AALAC

Who We Are. 

• The Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, Inc. (AALAC) of Georgia is the first non-profit law center dedicated to Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Asian-ethnic refugees (“Asian Americans”) in the Southeast.

• Our mission is to protect and promote the civil, social and economic rights of Asian Americans through public policy, legal education, community organizing and leadership development.

• We envision a social movement in the Southeast where individuals are fully empowered, active in civic life, and working together to promote equity and fair treatment for all.  AALAC believes the only sustainable way to effect change is for Asian Americans to achieve full civic integration and work together on policies that impact our jobs, our health, our social welfare and our voting power.

What We Do.

 We use the law as a tool to engage, educate and empower individuals to greater civic participation.

• AALAC is a central information source on Asian American social justice issues in our region.  We publish trusted, non-partisan, legal education and policy work that is focused on promoting the rights of Asian Americans and other immigrants.

• We mobilize Asian Americans around real-life stories we hear about on the ground, with a focus on representing our broader community interests.

• We address the unique needs and concerns of our community, and translate a significant portion of our work in multiple Asian languages.

• We host public events throughout the year on a host of legal topics, and provide capacity building through innovative trainings and partnerships.

• We serve as a voice for Asian American community groups to policy makers, press and the general public in order to raise the importance and relevance of the Asian American perspective to broader policy debates.

• We provide invaluable internship and volunteer opportunities for students and lawyers interested in public interest work.

Who We Serve. 

• AALAC principally serves the growing Asian American population in Georgia regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender, class, disability or language ability.   While much of our outreach is geared towards Asian Americans, we promote equity and fairness for all individuals.

• Our work has reached approximately 3,000 directly and 300,000 more  through extensive media coverage.  Our work is also broadly disseminated and shared outside our community and region.

Why Our Work Matters. 

• The Southern region experienced the fastest Asian American population growth according to the 2010 Census.  Georgia’s Asian and Pacific Islander populations nearly doubled and now make up 330,000 or 3.3% of the state’s total population.  In Gwinnett County alone, more than 10% of the county’s population is Asian American.

• Despite the population growth and counter to the ‘model minority’ myth, Asian Americans in Georgia remain underrepresented and underserved.

• While we experienced a 71% increase of Asian American voters in Georgia from 2004 to 2008, Asian Americans have the lowest percentage voter turn-out of any group in Georgia.  This is also true at the national level.

• 42% of Asian Americans in Georgia are Limited English Proficient, which creates a huge barrier in accessing information and engaging meaningfully in political life.

• Cultural diversity also stymies civic and social integration, and presents unique challenges with education and mobilization efforts.   The Asian American community in Georgia is comprised of more than 15 major ethnic groups, each of whom typically has their own cultural, linguistic and religious background.

• The huge influx of Asian and other immigrants has heightened anti-immigrant sentiment in our state at levels not seen in recent decades and led to the introduction of discriminatory policies that have negatively impacted our community members.