Asian American Women’s Political Initiative

As the country’s only political leadership organization for Asian American women, AAWPI was founded from a recognition that AAPI women’s unique needs, particularly in mental and women’s health, and domestic and sexual violence, were often unseen and overlooked by government. We built an infrastructure to support low-income and immigrant AAPI women interested in government and politics. Since 2009, over 90% of our alumnae have gone on to volunteer or work on campaigns, become community organizers, or run for office. Now, we are scaling this model nationally to change the face of leadership and political power for AAPI women.

Here's the Issue:

AAPI women and communities have long been underserved, undervalued, and underrepresented at all levels of government, and disproportionately targeted by violence.

52% of AAPI women report experiencing sexual or physical assault, likely an understated figure as AAPI women are also the least likely to report these crimes. Now, xenaphobic COVID-19 propaganda has fueled hate toward AAPI communities, echoing violence perpetrated throughout U.S. history. In the last year, 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents were reported, 68% against women. Most prominently, the Georgia mass shooting killed eight people, six Asian women.

From the lowest voter turnout to almost complete invisibility in government, AAPI communities are among those with the least political power, leaving AAPIs vulnerable to the targeted hate that we see today. Without a seat at the table, Asian Americans are left out of policymaking that directly affects them and creating lasting change in our communities is impossible.

Our Solution:

Nationally, no infrastructure exists to mentor, train, and support AAPI women at all stages of the political pipeline. AAPI women rarely see their reflections in government: 0.7% of state legislators nationwide are AAPI women. Over 5x as many AAPI women would have to be elected to reflect the population.

Building on our Massachusetts model’s success, we are creating a first-of-its-kind national infrastructure to activate AAPI women, elevating civic engagement from voting, to community organizing, to running for office. Our five-month Civic Impact Fellowship & Incubator funds $10K projects led by young AAPI women in partnership with community organizations, engaging AAPI communities (~250 people per project) in social change. Fellows meet weekly for leadership development, progress checks, training, and grassroots actions. To scale deliberately, we will expand to five states where large/growing AAPI populations can have critical electoral influence: Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, and Northern and Southern California.

We're the right people to do the work because:

For 12 years, AAWPI’s groundbreaking political leadership program for low-income and immigrant AAPI women has been changing the face of political power in Massachusetts. Our 100+ alumni are Dreamers, anti-foreclosure activists who have experienced foreclosure themselves, LGBTQ rights advocates, and nonprofit entrepreneurs. Our model addresses the unique challenges AAPI women face, building community around a shared commitment to social justice. Over 90% of our alumnae go on to work on campaigns, become organizers, or run for office themselves.

Our founder Diana Hwang was the first National Political and Organizing Director for She the People, is a former candidate for Massachusetts state senate and is a nationally-known speaker on Asian American women in politics.

25 women and women of color thought leaders, elected officials and leading activists make up our National Advisory Council, including US Senator Mazie Hirono, US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and US Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

Manisha G. Bewtra, AICP

Planning, Mobility, and Development Advisor to Tucson Mayor Regina Romero

Manisha Bewtra, AICP (she/her) is Mayor Romero’s Planning, Mobility, and Development Advisor. In this role, she leverages her passion for planning for thriving, healthy, and inclusive communities with her love for policy-making and politics as the Mayor’s liaison on transportation and land use issues. Manisha is an experienced public process facilitator and project manager and works collaboratively with the Mayor’s team and city departments to apply an equity lens to all city initiatives.
Manisha has built her career on bringing divergent perspectives together, facilitating conversations around change, and generating data-informed solutions that move communities forward. She is driven by public service and champions equitable policies and inclusive community engagement.
Prior to her current role, she worked at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Boston as a senior regional planner and the manager of the analytics team, at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership where she was a statewide technical assistance provider, as an adjunct city planning instructor for Master’s degree program courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and at Arizona State University, and in municipal government and nonprofit community development organizations in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Chandler, Arizona.
Manisha has served on various equity-focused organizations and committees and is a graduate of Emerge Massachusetts, the Initiative for Diversity in Civic Leadership, and the Massachusetts Commonwealth Seminar, three organizations dedicated to training underrepresented groups to influence public policy and to run for office. She has a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in Economics and Art from The University of Iowa, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. She currently serves as a member at large for the American Planning Association Arizona Southern Section and is a member of the executive team for the Asian American and Political Islander Caucus for the Arizona Democratic Party.
Before moving to Tucson in the summer of 2020, she lived in the Boston area for twelve years. During her years in Melrose, Massachusetts, she served as a Human Rights Commissioner and subsequently as a City Councilor. When elected to the Melrose City Council, she became the first person of color ever to serve in elected office in Melrose. She grew up in Iowa and identifies as Desi/Indian-American. She, her husband, and her son felt welcomed and right at home in Tucson when they moved here – even in spite of a pandemic and searing summer heat.

Arnie Saiki

research, writer, program director

Broadly focusing on regional economic and geopolitical themes in the Asia and Pacific regions, Arnie Saiki is currently leading a working group on data, statistics and valuation in the Pacific. His book “Economic and Ecological Accounting: Towards Intemerate Values,” was published last year by the Pacific Conference of Churches, the Pacific Theological College and the University of the South Pacific.

Since the publication, this campaign has been introduced to the Ecological and Economic Justice program at the World Council of Churches and he is participating in a G8 Interfaith forum for the inclusion of Wellbeing indicators into our economic accounts.

While national statistics and ecological accounting normally fall under the purview of government, academic or international institutions, Arnie has been campaigning in democratizing our ecological data, seeking support for a proof-of-concept accounting program that would enable poor, impacted, and indigenous peoples to actively participate in how we account for our socio and economic biodiversity. Intemerate Accounting is an equation that helps to correct accounting disparities that have, to a large extent, excluded the Global South. Revising our accounting system can provide access and opportunities that cross wide campaign sectors, bringing hope, action and efficacy to reverse climate change, restore our ecological biodiversity, and redistribute global wealth more equitably.

Arnie has been actively promoting and working on global justice campaigns since 2007 when he received a “We the People” grant from the Hawai’i Council of the Humanities for his work on Hawai’i Statehood. He has organized conferences with Hawaiian national independence groups, managed the Save Rapanui campaign after the Chilean military forced a lockdown of Easter Islanders. Arnie spoke at the World Bank representing the Pacific Island Forum, and participated in discussions around regionalism in the Pacific. He was recently appointed the US-Pacific Diplomacy and Solidarity Mission for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), and is on the management team of the Deep Seabed Mining Campaign.

In 2011, Arnie received the blessing from Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell to organize a counter-conference in Honolulu while APEC was there and coordinated the Moana Nui conferences, an international partnership between the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala I Ka Po. For the last ten years he has been campaigning on issues around trade, development, ecological resources, indigenous issues and militarization in the Pacific.

His essays, “TPP at the End of the Line: a briefing on economic cooperation and capacity building” was published in American Quarterly by John Hopkins University Press, and “Manifesting the Liquid Continent,” was published by Yunnan National University, as part of the 1st International conference on Asia and Pacific Ethnology and Anthropology.