Founded in 1987 as a grassroots response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in communities of color, A&PI Wellness Center is the oldest nonprofit organization in North America focusing on A&PI communities around sexual health and HIV/AIDS services. To meet the needs of our clients who are mostly immigrants or refugees, A&PI Wellness Center staff also speak many Asian languages.
| 2006 |
Asian & Pacific
Islander Wellness Center Welcomes Lance Toma, LCSW,
as New Executive Director! |
| 2006 |
Gay
Asian Pacific Alliance honors A&PI Wellness Center
with Community Ally Award on 11/10. |
| 2006 |
Mayor
Gavin Newsom honors A&PI Wellness Center at the
First Annual Tribute to Queer A&PI Culture and
History at San Francisco City Hall. |
| 2006 |
Executive Director
John Manzon-Santos announced that he is stepping down
after 10 years of
dedicated work |
| 2006 |
Vice
Admiral Richard Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General, joins
Asian & Pacific Islander
Wellness Center in commemorating National A&PI
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. |
| 2006 |
Jason
Scott Lee joins Asian & Pacific
Islander Wellness Center in commemorating National
Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day,
on Friday, May 19 and celebrates its 20th Year of Community
Leadership. |
| 2006 |
Over
sixty-five participants from Tenderloin neighborhood
attended our 4th Annual ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER WOMEN & GIRL’S
DAY! |
| 2006 |
Long-time sister agency, Asian
Women’s Shelter, honors A&PI Wellness Center
at their 18th annual event. |
| 2005 |
We
collaborated with Quan Yin Healing Arts Center,
Project Open Hand and Shanti to provide a space
for meditation and remembrance, food and conversation,
and HIB testing and therapeutic massage for clients
on World AIDS Day. |
| 2005 |
Transgender program offers
employment workshops. |
| 2005 |
Thirteen
queer A&PI
students were awarded at Pride scholarship endowed
by philanthropist and community leader Edward Cheng
Ming Tang. |
| 2005 |
Fire & Ice, benefited
A&PI Wellness Center with two unique and spectacular
performances for an audience of 1,200. |
| 2005 |
For
the 6th year in row, we coordinated a weekend of
A&PI LGTB pride with
free mobile rapid HIV testing, A&PI Pride stage;
A&PI pavilion of local community organizations;
and Banyan Tree float. |
| 2005 |
A&PI Wellness Center
coordinates the First National A&PI HIV/AIDS
Awareness Day on May 19th; Family Trees on National
A&PI HIV/AIDS Awareness Day; and commemorated
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with MIX’05,
our annual event which raised $50,000 |
| 2005 |
On
May 16th, we convened a press conference at San Francisco
City Hall to promote the National A&PI HIV/AIDS
Awareness Day and to unveil our local, Chinese-language
anti-stigma campaign-One
Mind Opened, One Heart Touched, One Life Changed. |
| 2005 |
Miss
Hawai’i 2004, Olena
Rubin , a powerful A&PI role model and charismatic
ambassador in the fight against HIV/AIDS, brought the
aloha spirit to A&PI Wellness Center to help promote
The Banyan Tree Project’s First National A&PI
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to local ethnic and LGTB press. |
| 2005 |
Planned and hosted Family
Style: Recipes for Successful HIV Prevention Programs
for Asians & Pacific Islanders, a national
training to build capacity in HIV prevention program
development, drawing 60 community-based attendees
from the Federal States of Micronesia to Boston. |
| 2004 |
A&PI
Wellness Center hosts HIV activists from Japan! |
| 2004 |
A&PI
Wellness Center publishes its FIRST-EVER Community
Report. |
| 2004 |
300
surveys administrated by twelve vibrant bilingual
Chinese youth volunteers in
Chinatown for our HIV Anti-Stigma Campaign in Chinese
Community. |
| 2004 |
A&PI Wellness Center Names Jan
Masaoka Chair of its Board of Directors. Helen
Zia honored by NGLJA. |
| 2004 |
A&PI Wellness Center Addresses
Same Sex Marriage: our deputy director, Lance Toma
gave speech at the Asian & Allies Rally for Marriage
Equality Event on August 8, 2004. |
| 2003 |
A&PI
Wellness Center opens two satellite offices in Oakland
and Daly City. |
| 2003 |
HIV/AIDS
Anti-Stigma Initiative funded by Ford Foundation. A&PI
Wellness Center is one of 5 organizations across the
country funded to research and conduct a stigma-reducing
media campaign for Chinese and Vietnamese communities. |
| 2002 |
A&PI
Wellness Center convenes first national conference
on A&PIs and HIV/AIDS. This research summit was
convened in collaboration with Office of AIDS Research,
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human
Services and University of California, San Francisco
School of Medicine.
