Honoring AANHPI Liberation — This Month and Every Month
As we celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month this May, Groundswell Fund reaffirms our commitment to resourcing AANHPI-led movements fighting for justice, healing, and liberation.
AANHPI-led reproductive justice organizations have long stood at the frontlines, advocating for bodily autonomy and defending immigrant rights in deep solidarity with other communities of color to end criminalization and policing.
For decades, trailblazers like Grace Lee Boggs, Yuri Kochiyama, and Kiyoshi Kuromiya paved the way for today’s AANHPI leaders. Yet white supremacy, xenophobia, and state violence persist—from ICE raids terrorizing Georgia neighborhoods to authoritarian proposals like Project 2025 that threaten to roll back civil rights and escalate mass deportations.
Still, AANHPI movements are not backing down. They are resisting. Reimagining. Building sanctuaries of care, safety, and collective power.
As a leading funder of women, trans, and gender-expansive people of color-led organizing, Groundswell is proud to support AANHPI movements on the frontlines. Resourcing their work is vital to our collective goal toward a multiracial feminist democracy rooted in solidarity and liberation for all.
Grantee Spotlight
Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP)
Minnesota
In 2024, AAOP brought together more than 40 youth leaders for its Asian Youth Justice Summit, a powerful two-day gathering where high school students and organizers explored issues like mental health, climate justice, and reproductive freedom.
They also mobilized ahead of the November election, co-leading a multi-day Get Out the Vote phone bank with ten local partners and reaching over 2,000 voters. For eight high schoolers, it was their first time phone banking—an inspiring first step into civic leadership and the future of AANHPI political power in Minnesota.
Muslim Women For
North Carolina
Muslim Women For (MWF) is building intergenerational political power in Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities through joy, dialogue, and action. In 2024, their signature events like the Sisters Workshop and Art & Food Festival energized voters across Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, and sparked rich conversations about identity, power, and possibility.
This March, MWF co-hosted a Know Your Rights event with CAIR-NC, equipping students and community members with the tools to understand and respond to harmful executive orders and policies reaching Muslim and Arab communities, especially on college campuses.