Southeast Asian Community Alliance

What Southeast Asian Community Alliance does

Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SEACA) is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3)-style nonprofit founded in 2002 that serves low-income Southeast Asian youth and families, low-income refugees and immigrants, and intergenerational community members in Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, and Solano Canyon in Northeast Los Angeles. Its work is organized around three core programs: the Youth Leadership Project (YLP), an after-school workshop pipeline launched in 2002; the Youth Organizers (YO) advanced leadership track; and the Community Health Program, which offers cooking, gardening, and healthy-living classes. SEACA operates in five or more languages (Taishenese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Khmer, English), conducts door-to-door surveys, and runs campaigns on affordable housing, anti-displacement, environmental justice, and immigrant/refugee rights. Its landmark policy win was the 2013 Cornfield Arroyo-Seco Specific Plan (CASP), which the LA Times called a model for LA planning.

SEACA has no proprietary technology platform. Its digital footprint consists of a WordPress website (seaca-la.org) hosting content, donation processing via a PayPal button, and Google Forms for event sign-ups. All program delivery is in-person at the SEACA office, Church of the Epiphany, Alpine Recreation Center, and through door-to-door canvassing. The organization is governed by a board of directors, led since founding by Executive Director Sissy Trinh (a Vietnam-born refugee), and supported by a small staff of roughly 11-50 people per firmographic data, though a March 2020 board post described it as "a small organization" with less than $5,000 in reserves at that time.

The business model is nonprofit fundraising rather than commercial revenue. Funding sources include foundation grants (notably a $200,000 Weingart Foundation grant in September 2023), individual donations processed through PayPal, and ad hoc mutual aid community fundraising drives (e.g., a $10,000 board-allocated emergency fund in March 2020 during COVID-19). Programs are free to participants. SEACA's GTM is community-led and event-driven: grassroots outreach in high school classrooms, door-to-door surveys, May Day marches, open houses, and coalition work via Central City United with Little Tokyo Service Center and CanGRESS on the People's Plan for Downtown Los Angeles.

Name

Southeast Asian Community Alliance

Legal name

Southeast Asian Community Alliance

Website

https://seaca-la.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Services and Youth Development

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Child and Youth Services (62411), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Dropout Prevention, Alternative Education & Re-Engagement Nonprofits (BPAGADAL)

Keywords

• Community organizing services
• Youth leadership development
• Mutual aid programs
• Affordable housing advocacy
• Community health education

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual donations: SEACA solicits individual donations via a PayPal donate button on its website and during fundraising drives (e.g., Chinatown Mutual Aid fund).
2. Foundation grants: SEACA receives funding from foundation partners and grants. Existing grants were redirected during the COVID-19 pivot to pandemic relief work.
3. Mutual Aid fundraising: Operates ad hoc emergency mutual aid funds (e.g., Chinatown LA Mutual Aid Fund during COVID-19) seeded by board allocations ($10,000 in March 2020) and replenished by community donations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SEACA) is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that runs youth leadership development, community organizing, and community health programs for low-income Southeast Asian and immigrant/refugee communities in Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, and Solano Canyon. Its pipeline begins with the Youth Leadership Project (YLP), advances through Youth Organizers (YO), and is complemented by cooking/gardening/healthy living classes and a Pandemic Relief / Mutual Aid program established in March 2020. All programs are delivered free of charge to participants.

Product overview

SEACA (Southeast Asian Community Alliance) is a Los Angeles-based non-profit that operates as a community-organizing platform with a portfolio of integrated programs rather than a single product. Its foundational pipeline consists of the Youth Leadership Project (YLP) – which recruits and trains low-income Southeast Asian youth – and the Youth Organizers (YO) program, into which YLP graduates advance to lead campaigns on housing, labor, immigration, and environmental justice. Alongside this youth pipeline, SEACA runs the Community Health Program offering cooking, gardening, and healthy-living classes for inter-generational participants from Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, and Solano Canyon. These programs are unified under SEACA's three stated methods – Community Organizing, Advocacy, and Community Building – and are complemented by a Pandemic Relief / Mutual Aid program established in March 2020, and by SEACA's coalition work such as the Central City United (CCU) People's Plan for affordable housing in Downtown Los Angeles.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Youth Leadership Project (YLP): The flagship after-school program of SEACA, providing workshops on political education and responsive topics for low-income youth of color, serving as the leadership pipeline to Youth Organizers.
• Youth Organizers (YO)

Products and services

• Youth Leadership Project (YLP) SEACA's foundational youth program launched in 2002, providing interactive, issues-based workshops on community/family histories, environmental racism, economic justice, and race/class/gender/sexuality to low-income Southeast Asian youth. Meets Wednesdays 4-6pm during the school year at the SEACA office and provides a leadership pipeline into the Youth Organizers program.
• Youth Organizers (YO) Advanced leadership track for YLP alumni who take on greater responsibility in SEACA's campaigns. YO members deepen leadership skills through workshops, retreats, facilitation, cycles of oppression training, power analysis, and campaign development, regularly meeting with city and elected officials to advocate on gentrification, displacement, and environmental justice.
• Community Health Program Intergenerational program that brings together community members of all ages from Solano Canyon, Chinatown, and Lincoln Heights to teach cooking, healthy living, and gardening classes. Staff and community volunteers provide food and materials at no cost to participants; classes meet Tuesdays 3-5pm at Church of the Epiphany, 2808 Altura St, Los Angeles, CA 90031.
• Pandemic Relief / Mutual Aid Program Emergency response program established March 16, 2020 to provide food, supplies, and financial support for at-risk Chinatown and Lincoln Heights community members during COVID-19, including direct aid to seniors and vulnerable residents.

