#APAHM 2019: Four Asian Pacific Islander Health Organizations You Should Know
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) is a time to reflect on all of the unique experiences of Asian Pacific Islanders (APIs) living in the United States. This month, we proudly share the contributions of four Asian American (AA), Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (NHPI) health organizations whose missions help to ensure AA and NHPI communities across the nation receive access to affordable, high-quality, and culturally proficient health care.
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)
The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum is a community-based non-profit that addresses civil rights, economic justice, educational access, ending violence against women, health, and immigrant and refugee rights in API communities. Founded in 1996 by over 150 “founding sisters,”—following a United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing—the forum currently has fifteen chapters across the United States that partner with like organizations working to support women’s health including: the Affordable Care Act Implementation, which helps to ensure access to health care for immigrants as well as access to comprehensive reproductive health care for women; and the Young Women's Collaborative, which works to empower women undergraduates to develop and lead community-based research and campaigns around women's sexual health issues.
Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF)
For over 30 years, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum has devoted itself to influencing policy, mobilizing communities, and strengthening programs and organizations to improve the well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders across the nation. The organization is headquartered in Oakland, CA and has a policy office in Washington, DC. As the oldest and largest national health advocacy organization working with AA and NHPI people, the APIAHF works to connect political influencers with API communities by providing political analysis, research and data support, and effective communications strategies to health policy and social justice organizations. APIAHF makes certain that AA and NHPI voices and faces are recognized in the political realm and helps them to advance the health policies that best serve their needs.
The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)
The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations is a national association representing community health organizations dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration, and leadership that improves the health status and access of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Since its establishment in 1987, AAPCHO has advocated for underserved and underinsured AA and NHPI communities through the development of health education and promotion programs and by providing technical assistance, training, data, and resources to community health centers and other community-based organizations. Current AAPCHO projects provide AA and NHPI communities with comprehensive primary care in over 25 languages to over 300,000 people in California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community (APIQWTC)
Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women Transgender Community is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization in the San Francisco Bay Area that provides opportunities for Asian and Pacific Islander queer women and transgender people to socialize, network, build community, engage in inter-generational organizing, and increase community visibility. APIQWTC grew out of the API Lunar New Year Banquet, founded in 1987, by a small group of queer and transgender Asian women and was officially founded in 1999 as a new hub for established and new community groups to exchange news and coordinate projects in the Bay Area. Over time, the APIQWTC evolved from a network to a community organization. Today, it’s a space for "many queer women and transgender Asians [who] live in the closet in fear of losing their family and community."