The Hmong American Partnership is a Hmong-community-focused, critical race theory-aligned civic organization in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that provides immigrants and refugees with classes, counseling, job training, and financial aid programs.
In August 1990, the Hmong American Partnership was founded as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Initially, the group provided programming to Hmong people, members of an ethnic group with roots in East and Southeast Asia who had recently immigrated to or taken refuge in Minnesota. Since its founding, the group has expanded its programming to include other immigrant and refugee groups in the state. 12
Aside from its main office, the Hmong American Partnership has five other specialized offices in Saint Paul, Minnesota, through which it offers its programming. 3
Activity
The Hmong American Partnership offers participants a variety of programming intended to make individuals self-sufficient members of the community. The organization offers an “Adult Basic Education” program that teaches participants how to speak basic English, use a computer, understand the American health care system, and understand how to secure housing. To that end, the organization also offers jobs training programs wherein participants receive labor training and certification, for instance in commercial driving. 1
The organization also offers participants wealth management programming, access to lending services for small business loans, homeownership counseling, as well as the opportunity to open an “individual development account,” in which participants have their contributions to a program savings account “matched” by the organization. 1
Statement on Chauvin Trial
On April 21, 2021, the Hmong American Partnership issued a statement regarding the verdict to convict former police officer Derek Chauvin of murder in the death of George Floyd. The statement, which characterized the verdict positively, included claims of the existence of pervasive systemic racism, “anti-blackness,” and white supremacy. 4
Funding
Federal, state, or municipal agencies and offices that have provided over $250,000 of funding to the Hmong American Partnership include the Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Department of Health’s Center for Health Equity/Office of Minority and Multicultural Health, Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, Minnesota Insurance Marketplace, United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Community Services, HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, and Hennepin County. 5
Nonprofit organizations that have provided over $100,000 to the Hmong American Partnership include the Bush Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, Otto Bremer Trust, Pohlad Family Foundation, Saint Paul Community Literacy Consortium, and the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation. 5
Leadership
May yer Thao became the president and CEO of the Hmong American Partnership in October 2021. Previously, she was the executive director of the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber, assistant deputy director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority, a worker with the United States Peace Corps in Thailand, and a grant administrator at the Medical College of Wisconsin. 67
Mai Lor Lee is the chair of the Hmong American Partnership’s board of directors as well as a diversity specialist at the Andersen Corporation, a manufacturer of windows and doors. 86
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
Total Grant Value:$17,182,190
Number of Grants:313
Number of Funders:93
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:
Amount
Year
Funder
Subject
$2,000,000
2023
MacKenzie Scott
MacKenzie Scott made an unrestricted grant of $2 million to Hmong American Partnership. HAP's mission is to empower the community to embrace the strengths of our cultures while achieving our potential by improving the lives of individuals and families in our diverse communities through culturally sensitive social services, community and economic development opportunities, and promoting the rich heritage of our ethnic communities.
for a program to build community wealth and financial self-sufficiency in the communities that need it most by providing access to capital for local entrepreneurs from Twin Cities’ immigrant and refugee communities
Hmong American Partnership (HAP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social service and community development organization founded in 1990 to address the needs of Minnesota’s growing Hmong refugee community. HAP was formed as a mutual assistance agency, a designation that mandates at least 51% of our governing board must be representative of the community we serve. Since our founding, HAP has advanced from a refugee resettlement organization to become a well‐established nonprofit provider of transformational, entrepreneurial, community‐focused social services and economic development programs serving the broader Twin Cities’ immigrant and refugee community. Today, our mission is to empower the community to embrace the strengths of our cultures while achieving our potential. HAP accomplishes its mission by: 1) improving the lives of individuals and families in our diverse communities through the provision of culturally sensitive social services; 2) strengthening neighborhoods by providing housing, community, and economic development opportunities; and 3) promoting the rich heritage of our ethnic communities. Our mission and values support our work towards a vision of providing a profound social, economic, and educational transformation. We provide services to more than 30,000 people annually through a range of integrated programs. HAP staff regularly leverage interdepartmental referrals, expertise, and teamwork to address the complex needs of our participants. Our ability to provide culturally responsive services has elevated HAP as a critical community resource for individuals and families from the Twin Cities’ Southeast Asian and larger immigrant/refugee communities, especially during times of crisis and uncertainty.
Supporting capacity building, infrastructure, and recovery efforts to BIPOC owned small business along cultural corridors within the Twin Cities impacted by civil unrest. Hmong American Partnership will provide immediate financial relief to small businesses and support bilingual staff in providing time-intensive, culturally informed technical assistance to immigrant and refugee small business owners.
HAP Recovery and Rebuilding Assistance to Immigrant/Refugee Owned Businesses
$100,000
2020
Minnesota Council on Foundations
General support. For regranting for Support for communities of color and immigrant-owned small businesses (Twin Cities). Grant made in response to COVID-19 (coronavirus)
Hmong American Partnership provides housing stability to Immigrant and refugee communities, particularly low-income Southeast Asian individuals and families who have been heavily impacted on personal, financial, and vocational levels by the COVID-19 outbreak.
To provide comprehensive, coordinated, and culturally specific microenterprise services and supports to entrepreneurs in the local immigrant and refugee communities.
