GAR’s Lessons from 2025: Strengthening Our Organizing for the Fights Ahead
As 2025 draws to a close, the challenges we face are clear. The politics of fear and division have escalated into concrete attacks on our communities from the erosion of social safety nets to the targeted attacks on immigrants and refugees. In this climate, building working-class power is not just important; it is urgent.
Grassroots Asians Rising’s strategy is simple, tested, and unwavering: we organize working-class communities. For decades, the GAR network has been the backbone of this movement, organizing in pan-Asian, working-class communities to transform fear into collective strength.
GAR spent 2025 doubling down. In the face of attacks on our communities, we increased our efforts by creating spaces for learning, developing tools and resources for organizers, and helping organizers connect with each other across the country.
The following recap shows what GAR members, staff, and supporters, like you, built together this year. But to win in 2026, we need to deepen our commitment. Will you invest today in this people-powered future?
Building Working-Class Power Together: Membership Programming
We started the year off with our Coordinating Committee Retreat in Oakland. GAR is led by our Coordinating Committee–including APEN, AYPAL, CPA, DRUM, PrYSM, and SEAC Village, all of whom are organizations who have spent over ten years building GAR. While in Oakland, we reflected on GAR’s journey and progress on our five-year strategy, measured our impact, and began charting the next chapter of our work.
Grounded in Grassroots Leadership: Our Coordinating Committee Retreat
Movement Mistakes and Lessons Learned
We held more sessions of our Movement Mistakes & Lessons Learned series to continue building a culture of trust where organizers could be vulnerable, share openly, and strengthen our work together. In direct response to the political landscape, groups shared hard-won strategies for today's most pressing fights. PrYSM and AARW detailed how they built rapid response systems to protect immigrant communities, while growing their grassroots organizing and working-class membership. CAAAV and Lavender Phoenix reflected on how they transformed their models for mixed-class membership and leadership to ensure that working-class interests remain paramount, even as people from all class backgrounds seek to engage. And as pro-authoritarian strategists work to co-opt small business owners, CCED and The Collab shared how they navigated many challenges in small business organizing and emerged with key lessons on building power collectively.
Through this honest sharing, we are ensuring our entire movement can learn, adapt, and build working-class power together.
Kitchen Table: Cooking Up Individualized Support
This year, we launched our Kitchen Table! GAR’s Kitchen Table is a collaborative opportunity for member organizations to think through their challenges, receive coaching and support, and walk away with next steps that support their organizing. At the Kitchen Table, we have supported many organizations to chop it up about all sorts of things, including scaling up their base building, improving their outreach skills, and creating compelling political education curriculum.
Through individualized support, organizers receive concrete support, guidance, and feedback from GAR to help us build stronger organizations together.
The Wedge Framework: A Guide for Reclaiming Our Organizing
In 2024, GAR members met in Chicago to analyze the pro-authoritarian attacks on our communities. Since then, a committee of GAR members, including AAAN, ACE, APEN, DRUM, HANA Center, Lavender Phoenix, and SEAC Village, have been refining how we can wedge anti-democratic forces against each other, weakening their hold, and instead sway our communities back towards us.
This work is urgent. With the Trump Administration imposing tariffs, targeting attacks on refugees and immigrants, and punishing student and youth organizers for their unwavering commitment to Palestine, we must strengthen our working-class organizing.
To equip our members and allies, GAR created the Wedge Workbook in 2025. This tool guides organizers on the use of our wedge issue framework. It can be used to strengthen our efforts in the fight for our democracy.
Growing Our Team
Our team got stronger! We expanded our staff capacity by bringing on Sammie Ablaza Wills as our Membership Director. Shania Khoo, our Communications Coordinator, and Wing Mai Sang, our Development and Operations Coordinator, transitioned into full-time positions. In just a few years, GAR has grown from a membership of 13 organizations and two full time staff, to 34 members and five staff.
Thank you to our members, our partners, and our community for all that we accomplished together this year! As we wrap up 2025, we reflect and make time to rest and heal. As we look forward to 2026, we commit to continue organizing, drawing from the power of our working-class communities to resist, survive, and overcome. This vital work depends on a community of supporters. Will you donate to ensure we enter the new year ready to fight?