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APIA Women Vote
Current US Census data reveals Asian & Pacific Islander (API) American women had the lowest rates of voter participation among all ethnic groups in the November 2000 election. Compared to the voting participation figures of Caucasian women (57.7%), African – American women (56.8%), and Latina women (29.8%), less than one – quarter (24.9%) of eligible API women reported actually voting in the 2000 election. However, once registered, a high percentage (83.7%) of API women made it to the polls on Election Day. It appears that the challenge for the 2004 election lies in making sure that these women register to vote.
The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
is doing its part to mobilize APIA Women Vote!
The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is a grassroots organization dedicated to forging a progressive movement for social and economic justice and the political empowerment of API women and girls. With the help of APIAVote Coalitions, NAPAWF chapters across the country are organizing and mobilizing APA women voters for the upcoming 2004 election.
For example, the Washington, DC chapter will concentrate the bulk of their organizing efforts in the Metro DC area, reaching out to the underserved API populations. They will focus their efforts on the low – income and immigrant communities, promoting the importance of new voter participation. Working in partnership with local community organizations that provide services to APIs, the DC chapter will conduct a three-pronged approach to the GOTV campaign: voter registration, voter outreach and voter education.
The San Francisco/Bay Area chapter will focus their Get Out The Vote campaign on the education and empowerment of API communities. Their GOTV efforts will be facilitated through the education of their chapter members, local community leaders and organizations on the relevance of API women’s issues to the electoral process. They are also working to increase voter registration and outreach efforts among low-income and immigrant communities.
Both chapters, along with NAPAWF National and other NAPAWF chapters, including those in New York, Sacramento, and Seattle will coordinate efforts and utilize its network and web – based tools to maximize outreach.
Magnify the APIA Women Vote with NAPAWF!
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Contact:
Kiran Ahuja
Executive Director
202-293-2688
info@napawf.org
www.napawf.org
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