaders to develop their political consciousness and organizing, public speaking, and media skills
-APEN is currently building a base of support for local green job training centers and continuing to realize the potential of solar and renewable energy to lift up underemployed and over-polluted communities.

Powerhouse in the State:
-Formed the Asian Pacific American Climate Coalition in 2010 and trained over 100 APA serving organizations across the state on climate and policy
-Last November, we released the first ever API voter guide--translated into five languages--and engaged 20,000 unreached voters with a trilingual phone banking team
-APEN sponsored the landmark bill, SB 535 which ensures funds from California's new Cap and Trade program go to communities that are hardest hit by pollution and climate change. We continue to guide implementation based on environmental justice principles.

APEN is realizing the potential of the largely overlooked, yet fastest growing demographic group in California while building partnerships and lasting friendships across the movement to achieve environmental justice for all communities.