Helena Wong

Helena Wong

Helena Wong is the former executive director of Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence Organizing Asian Communities, in New York City and has organized in low-income Asian immigrant and refugee communities for nearly twenty years around gentrification, community development and land use, and police violence. Helena has served on the national steering committee of the Right to the City alliance and prior to coming onto staff at Grassroots Global Justice Alliance was on the Board of Directors and the national coordinating committee. She has led delegations to China, meeting with organizers who do work around land rights, migrant workers, environmental protection, and queer visibility. Helena is a founding member of Grassroots APIs Rising and coordinator of the Seeding Change National Fellowship for Asian American Organizing. Helena is queer, Asian, and a proud lifelong New Yorker.

Helena became a CAAAV member as a high school youth in 1995 and joined staff in 2003 with fellowship from the Open Society Institute. Under her leadership CAAAV's Chinatown Tenants Union was founded and has continued to grow to its current size and capacity. Helena became Executive Director in July 2010.

A Townhall On Anti-Asian Racism

AAPIs for Civic Empowerment Education Fund March 25 at 9:13 AM ·

Tune into this webinar on Anti-Asian Racism, featuring AAPI FORCE-EF executive director Timmy Lu, along with other organizers and scholars!

The People's Collective for Justice and Liberation Presents

A Townhall On Anti-Asian Racism: Race, Struggle & Solidarity in The Time of A Global Pandemic

DATE: Saturday, March 28, 2020 TIME: 3:00-5PM PST / 6:00-8PM EST

We are living in unprecedented times with COVID--19 or the Coronavirus. There has been a rise in anti-Chinese and anti-Asian discrimination and many efforts to combat it during this public health crisis.

Asian American organizers, and other people of color we are in community with, will facilitate a conversation on race, struggle and solidarity in the time of a global pandemic.

Featured Speakers:

• Jason Oliver Chang, University of Connecticut Asian and Asian American Studies Institute
• Jennifer K. Falcon, Indigenous Environmental Network
• Timmy Lu, AAPIs for Civic Empowerment Education Fund
• Scot Nakagawa, ChangeLab
• Angela Peoples, Black Womxn For
• Carmen Perez-Jordan, The Gathering for Justice
• Lakshmi Sridaran, South Asian Americans Leading Together
• Kabzuag Vaj, Freedom Inc
• Helena Wong, Seeding Change

Co-Hosted by:

Gregory Cendana, Can’t Stop! Won’t Stop! Consulting and DJ Kuttin Kandi, Asian Solidarity Collective.

Cosponsored by Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop; Asian Solidarity Collective, University of Connecticut Asian And Asian American Studies Institute, 18 Million Rising, and Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO

RTTC Regional Contacts 2014

Right to the City Regional Contacts 2014.

• Boston/Providence – Soledad Lawrence, City Life/Vida Urbana
• DC Metro – Jon Liss, Tenants and Workers United
• Los Angeles – Gilda Haas, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy
• Miami – Gihan Perera, Miami Workers Center
• New Orleans – Rosana Cruz, Safe Streets/Strong Communities
• New York City – Rickke Mananzala, FIERCE
• SF Bay Area – Dawn Phillips, Causa Justa/Just Cause Oakland
• Chinatown Alliance – Helena Wong, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities

AAFE 40th Anniversary Gala

Asian Americans for Equality celebrated their 40th Anniversary Gala, November 18, 2014, at Tribeca 360, 10 Debrosses St NYC.

Honored "Agents of Change" included Helena Wong;

Helena Wong jumped into leadership roles for the organization and representation of local Asian communities through becoming the executive director of Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Ms. Wong then moved into the leadership role of National Organizer for Grassroots Global Justice Alliance. Helena has been a staunch fighter for Asian immigrant rights, leading delegations to China and Hong Kong, meeting with organizers in relation to land rights, and working with other important groups and people in regards to migrant workers, environmental protection, and queer visibility work. She is a founding member of Grassroots APIs Rising as well as the coordinator for the Seeding Change National Fellowship for Asian American Organizing.

