The Very Asian Foundation

We are journalist founded, non-partisan, and we believe in solving problems.

VAF's signature project is The May Book Project, an Asian American youth guide for all readers, a program that has directly impacted nearly 10,000 students from St. Louis to Seattle. It launched in May 2022 alongside We Need Diverse Books, the Asian Author Alliance, Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, and national scholars. High schoolers inspired the project after their schools ignored their requests to buy more Asian American books in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. The May Book Project provides a free toolkit, resource guide, and booklist of about 250 books of high-quality, vetted Asian American literature. The Very Asian Foundation then gives free books to at-need libraries. VAF has worked with libraries in Atlanta, Henderson, NC, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Seattle, St. Louis, and St. Paul and has hundreds of requests in cue. It's been embraced in each state because this project emphasizes choice and celebration.

VAF also launched the Creators Microgrant program in January 2023 to help AANHPIs pivot careers. Dr. Kat Lieu leads the committee; she left healthcare to launch a passionate community of bakers during the height of the pandemic. ABC News named her a changemaker in 2022.