Executive Director Reflections:
One Year In
As I reflect on my first year as Executive Director, I am struck by how much I have learned about resilience, hope, and the essential role that organizations like Asian Women United of Minnesota (AWUM) play in our communities.
I have learned that resilience is deeply tied to our capacity to hope. Every day, AWUM helps make that hope possible for the women and children in our care. Through trauma-informed, culturally specific services, we create safe spaces and trusted relationships where healing, wholeness, and empowerment can begin.
I have learned that resilience is deeply tied to our capacity to hope. Every day, AWUM helps make that hope possible for the women and children in our care. Through trauma-informed, culturally specific services, we create safe spaces and trusted relationships where healing, wholeness, and empowerment can begin.
Witnessing that hope taking root has reminded me that I must nurture it in myself, too. I made a promise to keep having the audacity to dream and to keep working my hope muscle. Hope is not passive; it is a practice that must be strengthened, especially when the challenges before us feel overwhelming. Without the ability to hope and dream of what is possible, we risk becoming stuck and we cannot sustain this vital work. Dreaming allows us to imagine safer, more secure futures, and hope gives us the courage to keep building them, one step at a time.
I have also seen how often the people doing this vital work are asked to do more with less. Domestic violence services, core mission support, and nonprofit capacity remain chronically underfunded, even as nonprofits are expected to operate with the resources and infrastructure of much larger institutions. Empowering women and children must begin with supporting and sustaining the people who walk beside them.
That is why investing in small nonprofits and the vital services they provide matters so deeply: they are powerful drivers of safety, stability, and lasting change. At AWUM, every investment supports a continuum of care from shelter and basic needs to employment, financial empowerment, legal advocacy, housing, and emotional safety. Direct services are not separate from systems change; they are what make systems change possible. Although funding cuts have left our team stretched thin, we remain committed to operating our 24-hour domestic violence shelter, House of Peace. As needs grow, small nonprofits like AWUM must be recognized and sustained as essential partners in creating safety and lasting change.
Culturally specific services may reach smaller numbers because each family’s journey can involve layers of barriers, including language access, immigration status, parenting responsibilities, isolation from community, and shame. Meaningful support requires time, trust, and persistence. AWUM is steadfast: we do not stop until a woman has a path toward safety and stability.
One year in, I remain deeply grateful for our staff, partners, supporters, and community. Together, we are protecting hope, advancing safety, and helping women and children build secure and empowered futures.
Clara Haycraft
Executive Director
Asian Women United of Minnesota