"All that is Solid Melts Into Air"

Brecht Forum, July 26th, 2012 OPENING NIGHT OF 3-DAY INTENSIVE SEMINAR "All that is Solid Melts Into Air" Between the 501c-3 & Zuccotti The Question of Political Organization in the US Today.

Join us for the opening of our 39th annual Marxist intensive as we continue the conversation with all of you!

Speakers Kali Akuno, Raquel Lavina, Meaghan Linick, Shaun Lin, Eric Odell, Chloe Tribich, Max Uhlenbeck & Helena Wong (With Special Performance by Desis Rising Up and Moving Youth).

World Social Forum 2013

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance activists attended the World Social Forum 2013 held in Tunis, Tunisia. Delegates included Kali Akuno (MXGM), Jordan Flaherty (Floodlines), Maria Poblet (CJ/JC), Helena Wong (CAAAV), Erin Byrd (BWFJ), Autumn Martinez (UE 199), Cindy Wiesner (GGJ), Charity Hicks (EMEAC), and Tammy Bang Luu (LCSC).

Left Forum 2011

The Revolutionary Project and Socialism in the 21st century: US Bottom-up Struggles and the US Social Forum:

• Cindy Wiesner, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
• Helena Wong, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities
• Jerome Scott, League of Revolutionaries for a New America; National Planning Committee of the U.S. Social Forum
• Rose Brewer, Black Left Unity Network, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; USSF Gender Justice Working Group

Left Forum 2012

Organizing Asian Communities (Part 2 of Organizing Asian Communities)

• Laurel Mei Turbin (Chair, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, CUNY Graduate Center
• Esther Wang CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, Chinatown Tenants Union
• Helena Wong Executive Director, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, NYC
• Yoko Liriano NYCHRP. BAYAN USA

Left Forum 2013

Panel Title: From Chinatown to China - Building Grassroots Solidarity through Organizing

Moderator: Helena Wong: CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities

Speakers/Co-Facilitators:

• Ellen David Friedman: Has just completed her 7th year as a Visiting Scholar at the International Center for Joint Labor Research at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, where she teaches labor studies and is active in various levels of the labor movement.
• Esther Wang Texas-born writer and organizer based in New York City, currently living on the opposite side of the world in Beijing. Most recently, she was a community organizer with CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, working with Chinese immigrants around issues of housing justice, displacement, and accountable development. Her writing has been published in Left Turn magazine, Racialicious.com, and the Austin American-Statesman.
• Alex Tom: Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco).

CEEP Delegation to China Report Back

A China Education and Exposure Program delegation went to China December 2013.

We went to both Beijing and Guangzhou, meeting with numerous activists to better understand the political conditions there and would like to share all that we learned with you. Join us for an exciting discussion of labor, environmental, and LGBTQ organizing and social change in China!

At Left Forum 2014

The rise of China as a global economic force implementing a capitalist agenda in the past decade – and the massive, bottom up resistance of workers and peasants to the exploitation that has accompanied it -- demands that leftists in the US develop an analysis on China that is grounded in current conditions. In 2013, a delegation of Chinese American organizers went to China to learn about organizing efforts in Mainland China. The culmination of conversations with more than 10 organizations in China organizing around labor, environmental justice, women's rights, and queer issues opened up space for us to put forth the following questions: In China, what are the conditions people are organizing against? What are people fighting for? What is the nature of anti-capitalist struggle and the social justice movement in China? How have the State and Capitalists responded? And lastly, what role do we play in the US in supporting people's struggles in China?

Chair/Facilitator: Helena Wong

Speakers/Co-Facilitators:

• Jason Chan
• ManSee Kong
• Wai Yee Poon

CPA 40th anniversary

On August 4th 2012 to celebrate Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco)'s 40th Anniversary. CPA was proud to honor the National Guestworkers Alliance and New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, the Free MUNI for Youth Coalition, and Jobs with Justice San Francisco.

