The Common Roots Youth Organizer Program.....

The Common Roots Youth Organizer Program is joint between 2 organizations in San Francisco's Chinatown and Mission Districts. Common Roots is joint between the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) and People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER). A little background on both organizations with their mission statements: CPA: “Founded in 1972, the Chinese Progressive Association educates, organizes and empowers the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco to build collective power with other oppressed communities to demand better living and working conditions and justice for all people.” PODER: “To organize with Mission residents to work on local solutions to issues facing low income communities and communities of color. PODER believes that the solutions to community problems depend on the active participation of all people in decision-making processes. Improvements to our neighborhood must be made through collective social action to bring about social, economic and environmental justice.”

This joint program started back in 1998 and is a collaboration summer leadership program. Starting in 2011, it was expanded to a year-long leadership program due to previous popularity and results on previous sessions. This program allows for 2 of the largest immigrant communities to develop cross-cultural and cross-racial awareness. The youth go through various things in this program such as going through different environmental and economic justice leadership development program. In 2007, the youth of the Common Roots Program planned and hosted a tour that showed other youth, the media, and politicians about the toxic materials in their community and how environmentally hazard it was to live there.

Here is a video from the KRON 4 news of this tour:

For more information about Common Roots, please contact Emily at 415-391-6986 x 303.