NAPAWF’s Mission

Founded in 1995, NAPAWF’s mission is to build a movement to advance social justice and human rights for Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women and girls in the United States. NAPAWF implements our mission by increasing the leadership, political power and visibility of API women and girls through community and public education, advocacy, collaboration, and grassroots multi-issue organizing.

NAPAWF Priorities

NAPAWF’s current priorities are to expand the membership and visibility of the organization by building our grassroots membership, supporting strong chapters, and continuing to advocate and organize on policies that affect the lives of API women and girls. Having completed a strategic plan in 2008, as well as a successful leadership transition, the organization is poised to take advantage of the current political moment to expand our influence and profile.

Board Responsibilities

Board members are crucial to the success of the organization. NAPAWF’s board members are expected to serve a term of three years. The focus of the board of directors is on governance and fund development. Members are expected to participate on bimonthly conference calls, and two face-to-face meetings a year.

In addition, members are expected to fundraise, serve on at least one committee, and act as ambassadors for NAPAWF.

NAPAWF has identified a few specific skills that we hope to bring onto the board:

• Strategic communication skills: NAPAWF seeks board member with media and communications experience who can help expand NAPAWF’s message to wider audiences.
• Public policy skills: NAPAWF seeks a board member with progressive policy expertise, economic justice focus a plus.

NAPAWF also seeks a diverse board and strongly encourages applications from those outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, and/or those of South East Asian, South Asian, Japanese, Hapa, or Pacific Islander ethnicities and/or those who identify as LGBTQ.

Timeline:

• Nominations are due by April 1, 2013, download your 2013 NAPAWF NGB Board Nominations – Template
• Information sessions and interviews in April and May.
• National Governing Board approves board candidates in June.
• New board members are expected to attend the board member orientation and board meeting in summer 2013.

To be nominated, please submit a completed nominations form to boardnominations@napawf.org. You are absolutely free to, and invited to, nominate yourself!

If you have any questions, please contact:
Sui Lang, Board Member, at boardnominations@napawf.org

For immediate release:
Jan. 10, 2013

Washington, D.C.–The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is dismayed that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was not reauthorized in the 112^thCongress. The Senate’s 2012 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act would have extended protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking to 30 million LGBT individuals, undocumented immigrants, and Native American women.

It is imperative that the expanded bipartisan Senate version of the bill is passed. This version includes increased protections for immigrant, tribal, and LGBT survivors of violence. Among these protections are housing, campus and sexual assault provisions, and enhanced services and explicit programs for communities of color.

API women are disproportionately impacted by domestic and sexual violence and have multi-layered needs. API immigrant women experience intimate partner violence at high rates; studies have found that 60% of immigrant Korean women, and 53% of Vietnamese refugee women have experienced domestic violence by their partner.¹ Studies have also found an increased risk in intimate partner violence in couples who have immigrated to the United States. However, in many API communities, silence around this issue leaves it unaddressed. For API women, the Senate VAWA bill provides important services, including culturally competent resources, language translation services, and increased protections for immigrant victims regardless of status.

In particular, the Senate bill includes provisions that protect victims regardless of their immigration status and raises the cap on U-Visa opportunities for immigrant victims. API women make up a large portion of immigrants; nearly 40% of all immigrants to the U.S. come from Asia and 1.2 million of them are undocumented. As a result, U-Visas are particularly important to API women. U-Visas grant victims of violence and their close relatives temporary legal status and work eligibility. They permit immigrant survivors, often intimidated or threatened into silence, to testify against their attackers without fear that they will be deported for speaking out.

Unfortunately, House leadership opposed raising the U-Visa cap as well as other basic protections to certain vulnerable populations by permitting VAWA to expire. VAWA was first passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized continuously until now. It is unconscionable that Congress did not reauthorize VAWA, and the time to remedy that is now.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Christine Poquiz, cpoquiz@napawf.org

Richmond, VA— On Friday, January 18, 2013, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) celebrated the defeat of Virginia’s HB 1316. If passed, the bill would have criminalized doctors for performing sex-selective abortions. The Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Courts and Justice held a hearing on HB 1316 in its Constitutional Law Subcommittee. The subcommittee voted unanimously to not proceed with the bill.

