API Forward Movement

Forward: With the current state of our country and the new administration, we are faced with leadership that wants to move us backward--to roll back the rights and access we have fought so hard for in the name of racial, social, economic, and health justice. We are challenging this affront with a clear emphasis on pushing forward. Pushing forward to protect the basic rights of our diverse, immigrant families and beloved communities. Pushing forward to expand those rights and enhance access to the resources we all need to live healthy, vibrant lives in empowered communities. We want to be forward in our approach to advocacy and justice, and to support everyone in looking forward, with hope, to a better tomorrow. Movement: Localized, grassroots organizing in our Southern California API communities is the foundation for our work because we are committed to building movements for healthy change. We want to continue fusing advocacy, education, and leadership development, so that the people who are directly impacted are the people driving not only the conversation, but also the change. And for us, as a health justice group, movement means getting both physically and politically active. When we hike, bike, walk or roll together, we aren’t just exercising--we are also actively facilitating one another’s growth to become local health activists who are part of a larger movement for healthier communities. Our new mission is clear: Forward Movement is here to cultivate, healthy, long-lasting, and vibrant Asian and Pacific Islander communities through grassroots organizing. This identity honors the work we have already been doing--working with API community members throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County, and beyond to increase access to healthy foods and healthy environments--and conveys our ongoing commitment to tackling, as organizers, the root causes and systemic issues that inform our ability to live healthy lives.