News and Events
2023 CBO Needs Assessment Summary Report
This summary report provides key findings from API-GBV’s 2023 Needs Assessment as a preview for the full report, which will provide more in-depth analysis and discussion on the needs of AANHPI-serving GBV community organizations. Major findings from this summary include a look at which communities require additional support, concerns that intersect with GBV for AANHPI survivors, current challenges for staff and providers, and areas of cultural strengths and needs among AANHPI-serving GBV organizations.
Related Resources
API-GBV Research and Evaluation
Krista Grajo, MA, and Swathi Reddy, PhD, LMSW
September 2023
Bridges: A Connect Call for Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Addressing Gender-Based Violence
Next call: August 8, 2023 (9am HST / 12pm PST / 3pm CST / 3pm EST)
These bi-monthly community connect calls are intended to be a space for AANHPI advocates, community members, and allies to connect, dialogue, share successes, problem solve, and network. API-GBV staff will be available to moderate and encourage discussion, but this is a space for YOU, as the experts of this work, to share your experiences and to learn from allies across the country.
August 2023 Theme: AAPIs & Mental Health/Mental Illness
Invisible and severely stigmatized in the AAPI community, mental illness is one of the most complex barriers facing the AAPI community, and will be the focus of our next Bridges Connect Call. During this dialogue, we’ll hold space to discuss the role of mental health/mental illness for both survivors and the ones who work to address GBV. We will briefly share about some of the research and resources on mental health in AAPI communities. You will also have abundant opportunity to share with peers the best/better organizational policies and survivor services practices that best support those struggling with mental health.
Other details:
Meetings will be hosted on Zoom, and you are encouraged to join with video and voice to the extent that you are comfortable. These calls will not be recorded, but we may share takeaways, without identifying information, with our staff or community. Please get in contact with us, or indicate in your RSVP, if you require interpretation or accessibility features.
If you cannot make August’s call, but would like to be on the list for future dates, please email sluo@api-gbv.org.
API-GBV’s Statement on the Supreme Court Decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis
June 30, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kaylee Wong, kwong@api-gbv.org
API-GBV is alarmed by the Supreme Court’s decision today in 303 Creative v. Elenis, which held that Colorado’s anti-discrimination law violates the First Amendment by forcing a private website designer to create designs with which the designer disagrees. This ruling creates a dangerous exception to the state public accommodation laws, even if it affects members of a protected class.
In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor (joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson) stated that, “[t]oday, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.”
“This most recent decision, on top of all the decisions that have been handed down by the Supreme Court this week, support the continued discrimination against the most vulnerable and marginalized in our communities. At API-GBV we steadfastly state our support for LGBTQ+ community and fight alongside our partners to unequivocally uphold the freedoms of a population that has continuously been advocating for their own equality,” Monica Khant, Executive Director of API-GBV
This decision will further erode the rights of LGBTQ+ community members, by allowing private entities to discriminate by ignoring public accommodations laws, preventing equal access to services and based on religious and/or moral biases. For LGBTQ+ survivors, the decision narrows public accommodation options available to them, leaving them more vulnerable to gender-based violence.
API-GBV released a Fact Sheet demonstrating the barriers that AAPI LGBTQ+ individuals face in obtaining services and public accommodations. Its findings capture the range of experiences, track current trends and prevalence rates regarding gender-based violence, and bring attention to areas of need for AAPI LGBTQ+ survivors and communities in the U.S. Read the fact sheet here: https://www.api-gbv.org/resources/aapi-lgbtq-experiences-of-gbv/
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About Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
The Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV) 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. API-GBV envisions a world free of gender-based violence for communities with equal opportunities for all to thrive. For more information about API-GBV, visit www.api-gbv.org.
AAPI LGBTQ+ Experiences of GBV
This factsheet summarizes the layered needs and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more (LGBTQ+) Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) survivors and communities in the U.S., based on the current literature available. Although limited research has been conducted on this topic, we present findings that capture the range of experiences, track current trends and prevalence rates regarding gender-based violence (GBV), and bring to attention to areas of need.
AAPI LGBTQ+ survivors might identify in ways beyond those encompassed by the LGBTQ+ umbrella identities. We recognize that not all communities will identify with the LGBTQ+ umbrella, or with the modern connotation of some LGBTQ+ identities. For the purposes of this factsheet, we will use LGBTQ+ to include non-heterosexual and non-binary identities.
