Ongoing Campaigns

Nail Salon Worker Organizing

APIs CAN’s nail salon worker organizing focuses on improving labor rights, safe working conditions, and long-term financial security for Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant workers. Grounded in a racial wealth equity lens, the initiative tackles barriers like language access and the lack of culturally relevant workforce development.

In partnership with the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), Asian Outreach Center (AOC), and Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (VietAID), APIs CAN works directly with salon workers and owners to build community wealth and ensure access to equitable, culturally competent support. The effort also strengthens working-class solidarity by organizing across industries.

Civic Engagement & Voting Rights

APIs CAN builds AAPI political power across Massachusetts through civic engagement and voting rights efforts. Each election cycle, the coalition mobilizes voters in Boston, Quincy, Malden, and Lowell with outreach and education focused on working-class and immigrant communities.

APIs CAN also empowers non-citizens by promoting awareness of their civic rights and encouraging participation in local decision-making. The coalition leads an annual Advocacy Day at the State House to advance its civil rights agenda and testify on key legislation.

In partnership with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), APIs CAN supports election protection through poll monitoring in cities like Lowell, ensuring AAPI voters are informed, engaged, and protected at the polls.

2026 Rent Control

Ballot Initiative

APIs CAN has endorsed the Homes for All 2026 Ballot Initiative, a statewide effort to give Massachusetts cities and towns the ability to implement rent stabilization and protect tenants from displacement. This effort builds on the coalition’s previous support for rent stabilization legislation, underscoring a deep commitment to housing justice as a critical issue for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) residents.

APIs CAN is working with the coalition to advocate for a question to appear on the 2026 state ballot, allowing voters to decide whether municipalities can adopt rent control measures to stabilize housing costs and prevent displacement. We are mobilizing members and partners across the Commonwealth to:

  • Collect petition signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot,

  • Engage AAPI residents in voter education and outreach, and

  • Amplify stories of tenants impacted by rising rents and housing instability.



Narrative Change & Policy Advocacy

APIs CAN drives narrative and policy advocacy to uplift working-class AAPI communities in Massachusetts. By centering issues like language access, wage theft, housing insecurity, and workers’ rights, APIs CAN challenges AAPI invisibility in policymaking and pushes for disaggregated, representative data that reflects the community’s full diversity.

Through storytelling, community engagement, and digital strategy, APIs CAN is building long-term narrative change rooted in racial and economic justice. The goal is to become a recognized leader in both policy and narrative work—shaping how media, funders, and decision-makers understand and address AAPI experiences.

These initiatives will promote collaboration across regions and issue areas while empowering working-class AAPI communities. Success will be defined by increased visibility, stronger community leadership, and lasting influence in public discourse and policy.

Fighting Anti-Immigrant and Anti-AAPI Hate

APIs CAN is a statewide network of over 20 organizations advancing racial and economic justice for working-class AAPI communities in Massachusetts. In response to rising anti-AAPI hate and anti-immigrant attacks, APIs CAN builds community defense through civil rights education, bystander intervention, and a dedicated ICE-watch hotline.

As a founding member of the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network, APIs CAN mobilizes against fear and misinformation, uplifts immigrant voices, and advocates for bold, multi-racial policy change that includes housing justice, immigrant rights, and voting access—ensuring AAPI communities are protected, visible, and politically empowered.