[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 16, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1153-E1154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING MIRA YUSEF AS IOWAN OF THE WEEK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CYNTHIA AXNE

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 16, 2022

  Mrs. AXNE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of 
Representatives to join me in honoring Mira Yusef, co-founder of 
Monsoon Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, as our Iowan of the 
Week.
  Mira Yusef was just 13 years old when her family immigrated here from 
the Philippines. Like many families who immigrate to the United States, 
Mira's family was fleeing an oppressive dictatorship. She witnessed 
first-hand the atrocities committed around her, particularly how the 
women around her were treated and abused. These formative memories have 
stayed with her, and they fuel her passion for helping and advocating 
for victims of gender-based violence.
  When Mira's family came to the United States, they came to Iowa as 
her mother married an Iowan who was in the U.S. Navy. She attended 
Roosevelt High School, and later she decided to go out to the San 
Francisco Bay Area where she had relatives. There, Mira was exposed to 
many other immigrants fleeing the same circumstances, which caused her 
to get more involved in advocacy and political issues. She came back to 
Iowa and was involved with the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 
where she realized there weren't any Asian activists. This inspired her 
to start organizing specifically around issues related to Asian 
communities.
  Mira went on to study these issues more closely, studying areas like 
human trafficking in multiple different counties around southeast Asia. 
She eventually graduated from the University of Michigan with two 
Master's degrees in Southeast Asian Studies and Social Work. Her 
experiences and dedicated work moved

[[Page E1154]]

her to start her own organization, which is now called Monsoon Asians 
and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity.
  Mira's non-profit organization provides direct services to victims 
and survivors of gender-based violence. She started her organization 
out of an office in Des Moines, and now has offices in Iowa City and 
Dubuque with roughly 20 employees. Mira credits the success of the non-
profit to the employees they've brought in. All of them are experts in 
their communities and are multilingual, creating a direct, accessible 
experience to those who are seeking help. Not only does she credit her 
employees with the success they've had in Iowa, but she also highlights 
how their work has made it possible for the organization to grow to 
provide more services in a broader scale. Thanks to her employee's hard 
work, along with federal funding, Mira was able to have their 
organization provide national assistance through National Asians 
Pacific Islanders Ending Sexual Violence (NAPIESV). They grew their 
assistance even further in 2019 as well, as her non-profit received 
funding for transnational work. Monsoon Asians and Pacific Islanders in 
Solidarity now serves victims in the Philippines, Indonesia, 
Micronesia, and Guam. The non-profit also works with the Alaya Women's 
Center in the Philippines focusing on sex trade issues.
  Mira and her extraordinary team have built her non-profit 
organization from the community level to a global collaborative aimed 
at addressing some of the most heinous acts of violence imaginable. 
Their tremendous work nationally and globally is honorable, and they 
are just as passionate about addressing these issues at the community 
level, along with broader issues in the Asian and Pacific Islander 
community.
  Mira's favorite aspect of her work is engaging the Asian youth in our 
own communities. She teaches them to be confident and comfortable with 
their identity, and she encourages them to find ways to help others 
through advocacy and non-profit organizations. She's even more proud 
after seeing youth she's worked with before grow up and do amazing 
things for their communities.
  Mira, her team, and the non-profit they've developed do so much to 
better our own communities, and they work tirelessly every day to 
address the evilest acts committed around the globe. Mira's journey on 
this path is one of incredible inspiration, and her organization has 
more planned for the future. In 2018, her organization was gifted a 
house that they have renovated and plan to use as a community health 
clinic focusing on mental health. The house would also serve as a 
community office meeting space, and Mira and her team have more plans 
for developing further community engagement resources. I am in awe of 
the work Mira and her team at Monsoon Asian and Pacific Islanders in 
Solidarity do every day, and I am very honored to name Mira Yusef as 
this week's Iowan of the Week.

                          ____________________