Related Resources
Krista Grajo, MA, and Swathi Reddy, PhD, LMSW
June 2023
Statement from the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence on President Biden’s National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action
May 25, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kaylee Wong, kwong@api-gbv.org
Today the Biden administration published its long awaited U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action. The National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (National Plan) aims to address gender-based violence through a comprehensive, government-wide approach. This is the first U.S. government-wide plan to prevent and address sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence.
The Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence applauds the Biden Administration on their continuous commitment to ending gender-based violence and for recognizing the needs of AAPI survivors and their communities in the development of the National Plan. In the United States, 21 – 55% of Asian women in the U.S. report experiencing intimate physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetime.
In the development of the National Plan, the Biden Administration provided numerous opportunities for input, including engaging with AAPI survivors and advocates through listening sessions and written feedback. As part of the development of the National Plan, API-GBV facilitated listening sessions with 16 advocates in September 2021 to gather recommendations for addressing the needs of AAPI survivors.
“We appreciate the Biden administration’s efforts to engage those impacted by gender-based violence in Asian, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities and to incorporate their needs and those of culturally specific communities in the National Plan,” said Monica Khant, Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. “These efforts are critical to uplifting survivors and we look forward to continuing to work with the Administration, agencies, and our communities to implement the National Plan.”
The National Plan addresses seven key areas of attention: 1) Prevention; 2) Support, Healing, Safety, and Well-Being; 3) Economic Security and Housing Stability; 4) Online Safety; 5) Legal and Justice Systems; 6) Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Response; and 7) Research and Data. The National Plan is based on centering the voices of survivors and recognizes the need for culturally-specific services and an intersectional approach to addressing gender-based violence.
“We appreciate the Administration’s recognition of the needs of AAPI immigrant survivors, including addressing language access and the need to reduce barriers and backlogs in the immigration system,” said Grace Huang, Director of Policy for the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. “We hope to partner with the Administration to eliminate structural and systemic barriers in the legal system so that survivors can access the supports that they need.”
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About Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
The Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV) 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. API-GBV envisions a world free of gender-based violence for communities with equal opportunities for all to thrive. For more information about API-GBV, visit www.api-gbv.org.
Image 1: Grace Huang, API-GBV’s Director of Policy, with Alliance for Immigrant Survivors co-chairs at the Launch of the U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action
Image 2: Grace Huang, API-GBV’s Director of Policy, with Marium, API-GBV Advisory Committee member at the Launch of the U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action
Image 3: Grace Huang, API-GBV’s Director of Policy, with Krittika Ghosh, Executive Director of the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project at the Launch of the U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action
Directory of Domestic & Gender Violence Programs Serving Asians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, 2023
Now updated for 2023 to include service categories such as mental health services, online/virtual services, and more!
Asian and Pacific Islander activists in the anti-domestic violence movement are extraordinary, constantly building programs and organizing communities to address gender-based violence. There is a large group of powerful women leaders, who may not even define themselves as such, doing amazing work. Volunteers – male, female, youth, elderly – provide countless hours in programs, sometimes staffing entire organizations for years, and almost always in addition to busy lives as workers, home-makers, students, and parents. Advocates often encounter the hostility of their own communities, the inhospitable climate of multiple and baffling systems, and the urgency of so many victims in crisis. They may themselves be survivors of gender-based violence. Nevertheless, they have created a dynamic set of resources for women and other victims in their communities.
The Directory lists roughly 150 agencies in the U.S. that have culturally-specific programs designed for survivors from Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Also available is the online database, which can be used to search for agencies by location, services provided, language capacity, and more. When possible, information in the Directory has been self-reported by agencies. As service and language capacity can change frequently, please reach out to agencies directly for the most up-to-date information.
Related Resources
Past Events
Directory of Domestic & Gender Violence Programs Serving Asians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, 2023
Now updated for 2023 to include service categories such as mental health services, online/virtual services, and more!
Asian and Pacific Islander activists in the anti-domestic violence movement are extraordinary, constantly building programs and organizing communities to address gender-based violence. There is a large group of powerful women leaders, who may not even define themselves as such, doing amazing work. Volunteers – male, female, youth, elderly – provide countless hours in programs, sometimes staffing entire organizations for years, and almost always in addition to busy lives as workers, home-makers, students, and parents. Advocates often encounter the hostility of their own communities, the inhospitable climate of multiple and baffling systems, and the urgency of so many victims in crisis. They may themselves be survivors of gender-based violence. Nevertheless, they have created a dynamic set of resources for women and other victims in their communities.
The Directory lists roughly 150 agencies in the U.S. that have culturally-specific programs designed for survivors from Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Also available is the online database, which can be used to search for agencies by location, services provided, language capacity, and more. When possible, information in the Directory has been self-reported by agencies. As service and language capacity can change frequently, please reach out to agencies directly for the most up-to-date information.
