Last week, Levi Strauss & Co. joined The Asian American Foundation’s AAPI Giving Challenge, making a five-year commitment to support AAPI communities.
The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) supports Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the pursuit of belonging and prosperity, free from discrimination, slander and violence. In the United States, Asian-Americans make up about 6% of the population but receive less than 1% of philanthropic funding. The AAPI Giving Challenge aims to shift that, unlocking much needed resources for the AAPI community.
Levi Strauss & Co. and the Levi Strauss Foundation have long stood up for vulnerable communities– especially in times of crisis. This includes supporting frontline organizations that ensure fair and equitable treatment of the AAPI community – organizations like Chinese for Affirmative Action to address the alarming increase in racism and violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities; Advancing Justice Asian Law Caucus to protect the rights of immigrants; the Filipino Community Center to support frontline workers in industries impacted by COVID; and the San Francisco Chinatown YMCA for the invaluable resources they’ve provided to the Asian community in San Francisco during the pandemic.
We are encouraged by the 13 foundation partners, 55 corporate partners and 28 individual partners that have taken part in the challenge, which has raised nearly $1.1 billion since its launch earlier this month. As Sonal Shah, President of TAAF stated last week, it “should send a clear signal to the 23 million AAPIs living in this country that TAAF and our AAPI Giving Challenge partners are here to upend the status quo in favor of a better, brighter future for AAPI communities.”
We are proud of the partners who have been on the frontlines of this important work for decades and look forward to continuing to build on this commitment for the next five years.
To see the full list of TAAF’s AAPI Giving Challenge partners, visit TAAF.org.
