About Us
History
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Dean Goishi and five other members of the Asian Pacific Lesbians and Gays (APLG) start the APLG AIDS Intervention Team (AIT) in response to APLG members being directly affected and infected by HIV/AIDS.
APLG AIT becomes the first gay and lesbian agency member of the Asian Pacific Planning Council (APPCON) and helps establish its HIV committee which later becomes the Asian Pacific HIV/AIDS Caucus of Los Angeles.
The California Community Foundation gives APLG's AIT its first external funding to develop HIV education materials in API languages - Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese.
APLG and six mainstream Asian Pacific service providers forms a consortium, The Asian Pacific AIDS Education Project and is awarded HIV prevention funds specifically for APIs in Los Angeles County. AIT's role is to develop and provide gay sensitivity training and HIV education to API service providers and consumers.
AIT hires first outreach staff. Joel Tan and Ric Parish are hired to conduct HIV outreach activities targeting gay API men at local gay bars, clubs, bathhouses and public sex environments.
Because of AIT's rapid growth, AIT becomes the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) and chooses Special Service for Groups as its fiscal agent. APAIT becomes a member of the National Minority AIDS Council, the only national minority HIV/AIDS advocacy coalition.
Support groups and Mental Health Counseling become APAIT's first direct services for APIs affected by HIV/AIDS with Title I Ryan White CARE Act Funds. Joel Tan becomes first Support Group coordinator and Margaret Endo is hired to provide mental health counseling and psychosocial support. APAIT establishes a Community Advisory Board made up of AP advocates, consumers, and activists to provide community input and direction.
APAIT participates in its first Christopher Street West Parade in West Hollywood. CARE Act Title II Funds enable APAIT to provide the first HIV/AIDS API focused case management program in LA County. Tracy Nako is hired as Case Manager. Ric Parish becomes APAIT's first Treatment Advocate. APAIT receives its first State of California funding. Dredge Kang and James Skakakura are hired for the APIT Men Who Have Sex With Men outreach and education program. Dean Goishi becomes APAIT's Director full time. APAIT starts its Testing Information program. APAIT receives Centers for Disease Control funding for technical assistance in its organizational development. APAIT conducts its first API Buddy training. APAIT has its first client Christmas Holiday party. Each client receives a food gift basket.
APAIT begins HIV outreach efforts to Samoan and Tongan youth. APAIT is the host agency for the National Minority AIDS Council's first national API HIV conference, which is held in Los Angeles.
APAIT starts its API Women's Project and Southeast Asian outreach programs. The California Community Foundation gives APAIT funds for technical assistance in reorganizing its Advisory Board.
APAIT begins its Family Room drop-in program for clients. After restructuring, Tracy Nako is promoted to Director of Client Services and Byung Chu Kang (Dredge) is promoted to Director of Prevention Services.
APAIT begins its API Transgender outreach program. The Gay Asian Support Network honors APAIT with their 1994 Dennis Akazawa Leadership Award. Karen Kimura is promoted to Director of Community Services. APAIT holds its first major fundraising event, the Amy Hill performance of "Reunion." APAIT receives the Horizon award for the best non-profit English and API language campaign for its HIV Asian Pacific Islander media project entitled "Facing HIV." The Horizon awards are given by the Asian American Advertising and Public Relations Alliance. APAIT Board of Advisors reorganization is implemented. J Craig Fong is elected Board Chair.
APAIT holds its second major fundraising event, The Community Film premiere of Elizabeth Sung's "Requiem." APAIT receives its first Labor Day LA grant for client retreats and the Family Room Program. APAIT begins new Behavior Change and Prevention Contracts for API Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) featuring Pro 96.7, Boyluck Club, Bowl of Tea and GenerAsian "Y" begin. APAIT moves to new home at 605 W. Olympic Blvd, 6th floor in Los Angeles, CA.
HIV Prevention and Crystal Clear program begins with BIenestar Latino AIDS Project as the lead. The California Endowment grants a two-year grant to APAIT Women on Women (WOW) Program. Los Angeles County gives a grant to APAIT's Self-help Peer-to-Peer Program. APAIT hosts "Open House" at its new Olympic Blvd home. Over 100 volunteers and community members attended. The Family Room is named in honor of James Sakakura (posthumously) and the Treatment Library is named for Ric Parish for their pioneering contributions to APAIT. HIV and Substance Abuse Crosstraining workshops begin at APAIT with AADAP as lead. "RENT" performance fundraiser nets over $7,000 for APAIT. Reception follows at the Taipan Restaurant with Sony Entertainment's Chriss Lee and Columbia Tri-Star's Fritz Friedman as hosts and sponsors.
