Dear Friends,
I am very excited to update you on the transformation of the old APAWLI - Asian Pacific American
Women Leadership Institute into The Center for Asian American Women. Since its founding in 1996,
APAWLI had profoundly touched many lives of APA women through its unique, signature APAWLI
Leadership Training Program, its Summits and regional conferences. Yet, in spite of the funding
the APAWLI program received, it was available only to a small number of women each year.
At the 10th anniversary, the Board paused to review our accomplishments and to reassess our future
direction. With the help of a consultant for non-profit organizations, we developed an ambitious Strategic
Business Plan. We recognized that as more Asian Pacific American women filled managerial and leadership pipelines in both
private and public sectors, we urgently needed to reach many more mid-career women and help them
become future leaders. We also need to be more financially self-sufficient. We are proud of our accomplishments
in the first ten years:
- We trained 93 Fellows through our intensive 3-week signature APAWLI Leadership Program.
- Each Fellow designed and implemented a project that would benefit at least 25 people. The impact projects
ranged from health care, development of young women, multi-cultural art and science projects for inner city children,
APA women business entrepreneurs, and the Dragon Boat Race in Denver. Many of these projects have become annual events.
- We held four 2-day summit conferences where high impact workshops were held on topics important to the
development of Asian Pacific American women leaders, such as career management, communication styles, strategic thinking.
- We provided invaluable networking opportunities for the sisters in the organization.
To help us achieve our new goal of reaching more mid-career women, we increased our board size and added diverse skill sets from
different industries. We hired an interim executive director and we changed our name to
The Center for Asian Pacific American Women. We updated our programming to better fit the needs of mid-career
Asian Pacific American women. Our National APAWLI Program will be reduced to 2 weeks to accommodate busy schedules and will be offered in
the Fall of 2007. We wish to be the organization every Asian Pacific American woman in the U.S. looks to for personal and professional growth
and development.
As you browse our new website, please consider joining as a charter member and help us continue to develop our programs
for Asian Pacific American women leaders. Enjoy your visit, and we hope to meet you in person at one of our programs!
Rosie Abriam
President/CEO
