National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (U.S.)

At the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Asian and Pacific Islander American female activists at the non-governmental organization (NGO) forums realized they had no organized voice for participating officially in the conference, and, although each of them as individuals had worked long and hard on their respective issues (safety, economic justice, reproductive rights, equal educational access, health, immigrant and refugee rights, civil rights and LGBTQ rights) their work was not linked in any sustained or meaningful way back home in the United States. While in Beijing, one hundred women came together over two caucuses and pledged to build and sustain a national, progressive, multi-issue movement of Asian Pacific American women in the United States when they returned home; subsequently, NAPAWF was founded in September 1996, in Los Angeles, California. Several regional chapters were formed, as was the National Transition Team (an interim leadership body), comprised of representatives from different regions; platform issue areas were identified and articulated; and Fundraising, Media/Communications, Membership/Outreach, and Governance committees were formed. In 1997, NAPAWF became a project of the Tides Center (an organization that provides back-office services, a legal framework, and capacity-building support for projects that share its vision of a just, healthy, and sustainable world). In 1998, the NAPAWF National Summit was held in Minnesota, where platform issues were ratified and governance procedures were established. From 1997 to 2001, NAPAWF had several part-time coordinators based in California: Milyoung Cho, Christine Balance, Jenny Lin and Judy Han. In April 2003, the organization established the national office in Washington, DC and hired Kiran Ahuja as its first national director. Ahuja served until 2008, when Miriam Young assumed the position. NAPAWF actively pursues the following platforms: civil rights (including LGBT rights), economic justice, educational access, ending violence against women (including trafficking), health and reproductive freedom, and immigrant and refugee rights.

Advocacy group