CPPA was created in 2011 to provide the Chinatown community with the political infrastructure to support candidates and elected officials who would fight alongside its working class, immigrant members. Suzanne Lee – a founder of Chinese Progressive Association – ran for Boston City Council that year on a platform for better schools, access to jobs, affordable housing, and greater civic engagement. CPPA supported Lee in the race and helped lead an enormously successful campaign in that cycle, coming within 97 votes of defeating a two-term incumbent.

 

More importantly, CPPA laid the groundwork for an organizing model in which local residents and community members were empowered to become leaders in their neighborhoods. Our members are predominantly Chinese immigrants from working families or low-income elderly. They include home care workers, rideshare drivers, and restaurant workers.