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Our History

Monsoon was founded in August 2003 as a culturally specific Asian organization, serving victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and conducting community awareness activities and prevention work.

The group came about as the result of the lack of adequate institutional response in Iowa to Asians seeking or needing support to end violence in their families and communities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2005, Asians in Iowa were 1.4 percent of the population compared with 4.3 percent of the national population. Currently, Iowa has about 37,000 people of Asian descent, representing 43 nations, from Southeast Asia to the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and the Middle East. They are immigrants with different cultures, languages, customs and religions who have been settling in the state from about 150 years ago. However, the first large-scale Asian immigration was in the 1970s when former Gov. Bob Ray opened the state to refugees from war-torn Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Monsoon began as the brainchild of Mira Yusef, who is now the Executive Director, and Shashi Tenneti, who has since left the group. The initial assortment of Asian core committee members/volunteers has evolved — growing, decreasing, changing; presently, Monsoon was made up of four core committee members, with a community support base of up to 20 members. In its first year, the group was staffed by an AmeriCorps member employed through Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault (IowaCASA). With the support of IowaCASA, in the form of training, space, communication, equipment and supplies, and with a full-time employee, Monsoon experienced much early success in terms of community awareness, offering 15 community events, conducting 18 core committee and volunteer meetings, and providing direct services to 14 clients until the end of 2004. Some of the group’s members received training in domestic violence advocacy from Children and Families of Iowa (Family Violence Center), IowaCASA and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Des Moines. The group also received domestic violence advocacy training from an Office on Violence Against Women technical assistance provider, the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco. The Asian Women’s Shelter has developed a service model, the Multi-lingual Advocate Model, which works successfully in Asian communities and which Monsoon has adopted. Because of the cultural and language diversity within Asian communities in the United States, the model encourages training of volunteers from specific communities, who then work with paid staff to provide services. In 2004, Monsoon also sought funding from the Crime Victim Assistance Division for a full-time position, as part of IowaCASA, in order to continue the work. At that time, Monsoon was advised to continue its organizing efforts using the AmeriCorps stipend paid position. Since the departure of Ms. Yusef, Monsoon and IowaCASA tried diligently to find a candidate from the Asian community for the AmeriCorps position. Despite many mailings, e-mailings, advertising both in mainstream and culturally specific media, personal contacts and college searches, the groups were unable to locate a qualified applicant. From late 2004 through 2007, Monsoon has continued as a volunteer organization, with some staff support from either IowaCASA employees or an AmeriCorps worker who is not from the Asian community. Monsoon’s major challenges are lack of staff and funds.

In 2007, Monsoon became a 501(c) (3) organization and was successful in obtaining federal and state funding for its work in providing services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in the Asian community and violence prevention programs targeting Asian youths living in Iowa. Monsoon hired Mira Yusef as its first executive director and officially “opened its door for business” on December 15th, 2007.