Host Committee:

Rolland Lowe and Kathy Lowe • Grace Lee Boggs • Josue Arguelles • Supervisor John Avalos • Angelica Cabande • Supervisor David Campos • Mike Casey • Supervisor David Chiu • Antonio Diaz • Reverend Norman Fong • Conny Ford • Maria Guillen • Alicia Garza • Roger Kim • Supervisor Jane Kim • Helen Kim • Jee Kim • Mario Lugay • Supervisor Eric Mar • Gordon Mar • Alisa Messer • Luke Newton • Supervisor Christina Olague • Vincent Pan • Tim Paulson • Ai-jen Poo • Raquel Redondiez • Peggy Saika • Shiree Teng • Makani Themba-Nixon • Helena Wong • Miya Yoshitani

Left Strategies Collective

The Left Strategies Collective was founded to create conversation within the Left around strategy development. Between 2013-2014, the Left Strategies Collective conducted a number of national calls bringing people together to talk about issues such as Worker Organizing in the 21st century, and Lessons from the Moral Mondays movement.

Left Strategies Collective members: Rishi Awatramani, Jake Carlson, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Jon Liss, Garry Owens, Biju Mathew, Merle Ratner, Claire Tran, Helena Wong.

Sandra Moran tour

Shaun Grogan-Brown June 5, 2014 ·

"We Feminists Say: This is my body, this is my land, this is my territory. And we defend our territory." - Sandra Moran, World March of Women leader on Grassroots Global Justice Alliance national tour June 18-July 3: Reclaming Feminisms at the Grassroots! #ReclaimFeminisms http://ggjalliance.org/ReclaimingFeminisms2014 — with Marjorie Childress, Monica Cordova, Lindsay Marisol Archuleta, Andrea Mercado, Maria Huerta de Reyes, Sandra Moran, Tammy Bang Luu, Andrea Plaza, Jaron Browne, Jessica O. Guerrero, Helena Wong, Claudia Reyes, Marcia Olivo, Maria Poblet, Monserrat A. Matehuala, Mei-ying Williams, Cindy Wiesner, FuerzaUnida Mujeres, Steve Williams, Rukiya Dillahunt and Denise Perry.

People's Climate March

Christine Cordero September 19, 2014 ·

NYC. I'm in here. So many rockstars. @OurPower contingent alone is about 4,000 folks, 50 buses from all over. Frontlines of Crisis, Forefront of Change.

Frontlines are actually out front becuse it takes roots to weather the storm... #PeoplesClimate #OurPower — with Rachel LaForest, Michael Leon Guerrero, Janet Redman, Ananda Lee Tan, Sara Mersha, Yuki Kidokoro, Sharon Lungo, Shaun Grogan-Brown, Cindy Wiesner, Helena Wong, Marjorie Childress, Samantha Corbin, Joshua Kahn Russell and Nene Igietseme.

Power and Protagonism

Steve Williams September 18, 2015:

Who says 'protagonism' isn't a word? Marta Harnecker says, 'Sometimes we need new words to describe new actions.' Honored to be soaking up the wisdom of Marta Harnecker and Michael Lebowitz in a room full of hungry and skilled organizers and activists. — with Thomas Assefa, Ilana Berger, Ben Morse, Harmony Goldberg, Randy Jackson, Tony Romano, Jee Kim, Kitzia Esteva, Helena Wong, Matt Howard, Jodeen Olguin-Tayler and Kate Kanelstein at Verso Books.

Reclaiming Feminism at the Grassroots

Kate Kanelstein May 1, 2016:

Overstuffed classroom in Helena Wong's Reclaiming Feminism at the Grassroots workshop Lindsey Gillies, Jaron Browne, Isaac Grimm, Michelle Kathryn, Liz Beatty.

