Sandra Yi-Ting Chen

Sandra Chen is the first and current Executive Director of CAUSE-Vision 21, a nonprofit organization with a mission to advance political empowerment of Asian Americans.

Sandra organized and staffed over hundreds of voter registration drives to encourage the immigrant community to participate in the democratic process.  To date, CAUSE-Vision 21 registered over 20,000 Asian Americans, mailed out over 10,000 bilingual voter information materials, and called over 5,000 Asian American voters to get out and vote.  Furthermore, Sandra developed outreach programs to encourage seniors and college students to coordinate their own voter registration efforts and empower their own peers and colleagues.

Sandra spearheaded a statewide multilingual toll free hotline to answer election and voting related questions from immigrants who were not familiar with the electoral process.  During the past five years, CV 21 Hotline received and assisted over 8,000 callers with election inquiries. 

Sandra expanded a local internship program to a statewide program that included Asian American college students from Southern California and Northern California.  She organized a Sacramento conference to provide students opportunities to meet and to speak with state legislators so that students can understand the political process first hand.  She serves as the political commentator on Chinese language radio and television stations (she speaks fluent Mandarin & Cantonese) to answer questions about the election process.  

As the chief executive of CAUSE-Vision 21, Sandra has worked to increase the organization's budget, programs, staff size and visibility.  In addition to her work duties, Sandra serves as the Director of Mentorship for the Asian Professional Exchange (APEX) and she sits on the Advisory boards of the San Gabriel Valley YMCA and the Make A Wish Foundation-San Gabriel Valley. She is an active member of League of Women Voters-Greater Pasadena.  The League received a National Diversity Award for its collaborative work with CAUSE-Vision 21.

Recognizing her potential, UCLA awarded Sandra with a fellowship to attend graduate school in urban planning. She is also a graduate of the Southern California Leadership Network of the CORO Foundation.  In 2002, politicalcircus.com named Sandra as one of the Top 30 Most Influential Individuals Under 30 Years of Age.

Sandra received her B.A. in Political Science and a Minor in Chinese Literature from University of California Riverside, and is currently obtaining a Master's Degree at UCLA's Department of Urban Planning. She grew up in Monterey Park, attended Brightwood Elementary School, and graduated from Alhambra High School.

Contact address: 260 S. Los Robles Ave., #118, Pasadena, CA 91101. Web site: http://www.cv21.org