|
| 2002 |
Needle
exchange site for hormone injecting transgenders established. |
| 2002 |
The number of HIV-positive CARE clients
receiving services from A&PI Wellness Center reaches an all-time
high. |
| 2001 |
Launched regular column on sexual diversity
called Paying Attention in
AsianWeek — the only national English language news weekly
for Asian Pacific Americans. |
| 2001 |
TECP becomes CSTEP—California
State Treatment Education Program - and expands statewide in California. |
| 2000 |
A&PI Wellness Center receives
the Pink Peacock Award from Trikone, an international South Asian
queer organization, at their DesiQ2000 national conference. |
| 2000 |
Establishment of a three-year, research
project with UCSF's Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS).
This partnership allows A&PIWC both to offer additional prevention
services to 300 men and ensure that our programs are rigorously
evaluated, research-based, and cutting-edge. |
| 2000 |
Initiates HIV primary prevention program
for HIV-positive A&PIs, one of four partnerships focusing on
People of Color in California, made possible by the Northern California
Grantmakers. The program doubles the number of hours of psychotherpy
we can offer our clients. |
| 2000 |
Produces the Clinician's
Guide to Working with Asians and Pacific Islanders with HIV,
a practical resource for medical providers who are confronted
with basic cultural challenges presented by A&PI patients
in healthcare settings, now downloadable on our website. |
| 2000 |
Distributes $16,000 in scholarships distributed
in the inaugural year of our annual Queer Asian & Pacific Islander
Pride Scholarship Fund thanks
to the generosity of philanthropist Edward Cheng Ming Tang. |
| 2000 |
Launches the first ever Asian & Pacific
Islander Pride Stage, which broadcasted
important prevention messages to the more than 750,000 people attending
the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration. |
| 2000 |
Establishment of QUACK —
Queer Asian & Pacific Islander Chicks — a new support
program that creates a young women's-only space through monthly
workshops, drop-ins and socials. QUACK members develop essential
skills and gain information to make well-informed decisions about
their sexual health and well-being. |
| 1999 |
Establishment of mobile and on-site HIV
testing—Wellness Wednesdays. |
| 1999 |
The Video, There Is No Name For This, is
reviewed and approved by the SF Unified School District for inclusion
in the curriculum for middle and high schools. |
| 1998 |
The Rice Girls make their debut at the
Go Boy Go! Contest at the N'Touch: Stickee, Wilde, Jasmine, Fried
and Steamed Rice—A&PI
Wellness Center's original ambassadors of HIV/AIDS Prevention and
Education—perform a medley of the Spice Girls' greatest hits. |
| 1998 |
A&PI Wellness Center hosts its First
Annual "a
thursday in may" Community Awards and Silent Auction
Event at the Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park. |
| 1998 |
Collaborations with neighborhood providers
allow A&PI
Wellness Center to provide on-site primary medical
care (Tom Waddell Health Center); psychiatric
consultation (Family Service Agency); and housing assistance
(San Francisco AIDS Foundation). |
| 1998 |
Establishment of Treatment Education Certification
Program (TECP), a collaboration with Project Inform. TECP provides
comprehensive, multi-day trainings on all aspects of HIV treatment
to non-medical HIV service providers throughout San Francisco. |
| 1997 |
A&PI Wellness Center's Visibility
Campaign completes production on There Is No Name For This - Chinese
in America Discuss Sexual Diversity, a trilingual video targeting
homophobia and heterosexism in the Chinese community through a
broad spectrum of interviews with activists, family members and
community leaders, straight and gay. |
| 1996 |
A&PI Wellness Center moves to
its current location in
the Tenderloin at 730 Polk Street. |
| 1996 |
John Manzon-Santos is hired as the new
Executive Director. |
| 1996 |
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center
(A&PI
