Acclaimed Human Rights Advocate Chung-Wha Hong to Head Grassroots International

Human rights campaigner Chung-Wha Hong will soon join the Boston-based global justice organization Grassroots International as Executive Director. Ms. Hong served most recently as the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), which  during her tenure developed into one of the largest and most diverse statewide immigrant rights groups in the country and played a significant role with national policy.

“We are delighted to welcome  Chung-Wha to Grassroots International,” said Soya Jung, chair of the Board of Directors. “She brings proven leadership and management skills, and a profound understanding of and passion for social change and global justice.” Ms. Hong begins her new position in December.

The recipient of numerous awards, Ms. Hong was named by New York Magazine as one of the most Influential People in Politics. She has played a critical role in national coalitions that won President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which provided work permits and relief from deportation for young immigrants.

At NYIC Ms. Hong worked with a global diaspora of immigrants — many of whom fled poverty and violence in their homelands seeking  safety and opportunity in the United States. She worked tirelessly  to create those opportunities by empowering communities to win policy victories for civil rights, worker rights, and access to education and services. She now joins a global foundation that advocates for innovative, bottom-up economic development solutions in “sending” countries throughout the Global South.

“I look forward to joining Grassroots International and the amazing community of partners, supporters and activists,” Ms. Hong said. “Whether in Haiti or Brazil or Palestine, conflicts over access to and control of water, land, and food deepen global inequality, war, and migration. I’m honored to be leading an organization that supports effective, local solutions to these problems.”

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About Grassroots International
Grassroots International works in partnership with social movements to create a just and sustainable world by advancing the human rights to land, water, and food through global grantmaking, building solidarity across organizations and movements, and advocacy in the United States.  Grassroots International envisions a world in which a universal commitment to the health and wellbeing of the earth and all its peoples, fueled by successful global movements for economic and climate justice, has transformed production practices, consumption patterns, and economic and social relations to ones based on sustainability, equity, and the rights to land, food, and water.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Grassroots International works globally, with core partnerships with rural, indigenous and women-led organizations and movements in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.