The Asian & Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center and Chaya are proud to announce that we are now one organization! After several months of exploratory pre-merger assessment, the boards of both organizations agreed to merge. We believe our formal unification will bring short-term and long-term benefits to all of our clients and the communities that we serve.

Like many nonprofits, Chaya and the API Safety Center have explored many options over the last two years to sustain our culturally specific and relevant services while insulating our programs from current economic challenges.  Although community support for our organizations has remained strong, significant declines in government support combined with shrinking foundation funding have challenged our long-term sustainability as separate entities.  The boards concluded that the best way to achieve sustainability and expand the services we offer would be to combine our operations.

Both organizations were founded in the mid-1990s and serve Asian women experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault. Both organizations, Chaya and the API Safety Center, are deeply rooted in their communities and have long supported each other. By combining resources, we will able to provide robust services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.  We will serve a broader Asian and Pacific Islander community—including East Asian and South Asian women.

This is a new chapter in all of our lives, and you have been a vital part of the process for this partnership.  We truly appreciate the remarkable dedication and trust you have placed in our organizations.

Thanks go out to all our staffs, community members, ally organizations, and funders, who provided their perspective and advice on how to move forward.  Your input was invaluable and helped us gauge support, identify key concerns, and shape our next steps.

Sincerely,

The Board