APAIT receives its first Colin Higgins Foundation grant for Client Services Programs. Barangay honors APAIT with its 1997 Kapatiran (Brotherhood) Award. Asian Business League of Southern California honors APAIT at its Annual Installation Dinner and presents a grant for APAIT programs. APAIT joins two research projects: Los Angeles County's UARP Transgender Project and Health Research Association's HIVNet Project.
"An Exploration In Strings" fundraiser featuring API members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is held at the Hotel Nikko and raises over $7,000 for APAIT. Kaiser Permanente is the event sponsor. APAIT's Quilt Making Support Group presents the members' first quilts made in memory of loved ones to The AIDS Memorial Quilt, The Names Project Foundation. APAIT is selected by the Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP) to participate as a community based organization site for LEAP's Leadership in Action Summer Internship Program. The Women's Prevention and Community Services Units move into their own suite. API Women support group organizes and implements the Women's Brunch program.
The second annual "An Exploration In Strings" fundraiser featuring APA members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is held at the Hotel Nikko and raises over $29,000 for APAIT. Kaiser Permanente is once again the event sponsor. First API women's Retreat is conducted by APAIT and attended by eleven (11) APII women. APAIT convenes a service provider and community one-day Symposium on API "HIV Risk Behaviors and Prevention the Asian Pacific Islander Community." LEAP honors APAIT as a recipient of their 1999 Asian Pacific American Community Leadership Award at their Eleventh Annual Leadership Awards Dinner in Los Angeles. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awards APAIT with its first directly funded federal grant providing prevention and outreach to API MSMs in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. An Internet Program is also funded.
APAIT represents the API HIV Southern California community at the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders per President Clinton’s Executive Order at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration followed by a dinner reception at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with appointed commissioners Dr. David Ho, Shamina Singh, Tessie Guillermo, among others.
APAIT convenes 2nd Annual “Crossing Cultural Bridges” Symposium with the API HIV Caucus at AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) focusing on language access, substance using youth and the South Asian community. Findings from the symposium were later presented at the local Prevention Planning Council. The agency also co-sponsors the Gay Men of Color Consortium conference - Positive Colours - at California State University, Los Angeles. Furthermore, APAIT convenes the first symposium on HIV/AIDS in Orange County. Dean Goishi and Maryanne Foo, Executive Director of OCAPICA, serve as panelists with the Public Law Center’s Beth Fung, JD, of the Orange County API HIV Community Planning Group co-chairing.
APAIT continues its provision of innovative HIV prevention services through a four-year grant with the County of Los Angeles, Dept. of Health Services – Office of AIDS Programs and Policy. The program under the Health Education and Risk Reduction contract focuses on gay and bisexual men, transgendered communities, and women at sexual risk. In keeping with cutting edge programming, APAIT embarks on the first phase of integrating its prevention and client services becoming the Interventions Department.
Founding Director Dean Goishi bids farewell to APAIT after thirteen-years of pioneering and grassroots leadership. He is succeeded by Ruel Berris, formerly an APAIT Board of Advisors member.
A Chinese-speaking HIV-positive support group begins under the coordination of Mental Health Support Specialist Jih-Fei Cheng, along with the revival of the Buddy Program.
APAIT receives its first directly-funded HIV testing and counseling grant from the Office of AIDS Programs and Policy. Rosalinda Castaneda serves as the first HIV testing counselor.
In celebrating fifteen years of community service, APAIT hosts a Pancake Breakfast and Volunteer Appreciation Awards on March 24, 2002. The agency begins its relationship with AmeriCorps Vista with the internship of Volunteer Coordinator Marie Auyong. A year later, she joins APAIT as an employee in the same capacity ushering in an active APAIT Volunteer program and reviving the agency newsletter APAIT Pulse.
