Our
Nonprofit Partnerships
Throughout 2023-2024, our goal during the winter quarter was to continue our engagement with the APIDA community by partnering with various nonprofit organizations and even our first in person partnership! We were able to partner with 6 different organizations!
Promoting Digital Literacy with the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community
Members collaborated with CBCAC to address digital literacy for seniors within Chicago’s Chinatown. Our members particularly focused on reaching seniors through an online pamphlet with instructions to use common phone applications such as Gmail, Amazon, and Uber/Lyft. We worked with CBCAC to post these resources online to make them as accessible as possible.
Reproductive Justice Advocacy with NAPAWF
For the second year in a row, we worked with the National Asian/Pacific-American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) to improve reproductive justice in the Chicagoland area. We created a research framework to assess gaps in the reproductive healthcare system, and drafted a research paper to help guide NAPAWF’s advocacy initiatives with the city government. Our research highlighted how marginalized communities in Chicago— from low-income neighborhoods to undocumented individuals— face increased difficulty in accessing necessary reproductive healthcare. We also helped consolidate a list of already existing resources for members of those marginalized communities. We hope our partnership with NAPAWF will continue to yield fruitful projects in the coming years.
Organizing the 2nd annual AAPI Restaurants Week with AdvOCAte Greater Chicago
Our team helped OCA Greater Chicago to launch the third year of AAPI Restaurants Week, highlighting diverse AAPI chefs in the Chicago area and their delicious cooking. Members led marketing initiatives such as creating banners, posters, and infographics that were uploaded to OCA’s social media platforms. Other tasks included website creation and design as well as interviews; specifically, we were able to talk to a couple of restaurant owners to hear about their background and careers. Overall, it was a really fun project that took our members to different places in Chicago as well as filled our bellies with yummy food.
Marketing ITIN and Financial Literacy Workshops with HANA Center
We designed and published marketing materials promoting HANA Center's ITIN Form and Financial Literacy Workshop. This included flyers, handouts, and email templates to send and publish to various media sources. We also conducted research on local APIDA organizations within the Chicago community, such as places of faith, food centers, and college clubs.
Designing Door Hangers with Indo-American Center
Group members created informational door hangers for the South Asian community in the 40th and 50th wards in order to provide voter accessibility information as well as to provide resources in regard the referendum questions that were included on the March 2024 ballot. Members designed the hanger, as well as researched content to include. This included background on the questions, their impact, and their significance on both an individual and community level. These door hangers were distributed in the 40th 50th wards, and translated into multiple languages.
Hosting APIDA Artists with Asian Improv Art Midwest
Our members collaborated with AIRMW to help promote and host the organization’s cultural events of the year. We volunteered in-person at AIRMW’s office in upper Chicago to set up and organize the space for events, meet the artists and learn about their performances, greet guests and keep track of fundraising efforts throughout the events, and of course, watch the show! Members were able to learn first hand what it meant to be an Asian American artist in Chicago, and the local efforts to advocate for the voices of these artists.
