Program Director Sham-e-Ali Nayeem Honored as National Leader
PHILADELPHIA—The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) has named Leeway’s Program Director, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, one of fifteen Asian Pacific American (APA) women leaders. To celebrate its 15th anniversary, NAPAWF is highlighting community leaders “from the labor union powerhouses to the student activists to the working moms who are organizing in their neighborhoods.” Sham-e-Ali, who is also a poet and public interest lawyer, says, “NAPAWF is building a movement to advance social justice and human rights for API women and girls, it’s an honor to be recognized by them.”
Sham-e-Ali is being honored for her work on issues affecting marginalized women over the past two decades. In 1997, as a public interest lawyer in New York City, she initiated a welfare rights program for survivors of family and intimate partner violence to challenge the devastating impact of so-called ‘welfare reform’ as part of her Echoing Green Fellowship. Her poetry has appeared in publications such as, SALT Journal, SAMAR, Roots & Culture Magazine, Mizna, and can be found in several anthologies such as Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out (Olive Branch Press, 2005), Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak (Beacon Press, 2005) and Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence (Seal Press, 2008). At Leeway since 2009, Sham-e-Ali continues this commitment, funding the work of women and transgender artists and cultural workers living in the Philadelphia area.
NAPAWF is one of the only multi-issue APA women’s organizations in the country. With chapters in twelve major cities, they focus on issues affecting the APA community such as human trafficking, immigrant rights, and reproductive justice. This year’s honorees are helping sustain the work of the organization by asking supporters to donate on their behalf.
About The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
NAPAWF is a bridge. We bridge the many issues that confront API women and their communities. We bridge the diversity of the 40-plus language groups that are represented under the Asian and Pacific Islander census category. We bridge the many places where our communities reside. We bridge the many waves of immigration of the API community: mothers to daughters and first generation to 4th generation immigrants. We bridge strategies of individual empowerment with a larger vision of mobilizing power for justice, equality and peace.
About Leeway
The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice.
(Photo by Anjali Bhargava)
