Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

During Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we are celebrating past and present AAPI women leaders in the YWCA network, showcasing their amazing work locally, nationally, and internationally, and exploring YWCA’s legacy of advocating for AAPI communities.

EUN KYUNG KIM

For the past 20 years, Eun Kyung Kim has focused on advocacy, management, and fundraising in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors—and she is the first AAPI Executive Director of YWCA Queens. We are proud to celebrate her many achievements within the YWCA movement and beyond it in the myriad ways she supports her community. Learn more about her and her amazing work: bit.ly/3ViY3jB

 

JOY HASHIMOTO

After she and her family were sent to a Japanese internment camp during WWII, Joy Hashimoto became active in the YWCA movement after her mother helped establish YWCAs in the camps. We are proud to celebrate and showcase Joy's decades of service and legacy of advancing justice.

Click HERE to read her full story.

 

Lillian Kimura

Former Associate Executive Director of YWCA USA, Lillian Kimura was a powerful YWCA Leader and advocate for Racial Justice.

Lillian Kimura was 13 during WWII when she and her family were incarcerated at the Manzanar WRA Center in California. Influenced by her experience with YWCA—which served to educate Japanese American women and girls interned at the camp—she later joined the YWCA movement at the local and national levels.

 

GLORIA CHUN HOO

A YWCA Leader at the local, national, and international levels, Gloria Chun Hoo served on the boards of YWCA Boston, Your Ywca, and YWCA USA, and she is currently on the executive committee for the YWCA World Service Council. YWCA celebrates her long-standing involvement in the YWCA movement.

Click HERE to learn more about Gloria’s contributions to the YWCA movement.

 

GLORIA LAU

Former Interim CEO of YWCA USA and current Interim Chief Strategy Officer for the YWCA National Board, Gloria Lau’s involvement with YWCA is deep and profound, and her experience as a YWCA Leader has been extensive and varied at both the local and national levels. Today, we are proud to celebrate her and her far-reaching impact on the YWCA movement.

Senator Schatz secures over $1M in federal earmarks for YWCA O‘ahu

Schatz Secures More Than Half A Billion Dollars In New Earmark Funding For Hawai‘i Non-Profits, Local Projects

At More Than $530 Million, Schatz More Than Doubles Last Year’s Earmark Funding For Hawai‘i

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, secured $530 million in new congressional directed spending, also known as earmarks, in this year’s government funding bill. At $530 million, Schatz’s earmark total this year more than doubles last fiscal year’s amount.

“We are bringing home more than a half a billion dollars in new earmark funding,” said Senator Schatz. “These earmarks will give local non-profits and projects more resources to serve communities across Hawai‘i.”

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Schatz worked with congressional leaders to ensure Hawai‘i received its fair share of federal earmark funding.

YWCA O‘ahu – $500,000

Funding will support historic preservation of the YWCA’s Laniākea building.

YWCA O‘ahu – $915,000

Funding will support improvements to the Atherton Hall and Kitchen for use as a training kitchen and food business incubator.

Original Press Release Containing All Earmarks

2023 Women's Legislative Caucus Breakfast and Bill Presentation

Photo Courtesy of House Majority Communications

Women's Legislative Caucus backs bills for working mothers and survivors of abuse

News Article Originally Posted by HPR

The Hawaiʻi Women’s Legislative Caucus introduced their bill package Wednesday morning, which includes efforts to combat human trafficking, domestic violence and instill better lactation services across the islands.

Caucuses are limited to support five bills per legislative session. WLC member Rep. Della Au Belatti of Oʻahu said limiting the number of bills that the bicameral and bipartisan caucus can support is a challenge.

"This represents our consensus as a group, as a diverse group," said Au Belatti.

"We don’t have the same ideas on all of the different issues. And so I think it’s really important that when we see these things rise to the level in this package it means there’s consensus in the committee — that we want funding for these things, that we want action for these matters and that we want to see something happen," Au Belatti added.

This year, the WLC will support the following measures:

SB235/HB579 - Relating to human trafficking.
Establishes a statewide prevention program overseen by the Department of the Attorney General to provide services and assistance to commercially sexually exploited children and to victims of human trafficking. Requires reports to the legislature.

