COMMUNITY ADVOCACY

Community-Centered Collaboration

CAPI works hand-in-hand with the community to align resources, amplify voices, and build services no single organization could create alone. By co-designing programs with community members, cultural leaders, and local partners, CAPI ensures every service is grounded in lived experience and built to last.

Through our food and nutrition programs, we promote healthy communities, partnerships, community involvement and volunteerism.

Food & Nutrition Services

Food Shelf

  • CAPI’s food shelf serves all those in need by providing culturally specific foods and fresh fruits and vegetables. Participants shop for the groceries that best fit their dietary and family needs through a client choice shopping model. While CAPI’s building is under construction, the food shelf will move to a temporary location! 

    Starting June 10, 2025, the food shelf will be located at the Shingle Creek Center (6064 Shingle Creek Pkwy, Brooklyn Center). Our fresh produce distributions will also take place at that location.

  • Food Shelf Hours

    OPEN:

    Tuesdays – 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

    Wednesdays and Thursdays – 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

    (the food shelf is closed from 12:00 p.m. – 1 p.m. for lunch)

    CLOSED: Mondays and Friday

  • Food Shelf Info:

    To ensure equitable access to items in the food shelf, CAPI assists 40 individuals/families a day during its open hours (Tues – Thurs). Call 651-392-4685 or email Mayly Xiong for information on the food shelf program.

    No appointment is needed. At your first visit you will fill our registration paperwork, afterwards you may return to the food shelf once per calendar month. You may bring a form of identification with you but it is not a requirement.

    We highly suggest calling before your visit to ensure we have not reached our 40 person capacity for that day.

    Call our main line at 612.721.0122 and press (0) to verify current capacity.

  • Eligibility:

    • Minnesota Resident

    • Household income at or below 300% of the federal poverty guidelines

Fresh Food Summer Distributions

This year CAPI’s FREE fresh produce distributions will be Tuesdays the 2nd and 4th week of the month at the Shingle Creek Center, 6064 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center!

Fresh Produce Distribution Dates for 2025:

July: July 8th, July 22nd

August: August 12th, August 26th

September: September 9th, September 23rd

October: October 7th

Community Gardens

CAPI operates 20 community garden plots off-site in North Minneapolis. These gardens create access to and utilization of affordable, healthy, fresh, and culturally suitable food for Hmong, Laotian, and other Southeast Asian immigrant families.

In Spring 2027, CAPI will unveil 40 new community gardens as part of our Immigrant Opportunity Center expansion. These vibrant, on-site spaces will serve as gathering places for community members to heal, grow, and share cultural foods and traditions.

Interested in learning more about our new gardens or donating one in your name? Visit our Capital Campaign page to get involved.

Nutrition Assistance Program for Seniors (NAPS)

CAPI is a satellite distribution site for the Nutrition Assistance Program for Seniors (NAPS), which is Minnesota’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program. This is a USDA program administered by the Minnesota Department of Health. The program is designed to provide a monthly box of healthy and nutritious foods to low-income individuals over the age of 60 at no cost.

Eligibility:

  • Over age 60

  • Meet income guidelines

  • Prepare your own meals (not living in a facility that provides meals)

  • Participants are required to provide recently postmarked mail with name and address, knowledge of current gross monthly household income, and picture ID.

Health & Human Services

CAPI is committed to improving the well-being of immigrant and refugee communities in Minnesota by offering comprehensive support to individuals and families as they adjust to their new lives. We provide essential resources in healthcare, senior and caregiver support, cultural enrichment, and social services.

Community Health

CAPI is dedicated to improving community health through a variety of services, including vaccine clinics, health screenings, and personalized support from our community health navigators. Our outreach programs help connect individuals with essential healthcare resources, while our food and nutrition services promote healthy living. By combining these efforts, we strive to build stronger, healthier communities where everyone has the support they need to thrive.

