We're so excited to share our new Mission, Vision, and Values, and to invite you to help us make them a reality!

We need your support to get to 100 donations by August 31, 2021! 

Your generous donations enable us to make IMPACT support:

• Continuing our "pay what you can" model for in-person classes
• Recruitment and training of instructors from the community
• Expanding programs for those who need us most

The COVID-19 pandemic has been many things, including a very long exercise in boundary setting. From reminding people to stay 6 feet away from us, to asking family members not to interrupt work meetings, to limiting hugs with friends, we all spent more than a year verbalizing our safety and comfort needs in ways we’d never had to do before. 

Congratulations to all of us! We did enough to make it to today.

AAPI folks are having “the talk” with the elders about safety, resistance, and getting home alive.  

News of Asian and Pacific Islander American elders being attacked in the streets has brought our communities front and center in the latest chapter of the long history of racial violence and white supremacy in America. 

Concern about making it home safely may feel new to some Asian Americans, but Black parents in America have been having “the talk” with their kids for generations, offering a range of advice for not getting killed by the hand of racism. Their list of not-to-dos has grown and evolved: be polite, don’t resist, don't wear a hoodie...

Many Asian Americans are now having “the talk” with our elderly parents and grandparents and scrambling for safety and resistance strategies: don't go out alone, don't ride the bus, carry a taser, call the police…

We wanted to start the new year with a heartfelt THANK YOU to every one of you. Because of your generosity, we were able to meet our 2020 fundraising goal! But more importantly, the support of our community as we crossed into 2021 has allowed us to position ourselves for an exciting year to come.

In case you missed it, here is our 2020 Report. We hope you share our pride in what we've done and where we're going!

Whether you think of this time of year as autumn, fall, back-to-school season, or PSL season, it is a time when many of us are experiencing some shifts in routine. At IMPACT we are celebrating "Pumpkin Spice Boundaries Season" and letting the season inspire us to take a look at closer look at how safe and comfortable we are feeling. While 2020 may look a little different from past years, the changing of seasons is a great time to re-examine, redefine, or restate our boundaries.

We put together a worksheet to help you take a look at your boundaries (you can download a PDF here)!

It has been a challenging and stressful time for many people as we try to work together to slow the spread of COVID-19. As our Bay Area, California, and other officials have asked people to stay at home, we have been thinking a lot about people who may not be safe staying at home because they live with someone who is violent or abusive. 

News outlets have reported higher risk of domestic violence during this outbreak, and there have been reports of high rates of violence in places like China, who experienced the outbreak sooner than we did. 

Last year IMPACT received an anonymous donation of $35,000. The note enclosed said that the donor wanted to support the leadership of women of color in the Empowerment Self-Defense field and that they wanted the money to go toward increasing the salary, benefits, and professional development of the Executive Director.

I had a lot of feelings in that moment: disbelief (I seriously wondered if the check was real), shock, happiness, relief, and eventually, that deep feeling of acknowledgement. I am here, in a field dominated by people who do not look like me, and someone else not only thinks that it is important that I'm here, but their checkbook does too. 

Donate today to support IMPACT Bay Area’s violence prevention programs! Your support will help us launch a brand-new program in 2023 for people with disabilities AND continue the life-changing programs we already offer - including programs for teens, women, LGBTQIA+, women of color, etc. Your generous gifts also help us keep all of our public programs accessible through sliding scale payments.

IMPACT Bay Area is a 501(c)3 non-profit, so your contribution is fully tax-deductible. Every online donation will receive an email confirmation for their records.

You can also mail a check with "donation" in the memo line to:

If you would prefer to become a regular supporter, consider giving a monthly donation instead.

Employer Matching

Bay Area Corporations and Companies Offering Employer Matching Gifts

If your employer offers employer matching, your donation can MAKE AN EVEN BIGGER IMPACT. Contact your human resources department for information on your employer's matching gift program. IMPACT Bay Area's EIN number is 94-3123451.

Learn about more ways you can support IMPACT Bay Area!

From as far back as I can remember, I have dealt with harassment from men. I've been assaulted...both as a child and an adult. I was stalked by a neighbor as a child, who would send me letters from next door and follow me any time I was out in the neighborhood. I later found out that at least one of my parents knew. For whatever reason, this was never addressed with the guy and I was left to grow up with a terrifying fear of being watched. The harassment only expanded as I got older. A couple years later, I was again stalked and eventually raped by one of my siblings' friends, who I'd catch following me and later began breaking into my room at night, where I'd wake up to him in my bed. I never told anyone for years. I was scared, I didn't want to make my sibling feel guilty, and I also blamed myself. I think now looking back, since I never saw my parents fight back for my safety...I never really felt like I could fight back for myself and I hated myself for it. 

I grew up believing the world was too dangerous for a woman to travel alone-- that I was not strong, brave or confident enough to go it alone. Thus, I knew I had to prove myself wrong and push my limits. For 18 months, I backpacked around the world. Alone.

During that time, I had some close calls, both domestically and abroad. Because I had previously trained in several martial art forms including Karate and Muay Thai I was able to cultivate a “don’t mess with me” attitude. But it wasn’t until I participated in IMPACT’s classes that my internal confidence and skills matched my external demeanor. IMPACT’s full-force self-defense classes blew everything else out of the water.