Womankind (charity)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Womankind, formerly known as the New York Asian Women's Centre (NYAWC), was founded in 1982 by a group of volunteers led by Pat Eng.[1] In 2017, the NYAWC changed its name to Womankind.[2] It is a non-profit organization which aims to empower Asian survivors of gender based violence. Womankind was initially a community awareness program designed to educate families about domestic violence in Chinatown, and then developed into a 24-hour multilingual hotline that now includes 18 different Asian languages and dialects.[3] Womankind also provides Asian immigrant women confidential services including an emergency refuge, shelter services, crisis counseling, 24-hour online free multilingual hotline, welfare promotion, support groups, parenting workshops, children's services, volunteer training, community education, and some English courses.[1][4] Each year, the organization receives over 3,000 hotline calls.[5]
Founded | 1982; 42 years ago (1982) United States |
---|---|
Founder | Pat Eng |
Type | Nonprofit organization |
Headquarters | 32 Broadway, 10th Floor New York, NY 10004 |
Location |
|
Services | Protecting abused Asian women and their children to overcome domestic and sextual violence |
Fields | Legal advocacy |
Key people | Niketa Sheth (Executive Director), Larry Lee (Former Executive Director), Karen Elizaga (Chairman of Board of Directors) |
Website | www |
Larry Lee served as the executive director of Womankind from 2009, retiring in 2019. The Board of Directors appointed Niketa Sheth as the new executive director, now CEO, of the organization in September 2019. Karen Elizaga is the Chair of the board of directors of the organization.[3]
In 1991, President George H. W. Bush issued the President's Volunteer Action Award to Womankind and also received the End Domestic Violence Award given by Governor George Pataki in 2002.[6]