AFIRE's Mission

   AFIRE’s mission is to build the capacity of Filipino American community to effect social change through popular education, service, civic engagement and research. AFIRE takes inspiration from the United Nation’s "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world."

  The mission draws motivation from Robert F. Kennedy’s insight on hope and individual act of change and Lao Tzu’s concept of leadership. AFIRE’s daringness to stand up for human rights and social justice echoes RFK’s optimism on the eventual victory of good over evil when he said, “Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends tiny ripples of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest of oppression and resistance.”

  On the other hand, AFIRE’s confidence in people’s power is articulated in Lao Tzu’s concept of leadership as he instructively said, “Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, “We have done this ourselves”.”  

   The mission takes off from its history and praxis. AFIRE was launched on January 21, 2006 to oppose the House approved anti-immigrant bill of “The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437).” The bill was foiled in the U.S. Senate because of its heinous intention to criminalize not only the undocumented immigrants but also individuals and organizations whose only vocation is to help people in need. Thereafter, AFIRE has been working on promoting immigrant rights within the framework of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. AFIRE has mobilized Filipino Americans in joining marches and freedom rides sponsored by the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Refugees. 

   AFIRE has held educational forums about immigrant and human rights, comprehensive immigration reform, Filipino migration history, immigrant history of the U.S., and Project Civic Reflections on civic engagement such as leading, serving, giving, and associating. 

   AFIRE's grassroots education, action, and research (gear) strategies are “community-grown” and culturally-appropriate that enable AFIRE to work with community members in ways that resonate with them and thus increase the likelihood of active civic participation in responding to the numerous opportunities, challenges,and threats that they may confront.
  AFIRE stands as a dynamic group that provides collateral material
through human resource and involvement. It continuously seeks to uplift
and upgrade the status of a Filipino immigrant in his own ethnic group
and in the larger mainstream of American society.
  Whereas AFIRE is primarily structured as an alliance, it functions with an open chassis in both its outgoing and incoming strategic operations. Participants of this alliance are simultaneously involved with other organizational structures such as faith based initiatives (Catholic Bishops Initiative through the Archdiocese of Chicago), not-for-profit organizations (e.g. Fellowship of Filipino Immigrant Workers, Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII), Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR)) and other community organizing activities (e.g. Albany Park Neighborhood Council).