Jury Candelario is hired Interim Director in April 2002 and becomes the third full-time APAIT Director in February 2003. Joy Alumit is hired as the first dedicated APAIT Resource Development Associate Director while John Caranto is selected to lead the integrated prevention and client services – Programs Department in July 2002. The department is divided into four interventions – individual, groups, case management and outreach. An agency staff retreat is held in June 2003 at Avalon, Catalina Islands.
APAIT and the HIV Caucus convene its 3rd annual symposium on prevention for HIV-infected persons at the Patriotic Hall, a new prevention approach formulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is followed by a national meeting in San Francisco in coordination with national partners Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum and the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center. APAIT also convenes the first ever summit on Filipino HIV-infected individuals in Palm Springs, CA, in partnership with San Francisco’s Filipino Task Force on AIDS and San Diego’s Asian Pacific Islander Community AIDS Project. Longtime AIDS advocate Gil Mangaoang serves as facilitator.
The first ever “Quest for the Cover” community event is held in partnership with the internationally renowned Girl Talk Magazine highlighting transgender advocacy and awareness. The Advocacy Award was named after the dearly departed Connie Norman, a long time transgender and AIDS activist. Children Hospital’s Alexis Rivera becomes the first Quest for the Cover Girl. APAIT Outreach Level Intervention Lead Jordan Blaza and Board of Advisors President Rob Lai co-chair the event.
Congresswoman Juanita Millender-Mc Donald and the League of African-American Women invite APAIT to join in the fifth annual AIDS Walk for Minority Women and Children at California State University Dominguez Hills. APAIT receives a $10,000 grant from the AIDS Walk which supplemented resources for its women’s program.
APAIT embarks on its first directly funded research project in collaboration with UCLA/UCI Associate Professor Lois Takahashi. The research focused on the primary needs of API women at sexual risk and youth of Orange County. Findings were presented at a Southern California API research roundtable covering Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties with Abbott Laboratories as major sponsor.
Ruth Pichatwattana is hired as Case Management Specialist and spearheads the first Thai-speaking HIV-infected support group in response to the increasing HIV incidence rates within the Thai community. Noel Alumit celebrates ten years of community service with APAIT becoming the senior staff in the agency’s sixteen-year history.
Recognizing that HIV/viral hepatitis co-infection is prevalent within the API community, APAIT convenes a roundtable for clients and service providers alike, facilitated by a Cedars-Sinai Hospital physician and sponsored by Gilead Sciences. In addition, APAIT in collaboration with A3PCON and parent organization SSG host a town hall meeting to address the stigma and discrimination facing many APIs in light of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Senior Health Scientist, Dr. Francisco Sy serves as Keynote Speaker. The agency also becomes a member of the County of Los Angeles SARS Task Force created by Board of Supervisor Don Knabe.
The California Wellness Foundation grants APAIT a three-year $95,000 resource development and volunteer program contract. In addition, the agency receives its first directly funded Office of Minority Health (OMH) three-year federal grant to build HIV prevention capacity among API-specific community based organizations, LGBT social organizations and planning groups. The OMH grant officially expands APAIT’s services through the creation of the Community Development and Research department led by Tim Young, who also becomes the Orange County Director of Programs. Orange County services also expand into prevention case management through a one-year grant from the Orange County Health Care Agency. Patrick Sullivan is hired as the agency’s first OC Prevention Case Manager.
“Embraceable You: Building Alliances between the straight and lgbt API community” conference was convened at the Union Church of Los Angeles in Little Tokyo with the committee composed of leaders from APAIT, Gay Asian Pacific Support Network, Trikone (South Asian) Los Angeles, China Rainbow Association, O Moi, California State University Northridge, and the API Parents and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The conference renews HIV prevention outreach efforts towards the API faith based community. Honorable Assemblywoman Judy Chu serves as Keynote Speaker.
Ingleheim-Boehringer Pharmaceuticals grants APAIT funds to sustain its Treatment Adherence newsletter program.
APAIT re-launches its newly designed website www.apaitonline.org.
APAIT commemorates World AIDS Day for the first time in Thai Town, Hollywood, to reflect the epidemic's most recent direction towards the Thai community and as a prelude to the 2004 International AIDS Conference to be held in Bangkok, Thailand. At the same occasion, the League of African American Women awards APAIT a $20,000 grant for minority women and children. Leadership awards were also handed out to outstanding community and corporate members supportive of the API HIV/AIDS cause.
