The SEAD Project

Grow Empowerment to Plant the Seeds of Hope & Possibility

We're rooted in the fact that our work is for Southeast Asians, by Southeast Asians. 

The SEAD Project (Southeast Asian Diaspora) is a community organization on a mission to be an accessible creative hub that provides streamlined workshops and tools to engage and share knowledge in Khmer, Hmong, Lao and Viet diaspora communities. We envision a growing Southeast Asian diaspora ecosystem that actively rethinks, reimagines and reshapes what’s possible in sustainable community development, with a pivoted focus on empowering Southeast Asian leaders, women and young people through language and storytelling.

SEAD started in 2011 with the vision of a group of Southeast Asians who wanted to not only connect with their roots and heritage but to think bigger and beyond preservation. Since 2015, SEAD is a legally recognized 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We serve the over 150,000 individuals of Southeast Asian descent here in Minnesota and hope to grow globally.

Your $ goes to our programs

• SEA Roots: We offer workshops in Southeast Asian languages and Pop-Up History, Culture, and Social Issue workshops. SEAD’s content is easily digestible, visually compelling, and geared toward diaspora learners, focusing on pride in Southeast Asian identity and strength in community.
• Planting SEADs: We amplify stories and provide space for Southeast Asian narratives to thrive, mobilize, and heal. The collaborative act of storytelling can take many forms, including art exhibits, publications, and public performances.
• SEA Change Lab: We support emerging artists from Southeast Asian diaspora communities who are committed to engaging in community issues in and through their work.
• Cultural Organizing: Our team of cultural educators and leaders lead campaigns onvarying topics, including COVID-19 and vaccine information, election empowerment, public safety, and mental health resources.

Our Issues: Snapshot of Southeast Asians

Minnesota is home to one of the largest and most thriving Hmong, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese communities, post-1975 resettlement era. Research consistently points to Southeast Asians holding the lowest educational and economic outcomes compared to other Asian American groups. This is where SEAD comes in. We believe in community development through what we already know and have: our cultural assets. We’re a diaspora movement facilitating that change through two access points: creative engagement and education. By co-creating with the communities we come from, live in, and thrive in-- we’re empowering the next generation to be transformative in how we view development through language learning and storytelling.

And here’s how we thank you...

We love our supporters. That's why we'll give you a shoutout and a thank you card in our languages. In addition, we encourage you to join any and all of our community events, both virtual and safely in person. All donations are tax-deductible. Our federal EIN: 47-4088420.

Take a peek inside some of our programming below: