New CPA Director Has Been Organizing Since a Teen

When Irene Jor first applied to the Chinese Progressive Association, she was a teenager who even at a young age was already interested in advocacy, especially around domestic violence prevention.

She ultimately wasn’t accepted into the CPA youth program, Jor said. “But they always stayed in my mind.”

Now, after years of organizing, volunteering and advocacy work in Boston, New York, Miami and even Thailand, Jor is leading the group. She was recently appointed as CPA’s new executive director, after coming on board a few years ago and following the departure of Karen Chen.

Irene Jor; Courtesy photo.

Jor says her familiarity with the city and surrounding communities that have become hubs of Asian American immigration, combined with her activism, will help her in the new role at CPA.

“My mom’s side of the family started off living in Castle Square, so I went to Head Start there as a child and I joined the swim team at the Josiah Quincy School. But as soon as my parents had the opportunity to become homeowners, they bought a home here in Malden,” she said, noting she was born and raised in the area. She attended middle school and high school at a charter school in Hyde Park.

“Growing up, I really identified with many different neighborhoods in the Greater Boston area,” she said.

In high school, Jor became active in domestic violence prevention advocacy and organizing. She was also involved with the City Year program. After high school she went to Miami to work with the AmeriCorps community service program.

She later participated in a Stanford in Government Fellowship at the International Labor Organization in 2010, which took her to the Bangkok United Nations headquarters.

Afterward, she became involved in labor and community organizing and social justice issues.

The daughter of immigrant parents, Jor worked for six years advocating and organizing for domestic care workers in New York with the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Eventually she became the New York director of the group. She was also involved with United for Respect.

Advocating for domestic workers rights has long been a passion of Jor, who said she has worked to get both quality care for parents, the elderly and disabled, while also pushing for better working conditions for those providing the help.

Around three years ago, Jor, a Stanford grad, became the interim organizing and political director and development consultant at CPA.

“Honestly,” she told Sampan, “I feel like I’ve always been around organizing.”