PROGRAMS AND GRANTS
APAIT receives new social marketing and public relations
grants from the AIDS Partnership California - Northern
California Grantmakers and the California AIDS Clearinghouse.
Meanwhile, capacity building and technical assistance
programs are sustained with renewed five-year funding
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) under national partners the Asian Pacific Islander
American Health Forum and the Asian Pacific Islander
Wellness Center. The new contract focuses on organizational
development, program development with emphasis on the
new CDC initiative Advancing HIV Prevention (AHP), social
marketing, and community planning groups. In addition,
APAIT sustains supplemental funding for its transgender
program from the City of Los Angeles through a collaborative
led by Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).
ADVOCACY
APAIT partners with the Southern California HIV/AIDS
Coalition (SCHAC) and the Asian Pacific Islander California
Action Network (APIs CAN) to advocate against the proposed
budget cuts targeting the AIDS Drug Assistance Program
(ADAP) and other health and human services programs
through letter writing campaigns and local, regional
and statewide advocacy rallies and visits with legislators
and public officials. Veteran consumer advocate Nancy
Shearer led the APAIT contingent at the AIDS Lobby Day
in Sacramento.
ORANGE COUNTY
The Orange County program celebrates its five year anniversary
in Garden Grove, CA, by hosting a Volunteer Appreciation
Gala. Guests include community supporters and collaborators
including the Public Law Center, the Orange County Gay
and Lesbian Center, Chronic Med Pharmaceuticals, the
Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance,
and the Orange County Health Care Agency who renews
APAIT OC's prevention case management program for fiscal
year 04-05.
RESEARCH
Community research expansion comes full steam with new
partnerships including Children's Hospital Los Angeles
to conduct a five-year study of HIV-seroconversion among
youth at risk for HIV/AIDS. A new exploratory research
was also funded by the University-Wide AIDS Research
Project (UARP) in coordination with UCLA's Urban Planning
Associate Professor Lois Takahashi to identify societal
and economic risk behaviors among HIV-infected Filipino
men in Southern California with emphasis on Los Angeles,
Orange and San Diego counties.
QUEST FOR THE COVER HITS 3rd YEAR with a BANG
The premiere national transgender pageant, Quest for the Cover, celebrates its third year on November 13, with major sponsors including The California Endowment, MAC AIDS Fund, the County of Los Angeles - Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, Red Dragon, and Wells Fargo Foundation. Melene Eleneke of San Francisco's Filipino Task Force on AIDS, is crowned the third Quest winner, with representatives from the LA Gay and Lesbian Center and Imperial Court of Los Angeles placing in the finals.
PROGRAMS AND GRANTS
APAIT receives new Health Education and Risk Reduction grants from the County of Los Angeles, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy focusing on men, women and transgendered adult and youth communities. The grants are in collaboration with APAIT's new community partner - Foothill AIDS Project, whose services include San Bernardino County.
Meanwhile, new private grants from Broadway/Equity Cares, The California Endowment, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, the League of African-American Women, Macy's Passport, the Margaret Oser Fund - Orange County Community Foundation, and Southern California Edison will continue to sustain the vital work of APAIT for the community.
HIV TESTING FOR MEN NATIONAL RESEARCH STUDY
APAIT embarks on a five-year national research study on men who have sex men through HIV testing and surveillance with Georgetown University, spearheaded by nationally renowned researcher Dr. Frank Wong and long-time community activist Vince Crisostimo. The national study includes agency counterparts in San Francisco, New York and Boston.
In the winter of 2005, APAIT receives two generous private foundation grants from Johnson and Johnson and Queenscare Foundation to expand its case management program.
2006 was a wonderful year for APAIT. It began in February with our participation in the Chinese Lunar Parade. It was the first time APAIT had marched in this parade. It was even more special because APAIT marched with API Equality, a coalition of organizations raising awareness about gay marriage. It was a first for the Chinese Lunar Parade as well. In its one hundred year history, it was the first time that an openly gay contingent had marched in the parade.
In March, the Orange County office launched Peers Empowering Peers (PEP). PEP raises HIV awareness by educating Asians and Pacific Islanders on how to talk to others about AIDS.
In April APAIT participated in the 10th Annual 5k AIDS walk for Minority Women and Children. It is organized by Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald and the African-American Women Health and Education Foundation. It was APAIT's 5th year in the walk which raises awareness and resources for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment specifically around minority women and children.
