The following is a working list of organizations that work to advocate for, uplift, and protect Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander lives. Most of these resources were compiled from lists shared by: Jess X. Snow, RISE Indigenous, and Lisa Lowe. Recirculate freely and donate where possible.
AAPI Women Lead and the I’m Ready Movement: AAPI Women Lead and the #ImReady Movement aim to strengthen the progressive political and social platforms of Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the US through the leadership of self-identified AAPI women and girls. Their goal is to challenge and help end the intersections of violence against and within our communities. AAPI Women Lead does this work in solidarity with other communities of color. (IG: @aapiwomenlead)
The Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign: The Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign is a national outreach and educational effort led by women workers to demand that those benefiting the most from sweatshop labor are held accountable–whether we work in garment factories, home healthcare, or offices.
Asians Americans Advancing Justice—Atlanta: Asians Americans Advancing Justice—Atlanta is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) in Georgia and the Southeast. Through their work, they envision a social movement in which communities of color are fully empowered, active in civic life, and working together to promote equity, fair treatment, and self determination for all. (IG, national: @advancingjustice_aajc; IG, Atlanta: advancing_justice_atl)
Asian Immigrant Women’s Advocates (AIWA): AIWA works with immigrant workers employed in the Bay Area’s garment, home care, hotel, restaurant, assembly, and other low-wage industries, and low-income immigrant youth in Oakland. The organization seeks to empower women and youth through education, leadership development and collective action, so that they can fight for dignity and justice in their daily lives and improve their working and living conditions.
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (APIGBV): APIGBV is a national resource center on domestic violence, sexual violence, trafficking, and other forms of gender-based violence in Asian/Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. APIGBV envisions a world free of gender-based violence for communities with equal opportunities for all to thrive. Their mission is to disrupt gender-based violence, which causes physical, sexual, emotional, spiritual and economic harm within AAPI communities throughout the U.S. and its territories. (twitter: @apigbv)
Butterfly Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Network: Butterfly was formed by sex workers, social workers, legal and health professionals. It provides support to, and advocates for, the rights of Asian and migrant sex workers. (IG: @butterflycsw)
CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities: CAAAV works to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City. (IG: @caaavnyc)
Canal Cafeteria: Canal Cafeteria is a donation-based, volunteer-operated, grassroots organization in the LES, focused on bringing fresh, affordable fruits & veggies to the neighborhood through sliding scale produce bags. (IG: @canalcafeteria)
Chinese Progressive Association (Boston, MA): The Chinese Progressive Association is a grassroots community organization working for full equality and empowerment of the Chinese community in the Greater Boston area and beyond. (IG: @cpajustice)
Chinese Progressive Association (San Francisco, CA):The CPA organizes and empowers the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco to build collective power with other oppressed communities to demand better living and working conditions and justice for all people (IG: @chineseprogressiveassociation)
Chinese Progressive Association (New York, NY): Based in New York’s Chinatown/Lower East Side, the Chinese Progressive Association works towards social and economic justice for the Chinese American community.
Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA): In response to the super-exploitation that many workers face on a daily basis, and to the multiple barriers of race, gender, age, and immigration status that often compound exploitation, CSWA emphasizes developing leadership among working people in NYC’s Chinatowns and to bridge the divides within the Chinese community and beyond.
Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA): KIWA combines organizing, leadership development, services, and policy advocacy in order to improve the lives of immigrant workers in low-wage industries in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and build a foundation for social change. (twitter: @kiwa4justice)
KTown for Black Lives: an unaffiliated and multiracial collective organizing communities into the movement against anti-Black racism through monthly gatherings in Koreatown, Los Angeles. (IG: @ktown4blacklives)
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF): focused on building power with AAPI women and girls to influence critical decisions that affect their lives, families and communities. Using a reproductive justice framework, NAPAWF elevates AAPI women and girls to impact policy and drive systemic change in the United States. A direct link to their Atlanta chapter can be found here. (IG, national: @napawf; Atlanta: @napawf_atl)
National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS): NMASS is a multi-trade, multi-ethnic, New York City-based workers center where working people unite across industry, race, nationality and gender to fight for the changes in workplaces, communities and lives. (twitter: @NMASSwc)
Oakland Chinatown Coalition: a broad neighborhood-based coalition of service and community organizations, businesses, churches, and residents who live, work, play, shop, and thrive in Oakland Chinatown. (IG: @oakchinatowncoalition)
Red Canary Song: Red Canary Song is a grassroots collective that supports Asian & migrant sex workers. Based in Flushing, NY, they also organize transnationally with Asian sex workers across the diaspora in Toronto, Paris, and Hong Kong. (IG: @redcanarysong)
Stop AAPI Hate: A coalition addressing the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes amidst the covid-19 pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate is a collaboration between the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University. (IG: @stopaapihate)
SWAN Vancouver: SWAN supports, promotes and advocates for the decriminalization of sex work, and for the enactment of evidence-based laws that will uphold equal human rights, safety, and protections for all individuals engaged in any form of sex work. (twitter: @SWAN_Vancouver)
Tuesday Night Project: TNP’s mission is to provide Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI), Little Tokyo, and greater Los Angeles communities with a number of diverse and dynamic public art and culture programs in safe community spaces where people can connect through creative expression and social engagement. (IG: @tnproject)
The W.O.W Project at Wing On Wo & Co: The W.O.W Project’s mission is to sustain ownership over New York City’s Chinatown’s future by growing, protecting and preserving Chinatown’s creative culture through arts, culture and activism. Wing On Wo & Co is the oldest continually-run family business in Chinatown, New York, open since 1925. (IG: @wingonwoandco)