Quantifiable outcome

• 29% of working adults walk to work; 48% struggle to pay for transportation; 21% of residents love the central location
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Public CounselcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic Counsel served as SEACA's legal and campaign partner on the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (CASP) advocacy. Together they secured the first LA plan to proactively address gentrification by creating incentives for developers to include affordable housing in market-rate developments.
• Little Tokyo Service CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner in the Central City United (CCU) coalition alongside SEACA, advocating jointly for the People's Plan for Downtown Los Angeles to uplift low-income, immigrant, and refugee community needs.
• CanGRESS (Skid Row)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner in the Central City United (CCU) coalition with SEACA for the People's Plan advocacy on the Downtown Community Plan.
• National CAPACD (Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational CAPACD hosted the Our Neighborhoods Assembly in New York, which SEACA youth attended in 2019. SEACA also hosted a Youth Breakout workshop at the multilingual housing rights conference alongside MinKwon, PrYSM, and AYPAL.
• Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-published a multi-lingual community health survey paper with SEACA students in 2010, in collaboration with a Ph.D. student from Claremont Graduate University and the Kellogg Foundation.
• Claremont Graduate UniversityminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPh.D. student from Claremont Graduate University collaborated with SEACA students on a multi-lingual community health survey distributed door-to-door in 2010.
• The Asian American Resource Center of Pomona CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted a weekend SEACA retreat for students across all SEACA programs at the Claremont colleges (December 2014).
• Community Nature ConnectionminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerHosted SEACA's end-of-year camping retreat at Puerco Canyon in June 2017, providing outdoor education in Chumash history, edible/medicinal plants, and survival skills.
• Councilmember Ed Reyes (Los Angeles City Council)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerCouncilmember Ed Reyes and his staff were publicly thanked for their vision in supporting the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (CASP) which the LA City Council passed in 2013 with SEACA's advocacy.
• Los Angeles Department of City Planning (Claire Bowin)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerClaire Bowin from the LA Department of City Planning was recognized for her vision in helping to create CASP, which SEACA's youth campaign helped shape.
• Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo (California State Assembly)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerSelected SEACA as a 2021 California Nonprofit of the Year in recognition of SEACA's intergenerational organizing, COVID-19 mutual aid, and Chinatown vaccine equity work.
• USC Equity Research Center (Dr. Manuel Pastor)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerDr. Manuel Pastor, Director of USC Equity Research Center, featured SEACA's climate justice work on the Think 100% / Hip Hop Caucus podcast (May 2024).

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Little Tokyo Service Center: A Los Angeles-based AAPI community development nonprofit that co-leads the Central City United coalition with SEACA on the People's Plan. Directly comparable in mission (affordable housing, immigrant/refugee services, community organizing) and geography (Downtown/Northeast LA).
• Chinatown Service Center: A Chinatown LA-based AAPI social services nonprofit providing health, education, and workforce programs. Comparable to SEACA in target population (low-income Chinese and Southeast Asian immigrants) and geography, though larger in scale and more service-delivery focused than organizing-focused.
• Khmer Girls in Action: A Long Beach-based nonprofit building leadership and political power of Khmer and Southeast Asian youth and women. Comparable to SEACA in its youth-led organizing model, Southeast Asian identity focus, and emphasis on intergenerational leadership development.
• MinKwon Center for Community Action: A NYC-based Korean and Asian American community organizing nonprofit. Listed alongside SEACA in the 2019 National CAPACD Our Neighborhoods Assembly; directly comparable in youth organizing, immigrant tenant rights, and coalition-based housing justice work.
• PrYSM (Progressive Vietnamese American Society for Youth Movement): An Oakland-based Vietnamese American youth organizing nonprofit. Co-participated with SEACA in National CAPACD's 2019 Our Neighborhoods Assembly; highly comparable in its youth-led, refugee-community-rooted organizing approach to housing and immigrant justice.
• AYPAL (Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership): A Bay Area-based AAPI youth organizing nonprofit focused on immigrant rights, education equity, and juvenile justice. Co-participated with SEACA in 2019 National CAPACD youth coalition; directly comparable in youth-led model and AAPI base-building.

Broad incumbents

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles: The LA affiliate of the largest Asian American civil rights organization in the US. Comparable in AAPI-focused policy advocacy and legal services for immigrant communities, though operating at a much larger regional scale than SEACA.
• Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC): A Southern California AAPI legal aid and civil rights organization (now part of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California). Comparable in serving low-income AAPI immigrants in LA, including language-accessible legal services, but with a much broader regional scope.
• National CAPACD (Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development): A national coalition of 100+ AAPI community-based organizations including SEACA's partners. Comparable as an umbrella peer: SEACA participated in its 2019 Our Neighborhoods Assembly, and the organizations share a focus on equitable development, affordable housing, and language justice for AAPI communities.

Others

• APIAHF (Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum): A national AAPI health policy and advocacy organization that co-published a community health survey paper with SEACA students in 2010. Comparable as a peer/funder in the community health programming space SEACA operates, though APIAHF operates nationally while SEACA is hyper-local.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/seacala
• Facebookfacebook.com/seacala
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southeast-asian-community-alliance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Southeast Asian Community Alliance