The Chinese Progressive Association is a grassroots community organization founded in Boston's Chinatown in 1977 to advocate "for full equity and empowerment of the Chinese community in the Greater Boston area and beyond." The focus of the Association was to provide Chinatown residents a forum for their concerns and a way to communicate their vision for the community to officials of the City and Commonwealth. The Association aimed to provide support for workers and immigrants, particularly new Asian immigrants, needing translation services or other support. The Association also organized community support for victims of anti-Chinese racial violence, lobbied the Commonwealth for unemployment forms and office support in Chinese and other Asian languages, worked to increase Chinese-American involvement in electoral politics, and raised awareness of the struggle of immigrant workers.

In the mid-1980s, the Association worked with laid-off workers from P & L Sportswear and Beverly Rose Sportswear to establish Commonwealth-funded bilingual retraining programs. This led to the founding of the Association's Workers' Center in 1987. In the 1990s, the Association was actively involved in the debate over the development of Parcel C in Chinatown. The Association continues its work on tenants' rights, workers' rights, political empowerment, and local Chinatown issues, including a campaign to re-establish a branch library in Chinatown and to secure the future of Chinese and Vietnamese bilingual ballots for Boston voters.

This portal makes accessible the digitized materials from the Chinese Progressive Association. You can browse or search them in the menu above. You can view the finding aid for the Chinese Progressive Association records here.