First Executive Director Job Announcement 

ANNOUNCEMENT IS CLOSED

The Vincent Chin Institute (VCI) builds solidarity against hate and division through organizing, education and narrative change. We are seeking nominations and applications for our first Executive Director who will inspire and equip the next generation of Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders through the Vincent Chin movement’s legacy of multiracial, multicultural, intergenerational solidarity and community empowerment.

Working together in close partnership with our founder, Helen Zia, the board, future staff and external stakeholders, the Executive Director will build the capacity of VCI to advance the mission of the organization and its strategic goals. This leader will strengthen VCI’s national profile, while maintaining a commitment to areas where there is little to no Asian American advocacy infrastructure and exploring opportunities to continually fill gaps in areas of unmet need. The Executive Director will grow the organization’s capacity to effectively steward the legacy of Vincent Chin and the solidarity movement against hate and violence, while elevating the organization’s role in addressing issues that impact the health, safety, wellness, visibility and voice of our communities.

We are particularly eager to meet candidates who are:

  • Mission-driven on behalf of our beloved communities

  • Fueled by an activist spirit, energy and initiative

  • Seasoned leaders with a track record of building an organization or programs from the ground up

  • Strategic thinkers and pragmatists hell-bent on impact and deliverables

  • Grounded in Asian American history, movements and community and have expertise navigating the diverse ecosystem of community organizations working toward shared goals

  • Stewarding existing relationships with local, regional and national networks and leaders in the Asian Pacific Islander community and with other historically marginalized communities

  • Practiced in working with community members, media, funders and other key stakeholders

  • Highly skilled storytellers and exceptional communicators in multiple formats

  • Capable in board governance, volunteer engagement, resource development, and nonprofit finance and operations

  • Kind, respectful, open with the courage and drive to bend the arc of history towards justice

About The Vincent Chin Institute

The Vincent Chin Institute was founded in 2023 to continue the mission and work of the past 40 years of movement and building solidarity against anti-Asian violence and all forms of hate. Our mission is:

  • To provide informational resources, empowerment tools and networks of veteran AAPI organizers to communities where there is limited Asian Pacific American advocacy infrastructure.  

  • To build networks of local activists and a generation of established leaders from around the country who wish to use their expertise where they can be most effective in countering anti-Asian bigotry.

  • To strengthen and advance AAPI communities and amplify AAPI voices locally and nationally to bridge both organizing, networks and narrative connectivity between multiple sectors.

With programs focused in these three mission areas, the Vincent Chin Institute plays a vital role in making critical linkages for underserved AAPI communities and today’s generation of committed AAPI organizations with the strategic lessons from historical Asian American organizing. In doing so, VCI aims to inspire new generations of community leadership with the Vincent Chin legacy.

We are a fundamentally collaborative network dedicated to supporting and uniting others working toward the same goals. These are our guiding principles:

  • Our work is to bring marginalized AAPI communities to the center. 

  • VCI can serve as an intergenerational connective tissue to reach and address Asian Americans who are unserved or critically underserved. 

  • To work collaboratively is to address needs that have not been met and support others who are doing beautiful work in adjacent areas. 

  • Together we are so much more than the sum of our parts.

Our values run through all that we do: Integrity, Honesty, Accountability, Generosity and Inclusion  

Our work today is:

  • Building a response network as we disseminate crisis tools. In 2024, VCI collaborated with a number of AAPI groups to connect the empowerment lessons of Vincent Chin organizing to Midwestern AAPIs in Wisconsin, Texas and for the launch of an Asian American project in Indiana; as well as to AAPI activists and national advocacy groups;

  • Conducting educational outreach to public libraries and schools, such as providing public libraries with of The Vincent Chin Legacy Guide, which teaches lessons on how to build solidarity against hate—in six Asian languages plus English and Spanish, based on lessons from the Vincent Chin civil rights movement that emerged in the Midwest when there was no AAPI advocacy infrastructure;

  • Building our own infrastructure with this search for our first Executive Director.

In anticipation of social and political volatility ahead, VCI remains committed to countering hate with organizing, education and narrative change by working in collaboration and building solidarity. These times demand the best and highest use we can give, in collaboration, with shared values and unity together.

More information about The Vincent Chin Institute may be found at vincentchin.org.

For the definitive story of Vincent Chin and the national civil rights movement that he and Lily Chin inspired, see The Vincent Chin Legacy Guide: Asian Americans and Civil Rights Throughout this document you will see reflected the various ways our social and political history, movements, communities and advocacy infrastructure have been identified across generations and geographies.