Celebrating Our Heritage For One Month Isn’t Enough, We Must Take Action Year Round

NAPAWF
3 min readJun 24, 2021

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Here are 6 Easy Ways to Make an Impact in the AAPI Community

May was Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. As we move through the rest of the year, it’s important to remember that our community needs your help more than ever, not just in May, but all year long. Here are 6 quick ways to make a meaningful impact in the AAPI Community:

1) SUPPORT

Apna Ghar provides critical, comprehensive, culturally competent services, and conducts outreach and advocacy across communities to end gender violence.

Asian/Pacific Islander DVRP is working to end domestic violence and sexual assault in Asian/Pacific Islander communities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Daya empowers South Asian survivors of domestic and sexual violence through culturally specific services and educates the community to end the cycle of abuse.

EPIC promotes social justice by engaging Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities through culturally relevant advocacy, research, and leadership development

HEART Women and Girls is a national non-profit organization that works to ensure that Muslims have the language, resources and choice to nurture sexual health and confront sexual violence.

KAN-WIN provides comprehensive services to those affected by gender-based violence, working within the larger community towards women’s empowerment.

National CAPACD is a progressive coalition of local organizations that advocate for and organize in low-income AAPI communities and neighborhoods.

Pilipino Worker Center aims to secure the dignity and safety of the Pilipinx community in Southern California and build labor leaders in the domestic worker industry.

SEARAC is a national civil rights organization that empowers Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese American communities to create a socially just and equitable society.

2) SPEAK UP

Together, we can show our strength:

  • To confront lawmakers over how they cannot lose sight of AAPI women and girls’ needs
  • To be bold about how we are not a monolith and not your model minority
  • To refuse to be silent about how policy change cannot occur in silos because we do not lead siloed lives
  • To tell the truth about how simply upholding laws while losing sight of people won’t be enough for us

3) TAKE ACTION

Keep the pressure on lawmakers and don’t allow them to lose sight of AAPI women and girls’ needs. Because of your voice, the movement to pass the HEAL for Immigrant Families Act — Health Equity and Access Under the Law is growing. Help us make the case that health care access shouldn’t depend on your immigration status: www.napawf.org/heal

4) JOIN

Become a member of NAPAWF at www.napawf.org/membership. NAPAWF is a membership organization that develops leaders for our fight for policy and cultural change. In this moment of community and heightened visibility for Asian American and Pacific Islander women, it is more important than ever that we are all able to grow as leaders without financial barriers.

5) DONATE

Make a donation to support NAPAWF, the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian and Pacific Islander women and girls in the U.S., at www.napawf.org/donate.

6) VOTE

NAPAWF brings Asian American and Pacific Islander women together to share our stories and take action to make change. Because of our race, ethnicity, country of origin, gender or sexual identity, and other elements of our identities, people in power often choose not to see or hear us. But we also have power in each and every one of us and every election is an opportunity for our community to come together and exercise that power collectively. Check your voter registration status here: www.napawf.org/vote/confirm

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NAPAWF

NAPAWF is focused on building power with AAPI women and girls to influence critical decisions that affect our lives, our families and our communities.