SB236/HB580 - Relating to domestic violence victim-counselor privilege.
Expand victim-counselor privilege to confidential advocates at the University of Hawaiʻi. Increases the minimum number of hours of training a domestic violence victims' counselor must complete to be considered a 'victim counselor.'

SB237/HB581 - Requirements for child custody evaluators.
Requires child custody evaluators to complete a training course on the dynamics of domestic violence every three years. Their letter or certificate of completion must be submitted to family court.

SB238/HB582 - Statues of limitations on childhood sex abuse reporting.
Increases the time period a childhood sexual abuse survivor can file a civil suit against their abuser. Victims currently have eight years after their 18th birthday to take action. The proposal would extend that to their 50th birthday. Plaintiff may require legal entities to take training on trauma-informed response.

SB239/HB583 - Child care accreditation program.
Establish an accreditation program within the state Department of Human Services. Child care providers will obtain accreditation from a national early learning accrediting organization. Funds could also be used to train licensed early learning childcare professionals.

HCR7/HR6 - Relating to lactation consultant services.
Expand access to lactation consultants to low-income mothers. Services from a provider with a lactation consultant certification are covered under some insurance programs. But they are currently not covered by the state’s Medicaid program — also known as QUEST.

Photos Courtesy of House Majority Communications

Power Up Your Business presented by MCBL and Mana Up

The Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership (MCBL) and Mana Up have opened up applications for the 2nd cohort of our Power Up Your Business program, a new program for women entrepreneurs who are early in their online business development who will gain core fundamentals of running an online business, including website design and development, social media, and email marketing.

Applications due January 12, 2023.

Click HERE to apply or for more information.

iQ 360 Interview Series: Stephanie Hamano on Community Giving

Stephanie Hamano is YWCA Oahu’s Director of Economic Advancement leading our Dress for Success Honolulu program,. The mission of DFS Honolulu is to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Stephanie was recently featured in one of iQ 360’s blog posts that we have shared below

 

1. TELL US ABOUT HOW DRESS FOR SUCCESS HONOLULU IMPACTS THE COMMUNITY.

Dress for Success is about giving women the tools, a network of support, professional attire, and most importantly, a boost of confidence to help women thrive in work and in life. We all know that our employment and careers ebbs and flows through life and there are times when we need support to get through those transitions. Dress for Success starts off by providing women appropriate attire for interviews and employment and job readiness to help them feel confident. Once they land the job, women continue to receive support from Dress for Success in the form of support for career advancement and professional development opportunities. Our support does not stop; we are here for women when they need us along their employment journey.

 

“Our support does not stop; we are here for women when they need us along their employment journey.”

 

2. FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO HELP, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT THEM TO KNOW?

Our team donated professional clothes and shoes to the Dress for Success program as part of our annual all-company meeting.

 

We would truly appreciate support in the form of monetary donations to our program. We provide all of our services completely free of charge to all clients; we do not turn anyone away. It is because of generous donations that we are able to continue doing this. Please visit our donation page here.

 

3. ARE YOU ABLE TO SHARE AN INSPIRING STORY OF SOMEONE THAT THE ORGANIZATION HAS TOUCHED?

Renee came to Dress for Success because she was needing professional wear to job search. She had been laid off from her job during Covid and needed to get back to work. Once she received our “Styling” service, she then began receiving invitations to attend our Professional Women’s Group (PWG) events where she heard a presentation about Hana Career Pathways, a program that offers free job training through the Community Colleges. She then enrolled in the Medical Assistant program, will finish the program soon, and already has a job offer with a local hospital. She was able to participate in a job training that did not leave her with a debt, gained a skill that is in high demand and was able to obtain gainful employment. Once she starts working again, she can count on DFS for ongoing support so she can excel at her job and advance in her career. Through PWG, women learn about job opportunities, hear from representatives of various industries to consider new/different careers, and learn from subject matter experts on all things related to employment support, such as self-care, financial stability and civic leadership.