Wellness Center) is formed out of the merger of Asian AIDS Project
and Living Well Project. A&PI Wellness Center becomes the largest
and most comprehensive A&PI-focused HIV/AIDS organization in
North America. |
| 1995 |
Volunteer services,
which provides practical and emotional support for HIV+ A&PIs,
is named "Ohana" (which means "family" in Hawaiian). |
| 1995 |
The Visibility Campaign is initiated to
increase awareness and education in A&PI communities about
both HIV/AIDS and sexual diversity. The Campaign begins work on
the video There Is No Name
For This — Chinese in America Discuss Sexual Diversity (1997),
and collaborates with PFLAG (Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians
and Gays), to launch a support network for A&PI families—A&PI
PFLAG. |
| 1995 |
AQU25A — Asians
& Pacific Islanders Queer & Questioning 25 & Under
Altogether
— is formed. AQU25A is the first program in North
America to support and empower queer and questioning A&PI youth. |
| 1995 |
GCHP Becomes Living Well Project. |
| 1994 |
GCHP joins GAPA in marching at the annual
Cherry Blossom Parade. |
| 1994 |
Creates HIV+ A&PI Women's Support Group. |
| 1994 |
Receives first Mental Health Contract which
is more responsive to the needs of A&PIs. |
| 1993 |
With the University of California, San
Francisco, GCHP begins a three-year study on the HIV risk behaviors
of gay and bisexual A&PI men, which also evaluated the effectiveness
of prevention workshops. |
| 1993 |
Establishment of Treatment
Advocacy Program for HIV+ A&PIs. |
| 1993 |
Establishment of the National
Technical Assistance Program which builds HIV prevention
capacity in A&PI organizations and communities throughout
the United States and its Pacific Territories. |
| 1993 |
Establishment of the Youth In Detention
Program (now called the HOPE Program),
which empowers and serves A&PI youth, ages 12 to 18, in high-risk
situations: chronically truant, runaway, homeless, or involved
in San Francisco's juvenile justice system. |
| 1993 |
Establishment of the Women's
Program, which operates HIV prevention and health education
efforts (with a focus on sexual health) that serve A&PI women
who are at extremely high risk of
HIV infection due to their work in Tenderloin massage parlors,
as well as their isolation from community resources and the mainstream
health care system. |
| 1992 |
Establishment of first Peer Leader Program — Promoting
Real Options and Alternatives (P.R.O.A.) — by AAP. |
| 1991 |
GCHP establishes the first multi-lingual
case management services for HIV+ A&PIs. |
| 1989 |
AAP produces first Rubber Club community
event. |
| 1989 |
AAP hosts its first Community
Awards and Silent Auction. |
| 1989 |
Establishment of GAPA Community HIV Project
(GCHP). GCHP was formed to address the impact of HIV among the
lives of A&PIs, and develops expertise in providing emotional
and practical support for A&PIs living with HIV/AIDS. |
| 1989 |
AAP initiates the first outreach and support
programs to target A&PI Transgenders,
and forms ethnic specific Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) Programs. |
| 1988 |
An informal support group for HIV+ Asian & Pacific
Islander gay men is started by members of Gay
Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA). GAPA is an organization dedicated
to furthering the interests of gay & bisexual Asian/Pacific
Islanders by creating awareness, by developing a positive collective
identity and by establishing a supportive community. GAPA was formed
from the need for an organization to address, through a democratic
process, social, cultural and political issues affecting the gay
& bisexual Asian & Pacific Islander community. The HIV+
support group would later grow to include women, youth, and ethnic
specific monolingual groups to become the Living
Well Network. |
| 1987 |
Establishment of Asian AIDS Project (AAP)
within Asian
American Recovery Services. AAP is the first HIV/AIDS services
organization to specifically target Asians and Pacific Islanders
(A&PIs) in North America with outreach and HIV/AIDS prevention
education. |