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance staff

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance staff as of 2015;

• Cindy Wiesner - National Coordinator of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, and Co-Chair of the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) and the Our Power Campaign,
• Shaun Grogan-Brown- Development and Communications Coordinator
• Helena Wong - National Organizer
• Jaron Browne - Communications Organizer with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

World March of Women

October 23, 2015 The 4th Americas Regional meeting of the World March of Women opened in Cajamarca, Peru. There were 4 reps from the WMW US/ Grassroots Global Justice Alliance chapter there reclaiming feminisms from the grassroots. Two co-chairs: Maria Poblet and Jessica O. Guerrero, along with Emma Sandoval and staff Helena Wong.

Feminist Training School

#FOS2016 Planning Team (from l to r): Emma Sandoval, Marisol Archuleta, Helena Wong, Beva Sanchez, Maria Poblet, Jessica O. Guerrero, Cynthia Oka, Cindy Wiesner, Emily Lee)

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) co-hosted our very first Feminist Organizing School (FOS2016) in Albuquerque, NM from May 20-24th 2016. Over 40 people from 17 organizations around the country participated in the school, grounded in the spirit of slain indigenous feminist environmental activist, Berta Caaceres.

Dakota Access Pipeline protest

The week of September 26, 2016, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance members went on a "Berta Vive" Feminist Delegation to Standing Rock in solidarity with the #NoDAPL struggle to protect the water and land from a destructive pipeline project by the Dakota Access Pipeline. With on the ground leadership from Indigenous Environmental Network, the Berta Vive delegation brought a feminist contingent to make connections between what is happening in Standing Rock to the struggles of women in frontline communities around the world, and to contribute to actions and activities on the ground.

Members participating on the delegation are: Linda Lee, Pam Tau Lee, Thuy Trang, Rachel Vernon, and Leon Sun from Chinese Progressive Association; Cerise Palmanteer from Asian Pacific Environmental Network; Candi Brings Plenty from Portland Jobs with Justice; and Helena Wong, National Organizer for Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and World March of Women US Chapter.

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing

Revolutionary Strategies to Beat the Rising Right Wing, was a nationwide conference call organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Sunday October 30, 2016.

What's the nature of this right-wing threat? What has this election cycle changed about the political terrain we're fighting on? How do we need to prepare for whats coming after the election? Hear about these crucial questions from our panel of top political strategists, including Nelini Stamp, Bill Fletcher, Jr., Linda Burnham, and Sendolo Diaminah.

Those invited, on Facebook included Helena Wong.

Now What? Defying Trump and the Left's Way Forward

Now What? Defying Trump and the Left's Way Forward was a phone in webinar organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization in the wake of the 2016 election.

Now what? We’re all asking ourselves that question in the wake of Trump’s victory. We’ve got urgent strategizing and work to do, together. Join Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson of the Movement for Black Lives and Freedom Road, Calvin Cheung-Miaw, Jodeen Olguin-Taylor of Mijente and WFP, Joe Schwartz of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Sendolo Diaminah of Freedom Road for a discussion of what happened, and what we should be doing to build mass defiance. And above all, how do we build the Left in this, which we know is the only solution to the crises we face?

This event will take place Tuesday November 15, 2016 at 9pm Eastern/8pm Central/6pm Pacific.

Those invited, on Facebook included Helena Wong.

Left Labor Project Presents: What Happened? What Now?

Left Labor Project Presents: What Happened? What Now? Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 6 PM - 9 PM, 310 W 43rd St, New York.

A converastion with Bill Fletcher, Jr., international activist and co-author of Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice.

This event is Co-sponsored by: Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, Committees of Correspondence Education Fund, Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

RSVPS included Helena Wong.

Role of Asian American and Pacific Islander Movements

LeftRoots journal Out to Win! issue 1, February 2019: The Role of Asian American and Pacific Islander Movements: Race, Nationality Oppression and Revolutionary Strategy.

Out To Win: Issue 1, page 7

By Carolyn Chou, Cecilia Lim, Lydia Lowe, Don Misumi, Miranda Singh OFaolain, Jensine Raihan, Helena Wong.