AIWA’s key programs and activities include:
- Education: Workplace Literacy and Computer Literacy Programs teach practical English and computer skills to Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Latina immigrant women. The classes provide immigrant women with basic English and computer skills, as well as information about civic participation and their rights as immigrants, women and workers. Click here to see a sample literacy curriculum.
- Leadership Development Programs
Adult: Participants learn about forces affecting their communities by study of social, political and economic topics, the immigrant rights movement, civil rights, and language rights. Advanced levels lead meetings, speak in public, keep records, plan and conduct organizational outreach. Women gain hands-on experience as they join existing AIWA committees and activities. In the Core Leadership Program, women exercise their skills in facilitation, coordination, organizing, and public speaking as membership board members, peer organizers and peer trainers. Women at this level also teach and coordinate many of the classes and workshops AIWA offers.
Youth: Youth Build Immigrant Power (YBIP) is a program for Cantonese-speaking immigrant youth which supports the health, welfare and leadership of youth through bilingual programs that focus specifically on the needs and issues of low-income Asian immigrant Cantonese-speaking youth. Youth General Meetings are held after school, twice a year, on topics identified by upper level core youth leaders to reflect the interests of their peers. The Asian Youth United Program (AYU) provides a safe space for youth to develop leadership skills and understanding of diversity and immigrant rights through peer trainings and youth-led projects for community change. The YBIP Advanced Training Program further develops young people’s leadership skills by involving them in community event planning, campaign development, and other cultural projects, like developing videos or websites.
- Collective Action: Immigrant women and youth engage in campaigns to bring about positive changes in their living and working conditions. At present, AIWA leaders are working to ensure that school and government resources are accessible to limited English speaking communities.