Executive Director Miriam Yeung stated, “This bill was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and we are thrilled it died in committee with unanimous bi-partisan opposition. This sends a message that when API women embrace our power and raise our voices, we will be heard.”

Shivana Jorawar, NAPAWF’s Reproductive Justice Program Director, delivered testimony at the hearing about how the bill would affect Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) women. She stated, “We are happy this underhanded bill did not pass. We cannot promote equality for women by taking away their rights. This bill was not about empowering women. It was about limiting our right to self-determine whether and when to have children.”

NAPAWF is thankful to its members and allies from Virginia and across the country who helped defeat this measure by calling Virginia legislators and expressing opposition.

Friends,
We need you to call Virginia legislators NOW to tell them to oppose HB 1316, an anti-Asian abortion ban almost identical to the one we defeated at the federal level.
We just learned that HB 1316, VA Delegate Bob Marshall’s sex selective abortion ban, is moving forward in the VA House of Delegates and will be considered tomorrow in their House Committee on Courts and Justice, Constitutional Law Subcommittee.

A quick summary of the measure: If passed, the ban would criminalize doctors for performing a sex selective abortion. This sounds good, but we know it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It purports to further gender equity when it is really about chipping away at abortion rights. Worse, it exploits stereotypes about the Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) community, who bill proponents say are seeking such abortions. We know that a woman’s choice to have an abortion is a private matter, not a decision for government to interefere in. We know banning abortion is NOT the way to end son preference. The real solution is promoting gender equality so sons and daughters have the same opportunities– with measures like equal pay, leadership development, and access to education. To learn more, read Executive Director Miriam Yeung’s RH Reality Check and Huffington Post articles and her federal congressional testimony.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!

We’re asking you to call Virginia House Courts Committee legislators TODAY and TOMORROW MORNING to make sure they know this is an attack on women and the API community.

Below are the names and numbers of legislators you should call, along with a suggested script.
Delegate Albo (804) 698-1042 Delegate Kilgore (804) 698-1001
Delegate Loupassi (804) 698-1068 Delegate Villanueva (804) 698-1021
Delegate Habeeb (804) 698-1008 Delegate Morris (804) 698-1064
Delegate Watts (804) 698-1039 Delegate McClellan(804) 698-1071
Delegate Toscano (804) 698-1057

SCRIPT:

Hi my name is ________________. I am calling to ask you to OPPOSE HB 1316, Delegate Bob Marshall’s Sex Selective Abortion Ban.

This is an anti-woman, and Anti-Asian bill. It criminalizes doctors for performing sex selective abortions. This sounds good, but is really a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” It claims to be about gender equity when it’s really an underhanded, discriminatory way to chip away at abortion rights.

If the bill passes, all women will have their reasons for seeking abortion put under scrutiny. Asian American women, or any woman that looks Asian, may be racially profiled by their doctor and have their decisions scrutinized in a way other women would not. Asian American women already face health disparities. We don’t need a bill that makes it harder for us to get quality, non-judgmental health care.

Please oppose this bill.

Thank you!,

The NAPAWF Team

In 2008, 6 million Americans did not vote because they missed a registration deadline or did not know how to register. In comparison to any other racial/ethnic group, the Asian community has the largest voter registration deficit. This year, we want to make sure that no one is left out. Click on the logo above to register today! We want your voice to be heard!

2012 Salon Week of Action a Success!

Today, after much anticipation, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) applauds the U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The only exception was on a provision requiring states to comply with Medicaid expansion or risk losing existing funding. The Court held that states must be able to opt out without a penalty.

