OPAWL - Building AAPI Feminist Leadership

OPAWL is a grassroots community that organizes for social justice and elevates the voices, visibility, and progressive leadership of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and nonbinary people in Ohio. Make a donation to sustain OPAWL's work to build collective power and solidarity in the Ohio AAPI community!

We are a multi-ethnic, multigenerational, intersectional feminist community centered around immigrants, refugees, and adoptees; women; and queer and trans individuals. Our members represent the diverse diaspora of Asia and the Pacific Islands, including those of South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, Central Asian, Southwest/West Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian descent. OPAWL now has three regional hubs in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland as well as an online community of members across the state and beyond.

By co-creating an organized and intersectional feminist member-led community, we are building collective power. We believe our approach to building collective power will allow Ohio AAPIs to grow and transform ourselves, change dominant narratives and institutions, and take visible leadership in progressive social movements in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.

Our primary strategies for building power are through community building, art and storytelling, political education, and organizing campaigns.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Bring members together in a joyful space where we feel seen and heard, building relationships and trust through events and a culture of shared leadership. 

ART + STORYTELLING

Tell our stories and promote activism through art, to disrupt and change dominant narratives.

POLITICAL EDUCATION

Members grow and learn together by facilitating / engaging in workshops and discussions about social justice issues, community organizing, and movement building.

ORGANIZING CAMPAIGNS

Fight to solve specific problems in our environment through regular cycles of collective action and reflection. Learn about our campaigns at www.opawl.org/advocacy.

We believe that everyone has a gift to contribute and a meaningful role to play. We appreciate our community’s many gifts and talents by organizing with a mentality of abundance rather than scarcity.