Asian and Asian American women back ongoing support group
By Anthony Galaviz
The Collegian
The Fresno State Asian and Asian- American Women Support group had a great beginning last spring.
Through a grant from the National Asian Women’s Health Organization last year, the group was formed to discuss various issues affecting Asian women. Because of the success, the group will continue to meet this semester and hopefully beyond.
“These groups were well attended and quite successful,” Women’s Resource Center coordinator Francine Oputa said. “As a result, the Asian women who attended the groups expressed a desire to have an ongoing group where they could come and talk about their issues in a safe and comfortable environment.
Thanks to Katsuyo Howard, we have been able to meet that need by offering a group last spring and again this semester. Our goal is for this to be an ongoing group.”
The NAWHO, founded in 1993 by Mary Hayashi, was formed to raise awareness about immunization, diabetes, mental health, cancer, reproductive health, osteoporosis and violence prevention for Asian American women and families.
“Last year, the Women’s Resource Center had a grant from the (NAWHO) to pilot a curriculum they had developed to educate and empower Asian women around the issues of sexual assault and domestic violence prevention and intervention,” Oputa said. “With the collaboration of Academic Enhancement Services and International Student Services and Programs we formed several educational groups with students and staff co-facilitating.”
The group will meet weekly to discuss personal concerns and issues relating to school, work, relationships and family in a safe context.
“We hope to increase self awareness and build mutual support among the members in the group,” said graduate student Peng Peng Eng, who’s co-facilitating the group with Mirai Yamamoto under the supervision of Howard.
“We welcome those who are interested to come by and get the feel for the group before deciding whether to continue coming.”
The group is recruiting women who are Asian or Asian American. The first meeting will be held at the Women’s Resource Center at 2:30 p.m. today.
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