Our Mission

The Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) is a movement home for pan-Asian communities in Greater Boston. We are a member-led organization committed to building grassroots power through political education, creative expression, and issue-based and neighborhood organizing.

A woman with long brown hair stands in front of a crowd of people at an outdoor gathering, where they are lined up with food plates in hand. The scene takes place in a parking lot shaded by trees with parked cars and a basketball hoop visible in the background.

Our Vision

At AARW, we envision a world that is free from violence and oppression, where people can live with dignity and have their basic needs met with ample opportunities to thrive. We seek a future that honors all Asian Pacific Islander communities, including diasporic and Indigenous People of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, Pacific and Caribbean Islands, Native Hawaii, and Oceania.

A man and a young girl wearing face masks smiling and waving outdoors, with a body of water and people in the background.

Our Values

  • We sustain our drive for movement building by leading with solidarity, love, and compassion for each other. In partnership with other marginalized communities, we feed a collective hunger for spaces of healing and sanctuary. We organize in order to heal from both interpersonal and structural harm, as well as to move toward radical, transformative relationships. This healing must also include sustainable stewardship of public goods and natural resources including land, air, transportation, food, water, and housing. 

  • We approach organizing with the perspective of meeting people where they are, increasing accessibility, and pushing ourselves to grow together. Our organization prioritizes learning and adjusting to accommodate the needs of those seeking to join the Workshop. We expect new issues to arise with the ebb and flow of political and social systems, so AARW evolves to embrace shifting tides with both flexibility and resolve to fulfill our mission.

  • As leaders, artists, and organizers, we wield creativity to expand the perceived limits of what futures are possible. Through creative expression, we exercise autonomy over how our stories are presented and shared. We lean on our collective and varied histories to ground us as we build the future together. We do not shy away from asking each other challenging questions through critical dialogue. We are not afraid to turn forward-thinking ideas into reality.

  • Relationships in and across communities require mutual trust and effort over the long term. The Workshop exercises self-reflection through building deep relationships between individuals and communities, while critically examining the legacy of colonialism and other forms of violence. We commit to engaging intergenerationally and cross-ethnically to develop leadership capacity and build grassroots power. AARW is driven by our members and grounded in the leadership of queer, trans, and gender expansive people. We amplify voices that otherwise risk silence or exclusion.