March 20, 2001 - Volume 1 Number 3

>> HONOREES ANNOUNCED FOR “A THURSDAY IN MAY” GALA <<

On May 3rd, A&PIWC will once again honor three community leaders at our annual “a thursday in may...” Community Awards and Silent Auction. Held at The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the gala will feature an array of hors d'oeuvre, an open bar, silent auction and live entertainment. This year’s honorees include:

Philanthropist EDWARD CHENG MING TANG (Grassroots Award) demonstrated leadership and vision by creating and endowing the Queer Asian & Pacific Islander Pride Scholarship that distributes $16,000 a year to Bay Area queer youth 23 and under.

UCSF’S CENTER FOR AIDS PREVENTION STUDIES (CAPS) (Ally Award) has spearheaded research to help focus attention on the needs and concerns of Asians and Pacific Islanders and other communities of color. CAPS has produced such groundbreaking HIV prevention studies as an evaluation of community-level interventions among young A&PI gay men, an investigation of HIV risk and protective behavior among Transgenders of color, an examination of drug use among Asian Americans in San Francisco, and the development of model prevention programs targeting HIV positive individuals. CAPS international research has examined HIV prevention efforts in Japan, South China, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Thailand.

ASIAN/PACIFIC LESBIAN BISEXUAL NETWORK (APLBN) (National Award) has played an important leadership role nationally through conferences, advocacy, and community mobilization most recently co-organizing The Asian Pacific Lesbian Bisexual Queer Transgender Women’s Forum with members of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on November 13, 2000.

You have until this Monday, March 26th, to be listed as an individual or corporate SPONSOR on the event’s invitation. Sponsors are acknowledged in the event’s program, on our website, in our newsletter “At The Center” as well as in advertisements donated by the event’s media sponsors. For more information call Ron Nieberding at 415.292.3400 x341 or visit www.apiwellness.org/v20/atim/atimsponsor.html

>> QUEER ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHTED <<

A&PIWC partnered with Frontiers Newsmagazine on a special issue dedicated to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Asian and Pacific Islander community in San Francisco. Pick up the issue this Thursday, March 22nd, and you can read the articles on-line for the next two weeks at Frontiers website. Afterwards, the articles will be archived at www.apiwellness.org. Frontiers also signed on as a media sponsor for our “a thursday in may...” gala and donated significant advertising space to promote the event and acknowledge the event’s sponsors. www.frontiersweb.com

>> ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER
WOMEN’S WELLNESS DAY <<

On Thursday, March 8th, A&PIWC celebrated International Women’s Day by hosting Asian & Pacific Islander Women’s Wellness Day. Over a dozen local agencies participated by offering consultations with health care and legal service providers as well as health screenings. Emceed by Nikki “Tita Aida” Calma, entertainment included hula and Filipino experimental folk dance performances. Refreshments were provided and guests also received free gift bags. Organized as part of A&PIWC’s Testing 1… 2… 3… campaign, nineteen people were tested for HIV using the Orasure oral HIV test.

>>>> UPCOMING EVENTS <<<<

** QUACK Drop-In -- QUeer Asian/Pacific Islander ChicKs
** March 28 -- Wednesday, 7:00pm-9:00pm
** A&PIWC, 730 Polk Street (at Ellis), 4th floor
Are you feeling like a lonely duckling lately? Come to QUACK Drop-in and meet some new friends. It is a fun social/support program for Lesbian & Bisexual A&PI Women that meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month. For more information contact Denise Tang at 415.292.3420 x323.

** GayVietSF Discussion Group
** March 28 - Wednesday, 6:30pm-8:30pm
GayVietSF is a social group for gay, bi, queer and questioning Vietnamese men. Join us twice a month for discussions and social activities. For more information contact Tony Nguyen at 415.292.3400 x319 or Hung Dang at x350.

** Joy Luck Club
** March 30 -- Friday, 3:00pm-7:00pm
** A&PIWC, 730 Polk Street (at Ellis), 4th floor
A social/support group that meets on the last Friday of each month. Participants gets to meet other HIV-positive A&PI's informally. Learn how to play Mah Jong or be the best in the group. For more information contact Noelle Arceno at 415.292.3420 x336.

Visit our website to find out about other upcoming events and groups.

******************************

THANK YOU… A special thanks to The Imperial Council of San Francisco, Inc. On March 3, 2001, the Millennium Dragon Empress SUZIE WONG and the Millennium Latin Emperor JOHN CARRILLO selected A&PIWC to be a beneficiary for the funds raised during their year-long reign. A&PIWC Board Chair, John San Agustin and Nikki "Tita Aida" Calma accepted the donation at the Imperial Court’s 35th anniversary Coronation Celebration held at the "Imperial Millennium Ball: An Evening of Elegance and Pageantry" at the Gift Center Pavilion. A&PIWC staffer Timmy Promlack performed a Thai classical dance as part of the pageantry in an effort to educate the audience about our programs for the Thai and Lao gay community.

We would also like to thank SBC Communications, Inc., the Pacific Telesis Group, and Pacific Bell North for awarding a $10,000 grant to QUACK (QUeer Asian/Pacific Islander ChicKs). This is the first private grant A&PIWC has received to support this new program initiative. “QUACK provides a safe forum for young queer A&PI women to talk about issues that matter the most to them. It could be about dating and relationships, violence against women, being visible in the larger gay community, societal expectations and stereotypes of A&PI women,” explained Denise Tang, A&PIWC’s Associate Director of Community Services who oversees the program.

A&PIWC NEWS is published by the
© Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center (A&PIWC).
All rights reserved.


The mission of Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center is to educate, support, empower and advocate for Asian & Pacific Islander (A&PI) communities -- particularly A&PIs living with or at-risk for HIV/AIDS. A&PIWC is the oldest and most comprehensive, non-profit HIV/AIDS services organization in North America targeting Asian and Pacific Islander (A&PI) communities. To meet the needs of our clients who are often immigrants or refugees, A&PIWC's staff speak 18 languages.

Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center
730 Polk Street, 4th floor
San Francisco, CA 94109-7813
415.292.3400 Voice
415.292.3410 TTY
415.292.3404 Fax
www.apiwellness.org

APIWC NEWS CONTACTS
Ronald A. Nieberding, Editor
John Manzon-Santos, Executive Director
John S. San Agustin, Chair, Board of Directors
For questions and further information about APIWC NEWS or to have your name added or removed from our distribution list, please contact us at APIWCNews@apiwellness.org