In May, APAIT participated in the Banyan Tree Project, a national effort to call attention to striking down the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS in the API community. APAIT presented two events for the occasion, one in Orange County and the other in Los Angeles.
In June, APAIT, along with the Asian Pacific Islander Pride Council, marched in the Gay and Lesbian Pride parade. We also participated in the Pride festival, an event that is always a highlight for the agency.
During the Summer months, APAIT spent a lot of time outdoors. In August the Prevention Unit produced the Midsummer Night's Dream at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. It was a night of games and costumes to highlight prevention services.
In September, APAIT Los Angeles spent a day with APAIT Orange County staff. The purpose of the day was for both offices to reinforce their working relationship. The day ended with a meal at Huntington Beach.
October was a busy month. It began with Quest, a transgender pageant that encourages the development and advancement of transgenders and celebrates the uniqueness and diversity of the transgender communtiy. Later that month, staff participated in Macy's Passport, a fundraiser for AIDS organizations. With Macy's Passport, comes Macy's Teen Night, an innovative way to showcase HIV/AIDS prevention messages by presenting safe sex games to various LA County students.
The year rounded out with World AIDS Day on December 1st. APAIT chose to focus on educating Youth, those individuals under 25 years and have know about AIDS their entire lives.
APAIT turns 20 years old!
PROGRAMMING
APAIT holds the public unveiling of the 3rd Annual API HIV Awareness Day public service announcement (PSA), “Banyan Tree Project: Rooted in Acceptance,” at the National Center for the Preservation of Decmoracy, in partnership with the Tony Cox Community Fund’s Cable Positive. The PSA promotes and encourages HIV testing in Asian and Pacific Islander households. Immediately after, APAIT co-hosts with API Equality-LA, APA for Progress, API Pride Council and several other organizations, “We Do, Too,” a forum to discuss marriage equality in the Asian Pacific Islander communities with activist Helen Zia, Rev. Mark Nakagawa, among others, serving as one of the panelists.
To celebrate the two-year mark of APAIT’s Orange County Peers Empowering Peers / PEP Program, a youth-driven formal dance gala was held in Buena Park, CA. The PEP Program trains a cadre of API youth leaders to empower their peers to prevent and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Orange County. The project is funded the California Endowment.
APAIT receives a generous grant from the National AIDS Fund and Johnson & Johnson Companies that focuses on monolingual Chinese women entitled The Chieh Mei Ching Yi / Sisterhood Project. The program is in part a response to the escalation of HIV/AIDS infections among women in the United States. The program adopts the evidenced based intervention, SISTA project, geared towards African-American women; and converts it to a culturally and linguistically appropriate prevention intervention plan to reach out to monolingual Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking women for HIV/AIDS awareness and risk reduction.
20TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION
APAIT is named the Community Grand Marshall of the annual Christopher Street West – LA Pride festival. APAIT anchors the Asian Pacific Islander contingent for the annual parade in West Hollywood which include representatives from community stakeholders such as the API Parents & Families of Lesbians and Gays (API PFLAG), Asian American Queer Women’s Activists (AAQWA), API Equality-LA, API Pride Council, Barangay Filipino organization, Chinese Rainbow Association, Gay Asian Pacific Support Network, Satrang (South Asian) organization, and many others.
To commemorate its twentieth year anniversary, APAIT holds a dinner gala at the Music Box, Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, CA, on October 14, 2007. Founding Director Dean Goishi receives the Visionary Award while Wells Fargo Foundation receives the Corporate Leadership Award.
Contact Us
Email
apait@apaitonline.org
Business Hours
M-F 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
L.A. County Office
605 W. Olympic Blvd.,
Suite 610
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Google Maps | Yahoo! Maps
tel: (213) 553-1830
fax: (213) 553-1833
Orange County Office
12900 Garden Grove Blvd., Suite 214A
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Google Maps | Yahoo! Maps
tel: (714) 636-1349
fax: (714) 636-8828
Contact the webmaster
webmaster@apaitonline.org
Mission Statement
The mission of Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) is to positively affect the quality of life for Asian and Pacific Islanders living with or at-risk for HIV/AIDS by providing a continuum of prevention, health and social services, community leadership and advocacy to the Southern California region.
Donate
