Monsoon Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity

Monsoon Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (formerly, Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa) serves victims/survivors of gender-based violence in Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Iowa. Monsoon’s mission is to end all forms of gender-based violence and build healthy communities through transformative justice and social change. The organization functions as a resource, advocate and support for the API population in Iowa affected by domestic violence and sexual assault by providing crisis advocacy; individual and group counseling; assistance involving law enforcement; legal advocacy; court accompaniment; medical support and advocacy; assistance with housing, education, employment, and government benefit applications; information and referrals; a community resource center; community outreach and education; youth internships; and youth programming. It also extends technical assistance to other programs in providing services to API communities in Iowa and nationally and in the U.S. Territories in the Pacific through the National Organization of API Ending Sexual Violence (NAPIESV). Furthermore, Monsoon collaborates with other service providers and government agencies to enhance services as well as advocates for victims at systemic levels. Monsoon’s direct services and community outreach and education are intentional; that is, the organization was created more than a decade ago because culturally and linguistically specific services for victims of gender-based violence in API populations in Iowa was sorely lacking and it continues to carry out that vision. Monsoon’s advocates, interns, and volunteers are multilingual and the languages spoken include Vietnamese, Karen, Burmese, Thai, Lao, Hmong, Mandarin, Hindi, Marathi, Konkani, Khmer, Tagalog, Kapampangan, and Arabic. www.monsooniowa.org