Introducing the AGI Wellness Grant
Asian Girls Ignite (AGI) is thrilled to announce the launch of our inaugural Wellness Grant. This grant is dedicated to nurturing the holistic well-being of our AANHPI girls and gender-expansive youth. We’ll be awarding 4 students with $500 to support their unique journey toward self-care, whether it’s creating, connecting, or simply taking time for themselves.
Recognizing the unique cultural, mental, and physical health challenges faced by our youth, this grant aims to enable them to identify and shape the resources, support, and opportunities they need to thrive. By emphasizing that the path to well-being is deeply personal and can vary widely, the grant redefines mental health and wellness, celebrating the diversity of experiences and what it means for each individual to truly flourish.
History of this Grant
Community member, Yen Chau of NineFold, LLC, generously donated $2,000 to AGI and asked AGI to use it for whatever they wanted.
Ninefold, LLC is a woman, BIPOC-owned consulting firm focused on supporting communities, organizations, and individuals in developing, reflecting, and assessing equitable strategies.
Team AGI wanted to focus on the wellness and self-care of their students. They proposed the idea of a wellness grant to AGI’s Youth Leadership Collective and with their help they created what has become the AGI Wellness Grant. AGI hopes this Wellness Grant will continue annually thanks to community contributions.
Wellness Grant Details
WHO CAN APPLY:
AGI high school and middle school girls and gender-expansive youth in grades 6-12 who have attended a minimum of 2 AGI events in the last year 2023-2024 (community events, ElevAsian, middle school and high school programs, are all eligible).
HOW TO APPLY:
Submissions can be submitted in the form of a written statement (approx. 500 words), a video (5 min max), or a voice recording (5 min max). Answer the following questions:
Share your most memorable moment at AGI and what the experience meant to you. This memory can be big (like something that you experienced at a community event) or small (like a simple moment during summer program). What matters is that it was meaningful to you.
With this grant, you will have the opportunity to spend $500 toward your own idea of self-care. Everyone has a different and unique experience of what self-care is, what nourishes them, and what fills their cup. What is your definition of self-care? How do you nourish and care for yourself? How would you apply this scholarship to increase your well-being and self-care?
Examples:
You could apply the $500 to taking your family out to dinner every quarter for the next year, if spending quality time with your family over a meal is meaningful to you and increases your self-care.
You could buy $500 worth of art supplies if making art helps you feel nourished and connected to yourself.
You could spend $500 to create a tiny library of your favorite books if reading and sharing books is a passion of yours and fills your cup.
All grantees will participate in a post interview. The purpose of this interview is to follow up on how the grant has added to your life! Did it go the way you thought it would? Did you discover anything else in the process of fulfilling your wellness submission?
Additionally, your participation in this grant is another way AGI can promote student wellness. We may ask for photos or testimonials from you to share with the community!
KEY DATES
Sunday, October 13, 2024 by Midnight: Applications Due*
Friday, November 15, 2024: All applicants are notified
Saturday, December 7, 2024: Grantees and their families are invited to attend to receive their award
*Submissions will be held in confidence by staff and reviewers. Depending on what is described, submissions may need to be approved by a parent or guardian.
Panel of Reviewers
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Yen Chau, is an independent consultant working with community and philanthropic organizations. When she’s not supporting learning and strategy, she’s in the kitchen or exploring and travelling with her family. Her favorite wellness practice is to be outside camping somewhere with no cell signal.
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Hello! My name is Saige Ju (she/her) and I am a biracial Korean and Caucasian American. I was an AGI student for about 5 years before I graduated high school. I am currently a freshman at UCLA studying microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and in my free time I enjoy dancing, acting, doing research, hanging out with friends and shopping with my sister. My favorite self care/ wellness practices are creating new dance choreography, going to see Broadway shows with my family and online shopping on prime day (haha!). I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to review AGI wellness grant submissions!
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I am a high school student and an AGI youth leader collective member. I enjoy aerial dance and painting in my free time. I also love reading and hanging with my friends.
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Akemi Tsutsui-Kunitake is a multidisciplinary artist and instructor of Japanese arts based in Denver, Colorado. She is most well-known for her fude brush 筆 ink illustrations in which she uses a single traditional Japanese brush. Her imagery blends themes of Japanese folklore with Western mysticism, inspired by the intersectionality of cultural tradition, ancestral wisdom and modern identity. As a lifelong student of Shotokan karate, she is a three-time USA Karate Team Pool member and was a member of the 2021 USA Karate Team as a women’s kata athlete. As karate embodies so many elements that are integral to the Japanese American experience, she describes karate as her ethnic and spiritual identity in motion. Akemi teaches karate at Colorado Budokan and Colorado School of Mines. She is also an instructor at Ritualcravt School where she hosts classes on Japanese folk traditions.
Favorite self-care practice:
Exercising through weightlifting or following 80's dance workouts on YouTube.
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Dr. DJ Ida is the Senior Advisor and Executive Director Emeritus at the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA). She has over forty years of experience working with Asian American/Pacific Islander communities. In an effort to improve the quality of care for AANHPIs she helped develop Growing Our Own to train clinicians on how to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services; Achieving Whole Health to train community members to become Wellness Coaches; and the Mental Health Interpreters Training to work in mental health settings recognizing the unique challenges faced when interpreting with immigrant and refugee populations.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Does my submission have to be a certain length?
A: Submissions can be submitted in the form of a written statement (approx. 500 words), a video (5 min max), or a voice recording (5 min max).
Q: How will I receive my scholarship funds?
A: Students will be rewarded $500 AGI dollars. AGI dollars can be used by submitting orders to AGI for AGI to buy on your behalf, or AGI can provide reimbursement for the items purchased. Team AGI will work with the grantees' families to determine the best approach.
Q: Who will be reviewing submissions and choosing recipients?
A: Your submissions will be reviewed by a panel of 5 impartial Reviewers. The panel of Reviewers can consist of students (who did not apply for a scholarship), AGIWC members, past storytellers, board members, and AGI supporters in the community.
Q: Why is AGI doing this?
A: AGI is passionate about supporting student wellness. It brings us great joy to bring you joy. We love getting to know more about you and love learning about your self-care/wellness activities and rituals. What activities help you feel grounded and connected to yourself? We want to know!
About Asian Girls Ignite
Founded in October 2020, Asian Girls Ignite is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for AANHPI girls and gender-expansive youth to celebrate their individual and collective power. We use storytelling to empower the next generation to write their futures in their own voice. Our programs and events nurture social-emotional learning to help our students grow in resilience, empathy, and self-awareness.