Hmong Seniors & Caregiver Support

CAPI’s Hmong Seniors and Caregiver Support Program is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Hmong seniors and assisting their caregivers in fostering independence and well-being. This program connects both seniors and caregivers to essential community resources, enabling seniors to remain in their homes and avoid long-term nursing home placements. CAPI senior advocates help Hmong seniors access critical benefits like senior housing, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and energy assistance, while our bilingual staff provide interpretation and translation services to ensure smooth navigation of housing, medical, and financial services. Additionally, the program supports caregivers of Hmong older adults and individuals with disabilities by offering coaching, counseling, and resources that help them manage the economic, social, and medical challenges of caregiving, ultimately improving the quality of life for both caregivers and those they care for.

Services Include:

  • Person-centered case management

  • Transportation for shopping, medical appointments, and other activities

  • Social and educational program activities

  • Coaching and counseling for caregivers

  • Access assistance to support services

Through this comprehensive support, CAPI strives to create a stronger, more sustainable care network for Hmong seniors and their families.

Social Services for New Americans

  • The Family Resource Connections program helps participants address immediate and long-term needs through personalized case management and connections to community resources. Services include assessing household needs, providing support for tasks like housing searches or childcare, and offering transportation or other assistance for educational and social activities.

    Eligibility: 

    • Must be present in the U.S. with an immigration status eligible for ORR programs and services (subject to changes in federal eligibility designations).

    • Must be a resident of Minnesota.

    • Eligible immigration status must be held for less than five years (60 months), either from the date of U.S. entry or from the date an eligible status or federal eligibility was granted.

  • CAPI’s Afghan Housing Stability Program aims to provide both emergency and long-term housing stability services to eligible Afghan arrivals, ensuring they can secure and maintain stable housing. The program offers rental subsidies for qualifying households and intensive case management support designed to increase household income for housing payments and reduce costs by identifying affordable housing options and connecting families to available community resources.

    Eligibility:

    • Must be Afghan nationals residing in Minnesota.

    • Must meet eligibility criteria outlined in ORR PL 22-01 for Afghan Humanitarian Parolees and Unaccompanied Afghan Minors.

    • Households must not be receiving rental or housing assistance from any of the following programs:

      • The federal Sponsor Circle program

      • Reception and Placement services through a local resettlement agency

      • The Matching Grant (MG) program

      • The Preferred Communities Intensive Case Management (PC-ICM) or GAPS program

      • Other community resources

Hmong Folk Choir

The Hmong Folk Choir is a vibrant, culturally rooted program that brings together Hmong seniors—especially those experiencing signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s—for joyful connection, self-expression, and community. Drawing on the deep tradition of folk music as a way of preserving and sharing Hmong history, the chorus offers an uplifting space where familiar songs spark memories, lift spirits, and create moments of togetherness.


The choir meets every Thursday and holds four performances throughout the year. For more information, reach out to nancy.lor@capiusa.org.

Civic Engagement & Public Policy

CAPI engages and encourages Minnesota’s immigrants and refugees to get involved in problem-solving and decision-making on issues that matter to them.

Civic Engagement

CAPI works to empower new immigrants and refugees by increasing voter participation, advocating to make services more accessible to limited English speakers, and promoting immigrant and refugee input into publicly financed initiatives to ensure their voices are heard and gains are made.

Coalition Building

The systemic issues that face our immigrant and refugee communities are larger than CAPI or any other singular agency. At CAPI, we believe that in order to change systems we must work collaboratively and powerfully with other non-profits, to both organize the diverse communities of Minnesota and advocate for significant systemic changes.

CAPI serves on numerous coalitions that are pushing for systemic change alongside our communities. CAPI is a part of the leadership of the North Star Alliance. CAPI also serves on the Blue Line Coalition, Work Well MN, Nourish MN Coalition, Minnesota Alliance for Democracy, MN Leadership Council on Aging, and more.

CAPI is also a member organization of several national networks such as APIAVote, National CAPACD, and National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA).

Public Policy

CAPI seeks to center the voices of immigrants and refugees to advocate and advance policies that reflect the community’s needs and undoes harmful practices that hold inequities in place. We commit to responding to community needs, promoting equity-centered and anti-racist policies, developing leaders, and co-creating solutions with and for immigrant, refugee, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.


Register Online to Vote: https://mnvotes.sos.mn.gov/VoterRegistration/index