Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance

What Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance does

Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit worker center founded in 1992 and headquartered in Koreatown, Los Angeles, that organizes primarily Latino and Korean low-wage immigrant workers — and increasingly renters — in the restaurant, retail, and grocery sectors. KIWA delivers fully trilingual (English, Spanish, Korean) direct services through its Worker Empowerment Clinic, Tenant Empowerment Clinic, and onsite Know Your Rights trainings, and supports those services with organizing, leadership development, research publications (in partnership with UCLA Labor Center and USC PERE), and policy advocacy. Its core technology footprint is minimal: a multilingual Squarespace website, email newsletter infrastructure via EveryAction, and Zoom-delivered virtual workshops — the organization does not develop or sell proprietary software products.

KIWA's revenue model is a nonprofit mix of individual donations, membership contributions, foundation grants (including the James Irvine Foundation), and contracted services with California state and county agencies (CDSS, OCPSC, LWDA, AAPI Equity Alliance). All services are provided free of charge to workers and tenants; there is no pricing or paid-product tier. KIWA's go-to-market motion is community-led base-building — house visits, workplace outreach, and one-on-one relationship-building — combined with strategic coalition engagement through four standing coalitions (United to House LA, California Coalition for Worker Power, Our Future LA, ACT-LA) that have produced policy wins including Measure ULA (2022) and SB 497 (2022).

Name

Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance

Legal name

Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance

Website

https://kiwa.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

KIWA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit worker center founded in 1992 in Koreatown, Los Angeles, organizing primarily Latino and Korean low-wage immigrant workers and tenants through trilingual direct services, base-building organizing, and policy advocacy coalitions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Labor Advocacy

NAICS

Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Educational Support Services (611710), Vocational Rehabilitation Services (6243)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Workforce Development & Inclusive Employment (Job Training, Placement) (BPAGALAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Refugee & Immigrant Support Services (BPAGAEAI), Refugee & Migrant Integration Enterprises (Livelihoods, Services) (BPAGALAN), Workplace & Career Integration for Immigrants (Credentialing, Job Readiness) (EDAAADAE), Integration & Inclusion Services (Housing, Education, Employment) (BPADAHAI)

Keywords

• Worker center services
• Immigrant labor advocacy
• Wage theft recovery
• Tenant rights education
• Community organizing

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Membership: KIWA is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations from supporters and members to fund its operations. The website features a donation portal for public contributions.
2. Government Contracts: KIWA has contracted with city, county, and statewide governmental agencies for decades to carry out outreach and education services to immigrant workers, small businesses, tenants, and other hard-to-reach populations. Partnerships include California Department of Social Services for immigration services, California Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications, California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and AAPI Equity Alliance for Stop The Hate program.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA) is a non-profit worker center founded in 1992 that delivers multilingual worker and tenant empowerment services to immigrant workers, primarily in Los Angeles's Koreatown neighborhood. The organization runs Worker Empowerment Clinics for wage recovery and labor-rights counseling, provides tenant/landlord counseling and tenant organizing, conducts community outreach and political education, and trains low-wage immigrant workers as member leaders who help govern the organization and drive policy advocacy campaigns.

Product overview

KIWA (Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance) is a worker center offering a portfolio of direct services, organizing programs, and advocacy initiatives. The core offerings include: (1) Worker Empowerment Clinic providing trilingual labor law assistance and wage claim filing; (2) Tenant Empowerment Clinic offering housing support and legal services; (3) Know Your Rights with ICE Trainings for workplace immigration enforcement response; (4) Outreach and Education Programs in partnership with California state agencies covering immigration, workplace safety, and community health; (5) Organizing and Leadership Development through base-building and coalition membership (ULA/Mansion Tax, CCWP, OFLA, ACT-LA). The organization serves primarily Latino and Korean immigrant workers in Koreatown and beyond, focusing on the restaurant and retail industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Worker Empowerment Clinic
• Tenant Counseling and Rights Outreach
• Koreatown Neighborhood Housing Initiative (KNHI)
• Member Leadership Development Program
• Worker Center Membership

