Our Lives Our Power

  • Made By CUP With:
  • Community Partners
  • Tags:
  • Democracy

A guide that explains the different levels of government and how people can get involved to make change in their community.

A CPC staff member speaks to community members at their City Advocacy Day rally where they launched the guide.

The government regulates a lot of the issues we care about – how much affordable housing there is and what it costs, which neighborhoods have parks and where they are, and what the minimum wage is, among other things. But if you want to change or influence what’s happening in these issues, it’s not always clear what to do or who to reach out to.

That’s why the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) teamed up with CUP and designers Shelby Rashap, Maria Useche, and Pamela Wang to create Our Lives Our Power. The guide breaks down the different levels of government and who holds decision-making power within each level. It also folds open to a poster that shows community members steps they can take to influence government decisions and some important wins that have come from organizing on the local, state, and federal levels.

Our Lives, Our Power! launched at CPC’s annual City Advocacy Day where they rallied in front of City Hall for better services and funding for their communities. CPC is distributing the guide during their advocacy trainings as well as through their direct services and programs at their community centers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. They are also sharing it with their network of advocacy partners across the city.

The project team discusses an early layout of the poster.
A community member gives feedback on an early design draft.

Check out the Project

The cover and poster spread of Our Lives Our Power

Project Collaborators

Community Partner

Chinese-American Planning Council

Ashley Chen
Carlyn Cowen
Frances Huang
Edwin Tablada
Amy Torres
Howard Wong


Special Thanks

Angelina Acosta, Sau Ling Chau, HongXia Chen, Jie Ling Chen, Wan Mei Chen, Di Fan, Jacqueline Fan, Yadira Flores, Elsa Huang, Xue Nong Hui, Jin, Emily Lai, Elba Leon, Avery Li, Carrie Liu, Lina Liu, Xin Ru Liu, Mei, Raymond Ng, Anna Ni, Nusrat Nigar, Qing, Jennifer Sim, Yu Mei Wang, XinYue Weng, Anna Xie, Chuanlin Yang, Samuel Zhang, Annie Zhao, and Fanny Zheng

Product Details

8″ × 11″ color pamphlet; unfolds to 22″ × 32″ poster

Funding Support

Support for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

General support for CUP’s programs is provided in part by The Kresge Foundation, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.