Related Resources
Exploring the Cultural Contexts of Consent in AANHPI Communities
AANHPI communities tend to be collective in nature, as well as hierarchical, to varying degrees. Both contexts complicate the concepts of consent and boundaries, especially for AANHPI youth and young adults, who often do not have opportunities to learn about the taboo topics of sex and relationships with trusted adults. This report explores how consent and boundaries are understood and practiced in AANHPI contexts, highlights how gender expectations and the need to respect certain individuals make it hard to establish boundaries, and presents recommendations for advocates and educators.
Related Resources
Krista Grajo, MA and Shirley Luo
April 2023
Pacific Diaspora in the USA
This research report addresses the scarcity of data regarding Pacific Islander communities and presents research on the diaspora in the U.S. It seeks to understand who is the Pacific diaspora in the U.S., where they came from and where they are located; to examine the prevalence and scope of DV & GBV in Pasifika communities; and to provide a discussion on the different form of violence, direct, structural, and cultural, that normalizes and justifies DV and GBV in these communities.
Related Resources
By Dr. Michael Fusi Ligaliga, API-GBV Consultant
August 2022
Samoa Community Project: Year One Report (2021-2022)
The Samoan Community Project builds on API-GBV’s Pasifika Power & Control Wheel Translation Project, which sought to adapt the well-used tool to Pasifika languages and cultural/community contexts. This report highlights the needs to unpack the Samoan words further, to allow Samoan communities in their own respective social organizations, to discuss, unpack, critique, consider new, replace old, provide validation and even create more relevant terms that align within the current Samoan milieu as well as the issues associated with DV and GBV.
The initial translation project was intended to be used as a language resource for individuals and organizations across domestic violence and gender-based violence field. The Samoan translation of the Power and Control Wheel (PCW) only provided a word-for-word translation as well as some minimal cultural contextual considerations for each translated word(s). While this provided some direction and focus, there was paucity in the interface between the Samoan translated words and its application to the domestic violence (DV) and gender-based violence (GBV) problem in the Samoan diaspora living in the United States of America. The Samoan Community Project seeks to contribute to this gap.
Related Resources
Complied by Dr. Michael Fusi Ligaliga
August 2022
Messages & Updates from API-GBV’s Board
May 2023: Thank You to Our Founding Mothers and Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Hello Friends and Supporters of API-GBV,
Spring is here and as we begin the month of May we are reflecting on how important this time is for our institute. Not only does it mark Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we are also celebrating Mother’s Day, which is significant for us as we say thank you to the founding mothers of API-GBV.
We’d like to thank Debbie Lee, Leni Marin, and Sujata Warrier for their tireless years of service to API-GBV. They shepherded the organization through times of transition and uncertainty and their unrelenting commitment to those impacted by gender-based violence will leave a lasting impression on the board, the institute, and the entire GBV field.
We also want to acknowledge that the whole month of May recognizes the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities’ contributions to this country. We look forward to offering and sharing resources and programming throughout the month to uplift and celebrate AANHPI serving organizations, voices, and stories.
Please join us by making a donation to continue the legacy of our founding mothers. Culturally specific programming for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities impacted by gender-based violence is more important than ever. To make a gift, please visit our website: https://www.api-gbv.org/support-us/.
Many thanks,
API-GBV Board
March 2023: Mid-Year Update from API-GBV Board
Hello Friends and Supporters of API-GBV,
We have reached the half-way point in our fiscal year and have been working on several projects and hit some important milestones. As one of API-GBV’s values is authentic solidarity, we’ve been pursuing programs and offering resources as part of our commitment to racial equity and healing.
For example, we invited 24 AAPI-serving anti-GBV organizations to participate in a six-part workshop series to shift our movement towards a culture that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). The goals are to have courageous conversations around how GBV and racial oppression show up, build solidarity with fellow AAPI organizations to address oppression, anti-Blackness and privilege, and reimagine ways to create and sustain cultures of equity and anti-racism. This series kicks off this month and will be facilitated by Healing Equity United.
The timing of this series is fitting because our AAPI communities recently memorialized the second anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings. The impact of these violent acts is still felt today and is a reminder that we must continue to amplify the needs of and resources for AAPI women and educate the public about the intersection of race and gender that AAPI women exist in.
We look forward to sharing more regular updates with our supporters and donors as the year continues.
