By Adam Chau
The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL), located in St. Paul MN, has launched a new grant program for small business, individuals, and non-profits, with the help of major funders, including a $2.5 million gift from MacKenzie Scott.
The new grant program, called CAAL Ignite Fund, is rooted in the coalition’s goal of changing the narrative around Asian American women and the Asian American community.
In its first year the fund is looking to give out a total of 20 grants: 12 going to small businesses, 4 to non-profits, and 4 to individuals. Out of the 12 small business grants, 6 of those will go to Asian American women entrepreneurs.
Individuals will receive $10,000 and small business and non-profits will receive $15,000 for each grant.
“Despite being one of the fastest-growing demographics of entrepreneurs, AAPI women face significant barriers in starting and scaling up their enterprises. These include language barriers, lack of relationships with banking institutions, and racial stereotypes about Asian American women as being submissive and obedient, therefore being unsuitable to being competent and competitive business owners and leaders in the private sector,” CAAL representatives said.
They also pointed to the racial and gender stereotypes impacting opportunities for Asian American women and that nearly 78 percent of AAPI women have been affected by anti-AAPI hate–all of which they hope to combat, with specific goals of the fund being:
- Strengthening cultural identity through storytelling, historical preservation, and building solidarity across diverse groups
- Investing in socio-economic mobility by equipping Asian American leaders with resources to grow and thrive
- Enhancing policy influence by amplifying voices that shape and advocate for equitable change
- Transforming narratives to dismantle harmful stereotypes and foster understanding
According to CAAL’s research, they discovered that foundations only give $0.20 of every $100 to Asian American non-profits, even though Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the United States.
“Our fund aims to amplify narratives of Asian Americans as change-makers, innovators, and policy-makers who will pave the way to creating a more inclusive narrative of our vibrant and diverse community that is changing the face of the private, public, and nonprofit sector,” CAAL leaders stated, “We want to make the connection that when the appropriate investments are made to build strong and safe Asian American communities, the business and nonprofit sector will be stronger.”
In addition they hope to grow the fund in the future, to be more regional for the Midwest, where Asian American communities are spread out and need more resources.
Grants will be selected by a panel of community leaders in partnership with CAAL’s Grant Manager. Community leaders will be selected based on participation and involvement with CAAL and the Asian American community.
Currently CAAL has over 5,800 leaders in their network.
The organization invites everyone to apply, and for those who have not applied for grants before, or consider themselves non-traditional applicants, to contact CAAL’s Grant Manager Chonburi Lee directly to talk through their application.
The deadline for grant applications is 4PM CST, February 26, 2025.
For the latest information on the fund and the application process, go to https://caalmn.org/caal-ignite/.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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