Category Archives: People of color

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, LGBT, People of color, Philadelphia, Women

ACLU

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the nation’s foremost guardian of liberty. They are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending and protecting individual rights and personal freedoms.

Through advocacy, education and litigation, their attorneys, advocates and volunteers work to preserve and promote civil liberties including the freedom of speech, the right to privacy, reproductive freedom, and equal treatment under the law. They stand in defense of the rights of women and minorities, workers, students, immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and others who have seen bias and bigotry threaten the rights afforded to all of us in this country by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Because the ACLU of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit organization with limited resources, they rely on volunteers and interns to accomplish their work. Most of their volunteer and internship opportunities are in one of their offices in Philadelphia. Some volunteers make a regular weekly commitment to volunteer; others help out on an as-needed basis.

The Philadelphia local chapter is made up of volunteers who help further the mission of the ACLU by alerting staff about civil liberties violations in their area, holding local events, and raising awareness in their communities about civil liberties and the ACLU-PA.

Have skills you’d like to volunteer, such as photography or graphic design, but don’t want to commit to regular schedule in the office? Email them at volunteer@aclupa.org to set up a time to discuss how you can get involved!

Website: https://www.aclupa.org/takeaction/volunteerintern/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aclupa

Contact: 215-592-1513, volunteer@aclupa.org or info@aclupa.org

Location: 1401 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, Location, People of color, Philadelphia

JUNTOS

JUNTOS is a Latino immigrant community led organization in Philadelphia fighting for our human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants.

JUNTOS combines leadership development, community organizing, and focused collaborations with other community-based and advocacy organizations to build the power of our community so may be active agents of change.  We believe that every human being has the right to a quality education and the freedom to live with dignity regardless of immigration status.

Website: http://vamosjuntos.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VamosJuntosPhilly/

Contact: 215-218-9079, Info@vamosjuntos.org

Location: 600 Washington Ave, 2nd Fl, Unit 18UA, Philadelphia, PA 19147

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, People of color, Philadelphia

Boat People SOS

BPSOS – Delaware Valley is the local branch of a national Vietnamese American community organization with the mission to “empower, organize, and equip Vietnamese individuals and communities in their pursuit of liberty and dignity.”

Since 1980, one in 10 Vietnamese Americans has received assistance from BPSOS while still in Vietnam, on the high seas, in a refugee camp, or after arriving in the United States.

Through our 11 office locations in the U.S. and four office locations in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, we provide a web of services to support individuals, families, and communities. BPSOS-Delaware Valley works to promote a vision where Vietnamese American and immigrant individuals and families live in thriving, connected, communities which are free from violence.  We commit to this work through developing projects under four key areas that strengthen families and our community as a whole:

Southeast Asian Youth Empowerment Program (SEAYEP) : Programs during the school year and summer season focused on  youth including School-Year Youth Leadership Chapters for high school students;  after-school tutorials; Summer Youth Career Exploration Project; Journey Home and numerous short-term community service opportunities for Southeast Asian youth.

Citizenship Initiative in Vietnamese Immigrant Communities (CIVIC): Program to support eligible Vietnamese community members, and other legal permanent residents, through the citizenship process so that they will receive the benefits of citizenship including increased access to educational and employment opportunities, engage to a greater degree both politically and socially, will be less at risk for deportation, and will be able to reunify with family members.

Health Awareness & Promotion Program (HAPP): Informing and empowering Vietnamese-Americans to take health prevention into their own hands and become health advocates in the community. We are specifically working to tackle the issue of breast cancer, cervical cancer among Vietnamese women by reducing barriers to breast care.

Community Building Projects: Each year, we work with community members, leaders, and organizations to host our “hallmark” events in Philadelphia and South Jersey, which focus on building strong community connections through culture-based celebrations and engagement. Since 2009, these have been “Da Hoi Tinh Yeu (Love Festival)” in Philadelphia which celebrate strong families, and our “Tet Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Moon Festival) in South Jersey). These events also act as fundraisers for BPSOS-DelV–with monies coming from our most important constituents–our community members!

BPSOS-Delaware Valley is invested in building and developing community-oriented leadership within the Vietnamese communities and allied partnerships in all of our work. If you are interested in working with the Vietnamese community–whether you speak Vietnamese or not–we need you! There are many opportunites and they change frequently, so please check back here.  Please note that these are generally volunteer and unpaid positions.

Contact: (215) 334-1500, philly@bpsos.org
Location: 600 Washington Ave., Suite 18U-A, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Education, Location, People of color, Philadelphia, Youth

Youth United for Change

Youth United for Change (YUC) is a youth-led, democratic organization made up of youth of color and working class communities, with the “people” and political power to hold school officials and government accountable to meeting the educational needs of Philadelphia public school students. This is done through a process of school/community-based organizing where a diverse group of youth come together, identify common concerns in their schools/community and act collectively on their own behalf to create strategies for whole school reforms in the Philadelphia Public School System that better meet the needs of youth of color and working class communities. YUC believes that every young person deserves a quality public education that prepares him or her for success at a 4-year university, for a living wage job, and for active participation in civic life.

YUC has always followed a very specific school-based model of youth organizing; meaning students are organized through Chapters in their schools. Chapters, gain input from the general membership and the larger student body through listening campaigns. As a result of the listening campaign, YUC members identify specific issues, conduct research into the issues, develop and implement a strategy to address the issues, and hold public actions or meetings where a person in power publicly agrees to meet their demands. Our strategies around outreach, recruitment and retention have shifted to better meet the emotional and intellectual needs of the young people coming into our City Wide and Pushed Out Chapters which are not school based.

In YUC, we believe organizing for racial justice is two pronged. Leadership development/youth development must happen at the same time the technical aspects to organizing are happening. We do this by intentionally making time throughout the year where young people come and study the history of movements, how their racial, gender or cultural identities impact the individual and society as a whole, etc.

Website: http://www.youthunitedforchange.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Youth-United-for-Change-997287643671594/

Phone: (215) 423-9588

Location: 1910 North Front Street Philadelphia, PA 19122