Quantifiable outcome

• Assists workers in filing millions of dollars in wage claims annually
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• United to House LA (ULA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA is a steering committee member of United to House LA, a citywide coalition of housing justice and labor organizations that developed and campaigned to pass Measure ULA (the 'Mansion Tax') in November 2022. Measure ULA created a transfer tax on property sales above $5 million to fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention. KIWA is actively involved in implementing Measure ULA to address homelessness, create good union jobs, and chart a path for social housing.
• California Coalition for Worker Power (CCWP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA co-leads the California Coalition for Worker Power, a coalition of worker centers, worker advocates, labor policy experts, and labor unions dedicated to ensuring every California worker has power to improve work conditions. CCWP developed and successfully advocated for SB 497 (Equal Pay and Anti-Retaliation Act) passage in 2023, providing stronger protections when employers retaliate against workers.
• Our Future LA (OFLA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA is a member of the OFLA steering committee, a county-wide coalition of housing, labor, environmental justice, homeless service providers, and social justice advocates. KIWA helped pass SB 679 (Kamlager) in 2022 creating the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) to fund affordable housing across the county.
• Alliance for Community Transit – Los Angeles (ACT-LA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA is a member of ACT-LA's steering committee, a county-wide coalition striving to create just, equitable, sustainable transit systems. KIWA advances ACT-LA campaigns for social housing and transit justice, including fareless transit and Metro as a 'sanctuary for the public.'
• UCLA Labor CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA collaborated with the UCLA Labor Center to publish 'Overcooked & Underserved: The Challenges of Koreatown's Restaurant Workers' in October 2023, documenting wage theft and mistreatment experienced by Koreatown restaurant workers. Also released joint research on wage theft at Koreatown supermarkets in February 2026.
• California Department of Social Services (CDSS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA partners with CDSS through the California Department of Social Services immigration services program to carry out outreach and community education around immigrants' rights, including legal advice on changing immigration status, DACA applications, naturalization, and immigration protections for unaccompanied undocumented minors.
• AAPI Equity AlliancemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA collaborates with AAPI Equity Alliance on the Stop The Hate program administered through California Department of Social Services, providing direct services, prevention services, and intervention services for victims of hate against Asian Americans.
• California Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA partners with OCPSC (created by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022) to provide outreach and education on extreme heat, water conservation, vaccine equity, and individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) programs.
• LAFLA (Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA partners with LAFLA to provide a Tenant Legal Clinic on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, offering legal assistance to tenants alongside KIWA's housing counseling services.
• California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA participates in the California Workplace Outreach Project (CWOP) through LWDA, helping workers understand workplace health and safety during public health pandemics through outreach on workplace safety, worker leave, pay benefits including supplemental paid sick leave, and anti-retaliation protections.
• Los Angeles Coalition Against Wage TheftmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKIWA is a member of the Los Angeles Coalition Against Wage Theft, which advocates for adoption of the Los Angeles Wage Theft Ordinance to improve enforcement of wage and hour laws.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Workers Defense Project: Texas-based worker center combining construction-industry organizing with policy advocacy and a Members Assembly — strong methodological peer for KIWA's base-building worker-center model.
• National Domestic Workers Alliance: National alliance of domestic and care worker organizations that combines base-building with state-level policy campaigns — comparable organizing model but focused on domestic work rather than restaurant/retail.
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON): National network of day-laborer worker centers running worker defense, Know Your Rights, and wage-theft recovery — peer in immigrant worker base-building and rapid-response organizing.
• Make the Road New York: New York immigrant worker and tenant organization combining legal services, worker organizing, and policy advocacy — the leading East Coast analog to KIWA's integrated worker-plus-tenant service model.

Direct peers

• Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC United): National restaurant worker center that organizes low-wage restaurant workers, files wage claims, and runs leadership development — directly parallel to KIWA's Koreatown restaurant organizing model and named campaign targets.
• CARECEN (Central American Resource Center): Los Angeles-based immigrant-services nonprofit providing legal aid, worker rights education, and community organizing to Central American immigrants — overlapping with KIWA on immigrant worker clinic services and language access.
• CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles): LA immigrant rights organization combining direct services, policy advocacy, and organizing — competes for the same California state contracts and donor base as KIWA.
• LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy): LA labor and community coalition that runs worker-centered campaigns and policy advocacy — overlapping coalition partner with KIWA and a peer in campaign-driven low-wage worker organizing.
• Pilipino Workers Center: Southern California worker center organizing Pilipino immigrant workers in low-wage industries, providing Know Your Rights and wage-theft services — direct methodological peer in trilingual community organizing.

Regional players

• CLEAN Carwash Campaign: New York-based worker center that organizes carwash workers around wage theft and union recognition — comparable industry-specific worker-center model in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths6 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/KoreaTownImmigrantWorkersAlliance
• Xx.com/kiwa4justice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/koreatown-immigrant-workers-alliance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance