National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD)

National CAPACD is funded by a range of left-of-center foundations and corporate donors, including the Ford Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving. ³

Background

The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development was established in June 1999 when representatives of 16 Asian American and Pacific Islander community organizations met in Seattle to form the coalition, which held its first convention in 2000. It grew over subsequent decades to encompass nearly 100 organizations spanning 21 states and the Pacific Islands. The group is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a satellite office in Oakland, California. ⁴

National CAPACD operates as an intermediary organization, redistributing grant funding to member groups and providing capacity-building services, training, and technical assistance to local constituent organizations. It also serves as a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intermediary, channeling federal housing counseling funds to affiliate groups. ^{5 3}

As of 2026, National CAPACD members included left-of-center Asian American-interest organizations across 21 states. Among the member organizations was Freedom, Inc., a Madison, Wisconsin-based group that described its mission as advancing “Gender Justice, Queer Justice, and Black and Southeast Asian Liberation.” Freedom, Inc. has drawn criticism from both right-of-center and left-of-center observers for its combative approach at public meetings, with a local newspaper having described the group’s style as “in-your-face.” ⁶

Activities

The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development pursues a range of left-wing policy priorities centered on expansionist immigration policy, increased federal housing spending, and opposition to immigration enforcement. The coalition called on Congress to establish a “permanent pathway to citizenship for all immigrants” in a June 2020 public statement responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, which preserved the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In the same statement, the coalition characterized the first Trump administration’s effort to wind down DACA as a “xenophobic agenda.” ^{7 8}

CEO Seema Agnani stated in a June 2020 release that the American system is “broken” and is “intentionally designed to fail Black communities,” while himself pledging to continue to “advocate for comprehensive and humane immigration reform.” ⁷

In a separate March 2020 statement on small-business disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, National CAPACD attributed economic losses for Asian-American businesses to what it characterized as “xenophobia” and invoked the term “Yellow Peril” to describe conditions facing the community. ⁹

As of 2026, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development was operating a Financial Empowerment Program that claimed to provide financial capability services for low-income Asian American and Pacific Islander individuals and families, and a Housing Counseling Program that purported to deliver multilingual housing counseling and education in more than 30 languages to low- and moderate-income homeowners and renters. ⁵

Grantmaking

National CAPACD has historically re-granted approximately $1 million to $2 million per year to member organizations through its intermediary function. It serves as an intermediary for U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grantmaking, channeling federal housing counseling funds through its network. ^{5 3}

Political Advocacy

National CAPACD has engaged in explicit electoral commentary aligned with the Democratic Party and the left-wing of American politics. Following the November 2020 presidential election, the coalition issued a statement celebrating the re-election of whom it called “the Squad,” namely U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and celebrated the election of the first openly transgender state senator and the first LGBT Black members of Congress. The statement characterized the outgoing first Trump administration as having “stripped” the rights of ethnic minorities and “endangered” their “very existence,” and pledged to work with the incoming Biden administration on left-wing policy priorities. ²

Funding

The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development’s revenue comes primarily from contributions and grants. The coalition’s publicly listed funders include the Ford Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Yield Giving, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, NeighborWorks America, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Corporate donors listed include Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, MetLife Foundation, PNC Bank, Target Foundation, TD Bank, Toyota, Truist Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. ³