Dennis Chin serves as Director of Communications at the new Race Forward. The new Race Forward is the union of two leading racial justice non-profit organizations: Race Forward and Center for Social Inclusion (CSI). In this role, Dennis crafts and applies the new Race Forward’s overall communications strategy, encompassing both media relations and digital media. Dennis also manages and curates the new Race Forward’s media content, which includes reports, op-eds, newsletters, blogs, social media copy, and web copy.
Dennis has secured placements for the organization in The Washington Post, ABC News, The Associated Press, The Guardian-US, Al-Jazeera America, The Nation, Salon, BET.com, theGrio.com, YES! Magazine, and more. Dennis also has secured and managed CSI’s multiple appearances on MSNBC, including Morning Joe, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, and All in with Chris Hayes. Additionally, Dennis helped CSI appear on CNN’s Amanpour, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and local stations associated with America’s Radio News Network. Through this work, Dennis has become a trainer and personal coach for colleagues and partners who regularly appear or are looking to appear as media spokespeople.
In addition, Dennis serves as an organizational trainer/presenter, specializing in 1) the basics of structural racial inequity and 2) communicating effectively about structural racial inequity. Some of the organizations that he has trained/worked with include Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP), Arcus Foundation, Kresge Foundation, The California Endowment, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL), National College Access Network, Council of Michigan Foundations, Grantmakers in the Arts, and the United States Breastfeeding Committee.
Outside of CSI, Dennis is a member and former Co-Chair of the Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY). At GAPIMNY, Dennis grew the organization’s leadership, helped launch the Asian Pride Project, and deepened volunteer engagement on issues of race, gender and sexuality. As a result of his work, he was awarded the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance’s (NQAPIA) Community Catalyst Award in 2015.
Dennis also serves on the Board of Directors of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, an organization that builds grassroots community power across working-class Asian immigrants and youth in New York City. A five-year member of the Board, he currently serves as its Co-Chair.
Program Areas:
Selected Blogs:
- 4/10/15- Eyes on the “Real” Prize: Applying Pressure Beyond Election Day in Ferguson
- 2/3/15 – After Selma: The Story of George Wallace
- 10/30/14 – Red Hook Rising: Internet Freedom Two Years After Sandy
- 9/5/14 – “Hardly any of my best friends are Black” – A Structural Perspective
- 5/2/14 – How Race Matters Beyond Donald Sterling
