Rising Voices is an advocacy organization that organizes Asian-Americans in Michigan to advance left-of-center policy priorities and elect Democratic candidates for public office. ^{1 2}

It was launched by Tides Advocacy and is now a project of the Center for Empowered Politics, the lobbying and advocacy affiliate of the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Association, a left-wing community organizing group that has been criticized for aligning with the government of the People’s Republic of China. ^{3 4}

History and Leadership

Rising Voices is a left-of-center advocacy organization that focuses on organizing Asian-American women in Michigan, which it defines as including “cis, trans, Gender Non-Conforming and femme-identifying” people. ⁵ Its programs attempt to grow the political power of the Asian-American community in Michigan, which in the 2020 Census made up just 4.1% of the state’s population and in 2022 was identified by the state’s demographer as Michigan’s fifth-largest racial/ethnic group, after White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and multiracial. ^{6 7 8}

Rising Voices was created in 2021 when the Michigan Asian American Progressives advocacy organization combined with the Rising Voices of Asian American Families charitable fund. ^{9 10} The new Rising Voices advocacy organization and Rising Voices Fund charitable foundation became projects of Tides Advocacy and the Tides Foundation, respectively. ¹¹

In 2023, Rising Voices became a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Empowered Politics, which is a 501(c)(4) affiliate of the San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Association, a left-wing community organizing group that has been accused of aligning with the government of the People’s Republic of China and has received favorable coverage from the state-affiliated China Daily newspaper. ^{12 13 14} The Rising Voices Fund became fiscally sponsored by the Center for Empowered Politics Fund at that point. ¹⁵

The co-executive directors of Rising Voices are Regina Tsang and Jasmine Rivera. ¹⁶ As of April 2024, founding executive director Laura Misumi, who left that role in 2022, was general counsel at Resilient Strategies, an outsourced nonprofit management company that provides infrastructure for left-wing political and activist organizations and is controlled in part by the Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund. ^{17 18 19}

Advocacy

In addition to traditional left-of-center topics such as government-provided and taxpayer-funded health care and increased spending on government-operated K-12 schools, Rising Voices also promotes radical left-wing social policies such as “the abolition of all prisons and all policing systems that only punish and incarcerate”; “dismantling of systems of oppression, including but not limited to white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, anti-Blackness, ableism, and the heteropatriarchy”; and opposition to “the prioritization of written history and formal education from western perspectives.” ²⁰

It also promotes the mandatory inclusion of Asian and Asian-American history in K-12 curricula as well as increased funding for English-language education for native speakers of Asian languages.

Rising Voices supported the 2022 referendum campaign to create a “new individual right to reproductive freedom” in the Michigan constitution, which voters approved. ²¹

Rising Voices jointly operates the Michigan Action SuperPAC with Detroit Action, a left-of-center organizing and activist organization that is a project of Tides Advocacy. ^{22 23 24} In the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, all of the SuperPAC’s spending was in favor of Democratic candidates or against Republicans. ²⁵

In addition to its SuperPAC, Rising Voices also operates Rising Voices Votes, a get out the vote operation. In 2022, its then-executive director reported that its remote phone bank team and in-person paid canvassers had made 165,567 calls, sent 44,459 texts, and knocked on 4,270 doors to support favored candidates in Michigan’s 2021 municipal elections. ²⁶

1. “Home.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/.
2. “MA.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/ma.
3. “Our Work.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/copy-of-about.
4. Gonzalez, Mike. “Fact-Checking New York Times Fact-Checker on BLM’s China Links.” The Daily Signal. Heritage Foundation, September 23, 2020. https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/09/21/fact-checking-new-york-times-fact-checker-on-blms-china-links/
5. “Home.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/.
6. Wong, Eddie. “Building a Pan-Asian Community and Multiracial Solidarity in Michigan: Interview with Jungsoo Ahn and Regina Tsang of Rising Voices.” East Wind, October 9, 2022. https://eastwindezine.com/building-a-pan-asian-community-and-multiracial-solidarity-in-michigan-interview-with-jungsoo-ahn-and-regina-tsang-of-rising-voices/.
7. Butler, Jaclyn. “Michigan Demographic Trends.” Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget, December 5, 2022. https://ippsr.msu.edu/sites/default/files/LLP/22/MI_Demographic_Trends.pdf.
8. “Michigan’s Population Topped 10 Million in 2020.” Census.gov, July 17, 2023. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/michigan-population-change-between-census-decade.html.
9. “Rising Voices 2021 Annual Report.” Rising Voices, 2022. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/annual-report.
10. “We’re Rebranding and Moving!Rising Voices Is a 501(c)(4) Organization Focusing on Civic Engagement and Organizing for AAPI Women and Families in the State of Michigan.Join US: Facebook and Twitter Accounts @risingvoicesaafwebsite Https://T.Co/5wl8wozom5ig @risingvoices_aaf Pic.Twitter.Com/Eveoarekho.” Michigan Asian American Progressives, April 27, 2021. https://twitter.com/MichiganAAPs/status/1387115005137534978.
11. “We’re Rebranding!” Rising Voices on Facebook, April 27, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/RisingVoicesAAF/photos/a.427901397826606/822085721741503/?type=3.
12. “Our Work.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/copy-of-about.
13. Gonzalez, Mike. “Fact-Checking New York Times Fact-Checker on BLM’s China Links.” The Daily Signal. Heritage Foundation, September 23, 2020. https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/09/21/fact-checking-new-york-times-fact-checker-on-blms-china-links/
14. Zhu, Lia. “Growing Global Support for US Protests over Killing by Police.” China Daily, June 8, 2020. http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202006/08/WS5edd7ef0a3108348172515cc_1.html.
15.  “Our Work.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/copy-of-about.
16. Tsang, Regina. Regina Tsang: LinkedIn profile, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/regina-tsang-438ab022b.
17. Misumi, Laura. “Laura Misumi – General Counsel – Resilient Strategies LLC | Linkedin.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmisumi/.
18. “About Us.” Resilient Strategies LLC. Accessed April 1,2024. https://www.resilientstrategiesllc.com/
19. “Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund, Full Filing.” ProPublica, November 15, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/843636499/202313199349306801/full.
20. “Rising Voices 2021 Annual Report.” Rising Voices, 2022. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/annual-report.
21. “Michigan Proposal 3, Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative (2022).” Ballotpedia. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Proposal_3,_Right_to_Reproductive_Freedom_Initiative_(2022).
22. Wong, Eddie. “Building a Pan-Asian Community and Multiracial Solidarity in Michigan: Interview with Jungsoo Ahn and Regina Tsang of Rising Voices.” East Wind, October 9, 2022. https://eastwindezine.com/building-a-pan-asian-community-and-multiracial-solidarity-in-michigan-interview-with-jungsoo-ahn-and-regina-tsang-of-rising-voices/.
23. “Michigan Action State Superpac – Michigan Committee.” Transparency USA. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.transparencyusa.org/mi/committee/michigan-action-superpac-519894-pol.
24. “MA.” Rising Voices. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/ma.
25. “Michigan Action Outside Spending.” OpenSecrets. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00753640&tab=summary.
26. “Rising Voices 2021 Annual Report.” Rising Voices, 2022. https://www.risingvoicesaaf.org/annual-report.