General Description

The Edina Asian American Alliance (EAAA) is an intergenerational, grassroots coalition of students, parents, and community members allied in deep commitment to our Asian and Asian American youth in Edina Public Schools (EPS) and the broader Edina community. We are affiliated with the Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL), which provides capacity and support, as we partner with the school district and city.

Our Mission:

Our mission is to create a safe and inclusive Edina where all students, residents, staff, and community members feel that their racial and ethnic identities are valued and essential parts of the Edina community. To do this, we support our Four Pillars: Community Mobilization, Visibility and Understanding, Serving as a Resource, and Building Coalition.

Community Mobilization: Combats anti-Asian prejudice and racism, advocates for equity and inclusion, and promotes social justice in Edina on behalf of Asian Edina community members.
Visibility and Understanding: Makes the Asian and Asian American experience more visible, present, and understood, in order to foster a more inclusive, anti-racist Edina culture.
Serving as a Resource: Serves as a resource and sponsors community events that educate, elevate, and create space for the Asian American experience.
Building Coalition: Stands for cross-racial solidarity, coalition, and working toward systematic systemic change. EAAA encourages and facilitates open dialogue and consensus among the Asian Edina community’s diverse cultural, political, and social perspectives.

Our Vision

At its core, the Edina Asian American Alliance (EAAA) serves as a vehicle to build relations, create community, and support Edina Public Schools (EPS) and the city of Edina to reach their best potential.

EAAA envisions:

An Edina culture where all residents feel like they belong.
An EPS learning community that succeeds in its mission toward advancing academic excellence, ensuring an equitable and inclusive school culture, and fostering a positive learning environment and whole student, family, staff, and teacher support.
An EPS learning community whose teachers and faculty reflect the diversity of the student body.
An EPS curriculum whose teachings speak to the histories and experiences of its diverse student body.
A clear and satisfactory process for what a student experiences racism. This proves will include a straightforward pathway for reporting racist instances and maintaining transparent accountability.

Our Founding

In early March 2022, an anti-Asian and antisemitic social media incident involving Edina High School (EHS) students made the rounds online and gained Metro-wide attention. The Edina Public Schools (EPS) District’s initial response to the incident prompted a number of Asian Edina community responses and demands for timely and declarative action, including a public petition (submitted with approximately 450 signatories), an EHS student walkout (with approximately 200 student, parent, and community participants), as well as District-sponsored listening sessions, and on-the-ground communications.

From these experiences, momentum, and clear need for ongoing work, by April 2022, what was initially an informal, grassroots coalition of parents, students, and community members deeply invested in our Asian Edina youth, formalized as the Edina Asian American Alliance (EAAA), affiliated with the Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) to best partner with the District and the City.