Samuel Chu is a community organizer.
Samuel is the founder and President of The Campaign for Hong Kong, which advocates for US and international leadership and policies that advance democracy and human rights for Hong Kongers and works at the nexus of anti-authoritarian and pro-human rights movements globally.
Since 2019, he has successfully campaigned for landmark US legislation such as the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and numerous other policies supporting Hong Kong. He also successfully advocated for US economic sanctions and visa bans on Chinese and Hong Kong officials and humanitarian protection such as Deferred Enforcement Deportation (DED) for Hong Kongers residing in the US.
In direct response, Hong Kong authorities issued arrest warrants against Samuel in July 2020, making him the first foreign citizen to be targeted under the city's National Security Law. In July 2021, he was sanctioned by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs under its new anti-sanctions law.
From 2019 to 2021, Samuel was the founder and managing director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC), the first-ever Washington, DC-based organization dedicated to Hong Kong and US-Hong Kong relations.
Samuel is a founding advisory board member of the Axel Springer Freedom Foundation in Berlin, Germany. He is also a trainer for Midwest Academy in the US, the "go-to" training school for community organizers for labor, women's rights, LGBTQI equality, the environment, racial justice, immigrant rights, corporate accountability, and many more issues.
Samuel is a frequent presenter and speaker at convenings like Forum 2000, Oslo Freedom Forum, #RealCollege, RightsCon, and for organizations such as Jewish World Watch, Pacific Council on International Policy, Freedom House, etc. He regularly testifies in front of the United States Congress and National Parliaments across Europe.
From 2011 to 2021, Samuel was the national organizer and senior advisor to the President and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. He organized a nationwide network of 900 synagogue partners and a growing political constituency that achieved numerous anti-hunger and anti-poverty legislative and policy victories at the state and national levels.
While at MAZON, Samuel organized the nation's first successful state legislative effort that exposed and banned "lunch shaming" in Minnesota. "Lunch shaming" is the practice whereby a student is denied a healthy, nutritious meal by school staff and workers because of their inability to pay or because of previously accrued debts. Students in these circumstances may be given an alternative meal (like half a cheese sandwich), be turned away, or even have their food taken and dumped in the trash. The campaign led to the expansion of free school meals for 62,000 additional low-income students in Minnesota and the nation's first statewide ban on all shaming practices by schools.
From 2009 to 2019, Samuel was a fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, where he engaged in research, writing, and teaching about community organizing, public leadership, and the role of religious institutions in social change.
In 2018, as a Special Advisor at Los Angeles Walks, Samuel spearheaded the campaign to secure passage of Assembly Bill 390, which ended predatory, unfair pedestrian "jaywalking" citations in California. He also helped to establish SoCal Families for Safe Streets to organize individuals and families who have lost loved ones or been severely injured in traffic crashes.
From 2016 to 2017, Samuel was the Director of the Civic Engagement Program for Murmuration. He oversaw a 16-school pilot to increase voter engagement and parent leadership by combining community organizing and civic tech. He organized a voting bloc of over 6,000 voters across partnering schools, registered over 2,000 new voters within the school communities, and boosted voter turnout among pilot schools to consistently outpace the state, county, city, and district turnout over five consecutive elections.
From 2004 to 2014, Samuel was the founding president of OneLA (Industrial Areas Foundation), one of the nation's largest community organizing networks. During his tenure, he helped to create the country’s most extensive community-based Affordable Care Act enrollment program and the first publicly funded mortgage principal reduction plan during the Great Recession.
From 2004 to 2014, Samuel was board president of 1010 Development Corporation, a pioneering leader in affordable housing development and neighborhood revitalization with 277 units across four historic Downtown Los Angeles neighborhoods.
From 2008 to 2011, Samuel served as the founding and executive director of California Faith for Equality and California Faith for Equality Action Fund. He was the first straight person to head a statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organization. Under his leadership, CFE filed landmark amicus briefs in state and federal courts that led to the legalization of same-sex marriage nationally in 2015. In 2011, Samuel was recognized by the City of Los Angeles with the LGBT Pride Award for his leadership in promoting and organizing religious support for LGBT civil rights and marriage equality.
Between 2006 to 2016, Samuel worked with consumer rights organizations like California Reinvestment Coalition and Consumer Watchdog to secure numerous critical regulatory reforms and consumer protections, including the Military Lending Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule on “Payday, Vehicle Title, and High-Cost Installment Loans,” and the end of “redlining” practices among auto insurance companies, etc. In 2013, Samuel was recognized by the City of Los Angeles for his efforts in the passage of its Responsible Banking Ordinance.
From 2002 to 2009, Samuel ministered at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, California. During that time, he organized parents and residents to successfully end overcrowding in the Los Angeles Unified School District by winning several bond measures totaling over $21 billion to fund school construction and modernization. The effort resulted in 130 new schools, including the 24-arce campus of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, located a block from the church, and upgrades at more than 300 existing campuses.
Samuel holds a BA in political science from UC San Diego and an M.Div. in Ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary.
A first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong, Samuel is the son of the Rev. Chu Yiu Ming, co-founder of Occupy Central, which led to the Umbrella Movement in 2014. The elder Chu was later tried, convicted, and sentenced on protest-related charges in 2019.