Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) empowers young Southeast Asian women with an eye towards individual, political, and cultural transformation.

KGA began its life in 1997 as HOPE for girls, an empowerment-based reproductive health program for young Cambodian (or Khmer) women in Long Beach, CA — the location of the largest Cambodian community in the US. A sexual harassment campaign, sparked by a comment from a school teacher towards on of HOPE’s members, launched the group into the world of organizing. Eventually KGA split off from its parent organization, Asian Pacific islanders for Reproductive Health (APIRH).

Having widened their focus beyond health to include many issues faced by young Southeast Asian women (and now men, with the introduction of the Young Men’s Empowerment Program), KGA combines leadership development, political education, community organizing, and arts and media work to create “gender and culture specific approaches to youth organizing.” In addition to reproductive health, KGA has tackled issues such as police harassment, and making sure Cambodians are fully counted in the 2010 census. Last year they worked with the UCLA Datacenter to survey over 500 Khmer youth about their experiences. The results, which have been written up in a visually creative report, highlight issues of (more…)