My Nonprofit Reviews

Asian Women for Health is a model for both service and advocacy on behalf of the women whose health it directly addresses. Beyond that it is a model for all of us working with immigrant communities. The range of activities from outstanding annual mental health conferences and the annual State of Asian Women's Health gatherings to the cancer survivors fashion show have directly impacted the communities our organization works with and, just as importantly, have provided examples of process that we now incorporate in our outreach and workshops. As an example, a panel on the immigrant Asian mental health experience at an AWFH conference became the inspiration for a series of workshops that we have conducted, in collaboration with the Cambridge Health Alliance, for our school district's and Head Start's family language liaison and for medical interpreters. I can't thank AWFH and ED Chien-Chi Huang enough for both leadership and showing the way.

My primary experience with Asian Women for Health is with its signature "The State of Asian Women’s Health," an annual conference that engages and educates stakeholders about Asian health issues and disparities. These conferences are superbly planned and executed and a source of inspiration and great ideas. One of the workshops in the 2016 conference, a self-care demonstration, became the model and inspiration for a workshop that our organization developed for front line immigrant language and family liaisons in our local school district. We are currently adapting it to provide self-care sessions for over one hundred medical interpreters at our local safety net health care system.

The State of Asian Women’s health annual conferences, along with two other Asian Women for Health signature events, CelebrASIANS (fashions for cancer survivors) and an annual mental health conference, in addition to showcasing great ideas, regularly provide numerous opportunities for networking among health care providers and community health non-profits. This is an essential and usually unaddressed area of need. These relationships often lead to extended, productive collaborations. Out of the conferences ideas, in addition to relationships, can and have, led to the formation of ad hoc exploratory groups such as the Asian Data Working Group, formed under the leadership of Asian Women for Health. The goal for those involved was, and is, to change health data policy at the state level to facilitate a much needed disaggregation of Asian health data. This has been accomplished in some states and is an essential part of informing improvements in health care delivery for very different populations (Koreans and Bangladeshi, for example) who are currently lumped together under one heading, “Asian.” Aside from the importance of the task, the effort created opportunities for many of us to learn how to work with state legislators and other policy makers, valuable skills that we then carried back into our own organizations.

Asian Women for Health has made many rich and varied contributions to the understanding of how to achieve and advocate for better heath in the Asian communities locally and, through research participation, nationally. It has had an equally important role in strengthening its local non-profit partners working with other communities, leading by example and creating opportunities for mutual growth and support. We deeply appreciate the work of Chien-Chi Huang, ED, and Asian Women for Health!

Alex Pirie, Coordinator, Immigrant Service Providers Group/Health, Somerville, MA

In a era when global health considerations far transcend national differences and political squabbles, MEDICC stands out as an exemplar of the kind of work needed to create and disseminate knowledge of the highest relevance. My principal connection is through their newsletters and information distributed over the internet. Working with immigrant populations in the U.S. I find the information and persistent outreach invaluable in getting a health perspective more far reaching and relevant than most of what is available through general sources based in U.S. only.

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