NAPAWF 30th Anniversary Celebration

30 Years of Showing Up

Los Angeles • October 3, 2026

For three decades, when AANHPI women, families, and communities have needed a voice, resources, or collective action, NAPAWF has shown up.

On October 3, we’re bringing together leaders, advocates, creators, philanthropists, movement partners, and friends for an Evening of Community — a night to reflect on where we’ve been, respond to what our communities need now, and imagine what comes next.

Suggested donation: $250. Pay what you can.

NAPAWF 30th Anniversary Evening of Community
An Evening of Community

What Showing Up Means Now

Thirty years is a milestone worth celebrating. It is also an opportunity to ask what our history requires of us now.

For NAPAWF, showing up has always meant responding to our communities’ needs and putting our values into action.

  • Standing with AANHPI women and families through this challenging political moment
  • Investing in grassroots organizations doing essential work with shrinking resources
  • Honoring leaders and advocates who embody NAPAWF’s spirit of showing up
  • Telling stories that reflect the full diversity and resilience of AANHPI communities
  • Making room to recognize our victories and create joy together through creativity, humor, and connection

This year, funds raised through our 30th Anniversary Celebration will provide meaningful support for the Wells-Wonsley family and NAPAWF’s Gender Justice Collaborative.

Where Your Support Is Going

Who We’re Showing Up For

Christine Wells-Wonsley and family

The Wells-Wonsley Family

Nolan Wells was an 18-year-old Black and Filipino American young man whose family reflects the beautiful diversity of the broader AAPI community.

His mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, is a Filipina American nurse practitioner who has spent her career caring for others and is now advocating for her own family.

Christine and Nolan’s father have been unable to work since Nolan’s death and have faced significant financial burdens as they grieve their son and continue seeking transparency and answers about what happened to him.

NAPAWF was founded to ensure AANHPI women have the power to advocate for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Showing up for families like this one — multiracial families, caregivers, healthcare workers, and parents fighting to be heard — is deeply connected to our mission.

Funds raised will help support the Wells-Wonsley family during this incredibly difficult time.

Christine has spent her life caring for others. Now our community has an opportunity to show up for her and her family.

NAPAWF Gender Justice Collaborative

The Gender Justice Collaborative

NAPAWF launched the Gender Justice Collaborative in 2023 after AAPI gender justice leaders across the country told us they needed stronger connections, resources, and support.

Today, the Collaborative brings together seven AANHPI-serving grassroots organizations working on gender-based violence, direct services, civic engagement, reproductive justice, and community power-building.

Organizations on the ground are helping families navigate fear and uncertainty around immigration enforcement, threats to health care and reproductive rights, economic insecurity, and gender-based violence — while many nonprofits are facing funding cuts and shrinking resources.

They are being asked to do more with less at exactly the moment their communities need them most.

Proceeds will support:

  • Arizona AANHPI Advocates
  • Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project
  • Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
  • Jahajee
  • Korean American Family Service Center
  • Laotian American National Alliance
  • Asian Texans for Justice

Supporting the Gender Justice Collaborative means investing directly in grassroots organizations that show up for AANHPI women and families every day.

Our History

30 Years of Showing Up

NAPAWF’s story began in 1996, when more than 100 Asian American and Pacific Islander women identified a critical gap in AAPI representation within the national feminist movement.

They saw that our communities needed a voice. So they created NAPAWF.

Over the three decades since, our strategies and issue areas have evolved, but the principle at the heart of our work has remained the same.

When our communities need us, we show up.

We Belong Together

NAPAWF and the National Domestic Workers Alliance created We Belong Together to mobilize women around immigration policies rooted in the dignity of women, children, and families. Now-Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal served as lead consultant on the campaign before entering Congress.

100 Women, 100 Miles

In 2015, NAPAWF co-organized the 100 Women, 100 Miles pilgrimage with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, as women marched from an immigrant detention center in Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C.

Justice for Purvi Patel

NAPAWF joined Asian American and women’s health advocates in challenging the imprisonment of Purvi Patel after a pregnancy loss.

COVID-19 and Anti-Asian Violence

During the pandemic, NAPAWF expanded civic engagement and voter outreach while responding to fear, misinformation, and violence affecting AANHPI communities.

Abortion Access After Roe

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, NAPAWF helped found Abortion Access Now to fight for federal protections and meaningful abortion access.

Investing in Gender Justice Leadership

When grassroots gender justice leaders told us they needed stronger connections and resources, NAPAWF created the Gender Justice Collaborative.

Thirty years later, showing up remains at the heart of who we are.
An Evening of Community

The Evening

October 3 will be a night to reconnect, recognize our victories, hear the stories that shaped this movement, and create joy together.

Lilan Bowden
Hosted By

Lilan Bowden

Actor, director, and comedian Lilan Bowden will host NAPAWF’s 30th Anniversary Evening of Community.

Part of the Evening

Joining Us on October 3

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
Honoree

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Congresswoman Jayapal is being recognized for her longstanding leadership and advocacy on behalf of AANHPI communities and her work to advance the rights and voices of women, immigrants, and communities too often left out of our political system.

Her connection to NAPAWF’s history reaches back before her time in Congress. She served as lead consultant on We Belong Together, the campaign created by NAPAWF and the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

NPR Inheriting podcast
Honoree

NPR’s Inheriting

The producers of Inheriting give AAPI families the opportunity to tell their own stories while exploring the history that shaped them.

Guests will receive an exclusive preview of the podcast’s upcoming second season, exploring how U.S. immigration policy has shaped families’ lives.

Asian AF
Performance

Asian AF

Improv troupe Asian AF will bring comedy, creativity, and joy to the evening.

Plan Your Evening

Join Us on October 3

Date Saturday, October 3, 2026
Location Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza, Los Angeles, California
Attire Cocktail or Global Cultural Attire
Suggested Donation $250 — Pay what you can

Additional attendee logistics will be shared directly with registered guests.

Traveling to Los Angeles?

Hotel & Travel

NAPAWF has secured a room block at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza, the site of our 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Guests traveling from out of town can reserve accommodations through NAPAWF’s room block while availability lasts.

Room Block Reservation Deadline Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM Pacific Time

We recommend booking before the deadline to secure the group rate and room availability.

Additional information about transportation and attendee logistics will be shared with registered guests as October 3 approaches.

Sponsorship

Show Up With Us

For three decades, NAPAWF has shown up for AANHPI women, families, and communities.

This anniversary is an opportunity for our partners to show up, too.

Sponsorship of NAPAWF’s 30th Anniversary Celebration helps bring our community together while putting resources back into the people and grassroots organizations carrying this work forward.

This is not only an investment in an anniversary event. It is an investment in the people showing up for our communities every day.

30 Years of Showing Up

#NAPAWFShowsUp

Showing up is how NAPAWF began.

It is how this movement grew.

And it is how we will move forward.

Follow #NAPAWFShowsUp as we share stories from our first 30 years, introduce the people and organizations we are honoring and supporting, and celebrate the many ways AANHPI women and communities continue to show up for one another.

Thirty years is not only an opportunity to look back at what we accomplished. It is an opportunity to decide how we show up for one another now — and for the next 30 years.