API-GBV Board
April 2020: MESSAGE FROM OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON WELCOMING MARY VRADELIS AS INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
API-GBV Interim E.D. Message
Board Approved 4-1-20
The API-GBV Board of Directors is pleased to report that we have hired Mary Vradelis, to serve as our Interim Executive Director through this important leadership transition for the organization. As we announced earlier this year, our Founding E.D. Chic Dabby planned to step down on March 31. Despite Califorina’s stay-at-home requirements, Chic and Mary have worked together remotely over the past two weeks to transfer information and processes. Mary officially begins the role of API-GBV’s Interim E.D. on April 1st. Chic remains on staff through July 1st to continue to share her depth of knowledge and experience to support API-GBV’s continued commitment to excellent service to the field and complete a variety of programmatic responsibilities.
Ms. Vradelis brings over 30 years of nonprofit management experience, and extensive experience in leadership transition and coaching. She will work with the board and staff over the next 6-9 months to use this transitional time to continue excellent programs and practices, and prepare the organization for our next E.D. During this time, we will also work together to establish our plan for the search. We look forward to sharing our progress and next steps. You may reach Mary Vradelis at mvradelis[at]api-gbv[dot]org
March 2020: MONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS & A MESSAGE FROM OUR BOARD
As API-GBV staff adapts to working remotely during the COVID-19 crisis, we remain committed to providing the support our communities need to serve survivors of violence, including immigrant survivors and survivors with limited English proficiency.
Highlights newsletters are sent around the beginning of each month. Sign up for emails to receive them in your inbox!
- February 2020: Wishing you Creativity & Energy in the Year of the Rat!
- 2019 Yearly Highlights
- October 2019: DVAM Gratitude & Solidarity
- September 2019: Center API Survivors in DV Awareness Month
- August 2019: Back to School Season
January 2020: LEADERSHIP TRANSITION: MESSAGE FROM OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Message from our Board of Directors on Chic Dabby’s retirement and hiring for an Interim Executive Director
January 24, 2020
Following an exceptional twenty years leading the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence as the founding Executive Director, Chic Dabby is stepping down as our leader. She will be handing over her fiduciary and management responsibilities by March 30, 2020 and completing all programmatic responsibilities by July 1, 2020. With unfaltering commitment, creativity and expertise, Chic advanced the field and elevated the fight against gender-based violence with and within API communities at the local, national and international levels.
Through her leadership, API-GBV
- Was launched from its first home with the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum to a strong independent organization which is the leading national API organization addressing gender-based violence in this country;
- Has been a leader providing expertise, analysis and advice to government and community leaders, funders, and researchers with a depth of knowledge surpassed by few, covering not only violence against women and girls, but trafficking, sexual coercion, adult and childhood trauma, language access, cultural competence/humility and so many other areas;
- Has built long-lasting collaborations and lead learning journeys with a broad diversity of communities; and
- Has broadened both theory and practice.
Chic’s accomplishments, publications, and trainings are and will continue to be inspiring and respected resources to our API communities and the field. We thank and commend Chic for her incredible leadership, fortitude, dedication and wish her a wonderful retirement.
Working closely with the staff, the Board of Directors has initiated a leadership transition process to ensure a healthy executive leadership transition. We hope to have your continued support as we face this new phase.
Sincerely,
Debbie Lee, Chair
On behalf of the Board of Directors -Leni Marin, Sujata Warrier, Lori Kodama and Linda Phan.
You can read the letter from Chic about her transition here.
Protect AAPI Women: API-GBV’s Statement on the 2-Year Anniversary of the Atlanta Spa Shootings
3/16/2023
Today marks two years since eight people, among them six Asian massage workers, were killed at spas in the Atlanta area. This heinous act of racial and gender-based violence resulted in terrible loss that devastated our communities, and its impact is still felt today. We continue to remember the victims and grieve with their loved ones.
Even as our communities rebuild, we are continuously faced with acts of anti-AAPI hate and gender-based violence, including the loss of Frances Kendra Lucero in a domestic homicide in Daly City last week. We must recognize the intersection of race and gender that AAPI women exist in. We must amplify the needs of and resources for AAPI women. We must push for a societal and cultural shift that prioritizes the safety AAPI women. We must protect AAPI women, today, and every day.
Read our statement on the Atlanta spa shootings and our statement from the 1-year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings.
Access the GoFundMe for Frances Kendra Lucero. For additional resources and support, please contact the Filipino Community Center.
Image 1: Monica, API-GBV’s Executive Director, at the Asian Americans Rise Against Hate Rally in Atlanta
Image 2-6: From the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Tree Planting Commemoration for the Atlanta spa victims