RJLI (Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute) is a 6-month program that will build key analysis and skills for deepening your leadership within NAPAWF (National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum). This is the first time NAPAWF is organizing RJLI in Indiana; we have ran the program in Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Minnesota. All participants who fit eligibility requirements (listed below) will receive a $1000 stipend. If you don't fit the eligibility requirements (listed below) but are interested in participating, NAPAWF will work with you to figure something out. 

RJLI consists of multiple virtual trainings in October/November (going over basics), with shorter monthly trainings December-March (digging deeper). The trainings will cover topics such as systemic racism, reproductive justice, community organizing, power, base building, campaigns, direct action, and more. After the first two months of basic training, the cohort will then work on specific campaigns/projects tailored to their interests and the skills they want to build for the rest of the program. Participation in RJLI comes out to be a ~10 hour commitment every month. 

The October/November trainings will happen nationally with our Florida, New York, and Georgia cohorts. They will be on Saturday mornings on October 16th, October 30th, and November 13th. 

The stipend is $1000 paid in two installments (halfway in December and then at the end in March). Participants will also get access to any resources they need to fully participate (phones, tablets, interpretation, etc.). 

DEADLINE: Apply by October 1st, 2021 [DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 8TH, 2021]
NAPAWF members will be prioritized in the selection process. Sign up to become a NAPAWF member: napawf.org/membership.

CONTACT: Reach out to Seri for more information at slee@napawf.org.

Eligibility (You must meet all of the green requirements and at least one of the blue requirements):

• Commit to the entirety of the program (training, projects/tasks, & check-ins), which comes out to be 10-12 hours every month
• Open to the mission and vision of NAPAWF
• Be willing to engage in and build capacity for NAPAWF's work
• Be Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander women or trans, gender-nonconforming, or intersex people and at least 18 years old
• Based in the state of Indiana
• Include any of the following criteria: 
  • Lack access to and/or have previously experienced challenges accessing social services, such as health and reproductive care
  • Survivors of gender-based violence
  • Low-income
  • Are immigrants, regardless of documentation status, and/or members of mixed-status households
  • Live in multi-generational households or are caregivers (parents, guardians, etc.)
  • Youth (18-24) or elders (50+)
  • Have limited English proficiency - NAPAWF can provide interpretation
  • Have limited access to technology - NAPAWF can provide tablets with data
  • Are not well-represented in our chapter yet but reflect the diversity of our communities, especially Burmese, Rohingya, Vietnamese, Hmong, and Sikh people
  • Live in small towns outside of Indianapolis and Bloomington

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NAPAWF's mission is to build collective power of all Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls to gain full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities. NAPAWF is the leading national multi-issue organization that advocates and organizes within a reproductive justice framework. Reproductive justice is the human right to have children, not have children, raise our children in safe & sustainable communities, and assert our bodily autonomy. NAPAWF works on issues at the intersection of reproductive rights and health, immigrant rights and racial justice, and economic justice and worker rights at both the national and local level. We engage in five core strategies: base-building and leadership development, grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, research, communications, and strategic coalition building. 

Launched in March of 2020, NAPAWF Indiana (the Hoosier Chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum) is the only progressive Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) women's organization in Indiana. We focus on amplifying the voices of AAPI women and grassroots efforts to advocate for the issues that affect us. In the fall of 2020, we successfully ran Indiana's first campaign focused on getting out the vote of AAPI women; in March of 2021, we mobilized more than 3,000 Hoosiers and 50 local organizations to stop anti-Asian harassment and violence. NAPAWF Indiana is a safe space for all AAPI women who care about healthcare access, immigrant rights, racial justice, workplace equity, & other progressive issues that impact our communities and who want to take action together to make change. Learn more at napawf.org/chapters/indiana.