Signed into law in 2010, the ACA has been one of President Obama’s chief domestic successes and will ensure meaningful access to quality, affordable, and culturally and linguistically competent health care for many Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) women. NAPAWF, a long-time supporter of the ACA, celebrates today’s Supreme Court ruling.

“This is truly a victory for API women. For us, the ACA brings health equity within closer reach,” said Miriam Yeung, Executive Director of NAPAWF. The ACA bans insurance companies from discriminating against women by charging them higher premiums for “pre-existing conditions,” including pregnancy, C-sections, breast and cervical cancer, or being a survivor of domestic or sexual violence. For API women, who suffer from high rates of cervical cancer and 46-61 percent of whom have faced domestic violence, this provision is a major advancement.

In addition, the ACA’s nondiscrimination provision will protect people of color and LGBT patients from discrimination in health care. The law will also ensure better data collection to accurately track the health needs of the diverse API community, expand the ability of community health centers to reach underserved APIs, and ensure access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services. Thanks to today’s decision, it is estimated that 2 million APIs will gain health insurance and one in ten Asian Americans and one in eight Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders will gain Medicaid coverage.

Unfortunately, the law falls short of providing for every API woman. The Medicaid expansion provision does not cover permanent residents with less than five years’ residency or undocumented immigrants. “Though NAPAWF is celebrating today, we must work to ensure there is true fairness in our health care system, and that every API woman is reached,” said Yeung.

ACA TWEET CHAT! Please join us and a powerful coalition of allied organizations for our ACA Decision Tweet Chat tomorrow on Friday from 2p.m.-3:30p.m. EST to learn more about what this decision means for women in our community. Follow us @NAPAWF and use #HealthJustice to join the discussion!

To learn more about API women and health reform, read NAPAWF’s issue brief and this Harvard Asian American Policy Review article from NAPAWF sisters Christine Harley and Keely Monroe.

Click here to see Jenny Ton, NAPAWF sister, telling her personal story of how health care impacts her family.

U.S. Supreme Court Renders Mixed Decision on Harsh Immigration Law

Court upholds “papers, please” provision, strikes down others

WASHINGTON — Today the United States Supreme Court rendered a mixed decision, striking down portions of SB 1070, one of the harshest and most criticized immigration laws in the country, while leaving others intact. Notably, the Court upheld the “papers, please” provision of the law, which requires local law enforcement to stop and question anyone who appears to be an immigrant and has widely been interpreted as encouraging racial profiling. Many civil rights leaders and immigration experts have predicted the Arizona law would promote stigma and bias against Latinas and women immigrants, leaving them more vulnerable to crimes like intimate partner violence and less likely to seek needed services like prenatal care. Today the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR) expresses grave concern that even partially upheld SB 1070 is a major setback for women immigrants.

“Women immigrants are making enormous social and economic contributions in communities across the United States,” said Jessica González-Rojas, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), one of the two organizations that lead NCIWR. “Laws like SB 1070 completely ignore this reality — and reflect a broken system that leaves women in the shadows. That’s why we are committed to working toward comprehensive immigration reform.”

The Supreme Court’s decision is crucial, as it is likely to inform immigration laws in states across the country. Already lawmakers in about a dozen states have said they would seek to propose laws similar to SB 1070 if the court upheld its key provisions.

“SB 1070, even with some provisions removed, threatens to tear families apart and create a dangerous level of mistrust between law enforcement and women immigrants who fear detention,” said Miriam Yeung, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), an NCIWR co-leading organization. “By upholding one of the most harmful provisions of the law, the U.S. Supreme Court has set a dangerous precedent.”

Today’s Supreme Court decision on Arizona’s SB 1070 comes as we await the high court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration’s landmark health care reform legislation. Together, these decisions will have a profound impact on the health and well-being of Latinas and immigrant communities.

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The National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights is the leading national collaboration to specifically focus on women and gender issues in the public discourse on immigration. The coalition represents more than 60 leading organizations with a presence nationally and in every state.