Echopedia

North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (北美洲臺灣婦女會)

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North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (北美洲臺灣婦女會)

Identity Snapshot

  • English: North America Taiwanese Women’s Association
  • Chinese: 北美洲臺灣婦女會
  • Era: Contemporary
  • Geography: Taiwanese American community
  • Core roles: Community organization (TAH directory)

The North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) is a nonprofit organization founded in March 1988 in Los Angeles. Approximately 40 founding members elected 張富美 and 吳秀惠 as the first president and vice president. The organization is divided into five geographic regions with sixteen local chapters across the United States and Canada. NATWA holds an annual convention each April and a mid-year board meeting and leadership training camp each October. Since 1991, NATWA has published an annual calendar introducing Taiwanese history, geography, culture, and customs to an international audience. The organization also publishes a membership directory and a semi-annual magazine.

Sources

Role in the Community

  • Re-verify 2026-09-23 (TJJ-A09170400-12): slice article 53455d7e13136092 signatory list re-checked body-level — this org link confirmed real, dated 2019-09-03 joint-statement fact above stands; no new material. NATWA’s chapter-and-project record is held in the Echopedia work corpus:

  • Chapter profiles (2015): Greater San Diego Chapter, South West Chapter, St. Louis Chapter, NATWA Atlanta「情義相挺」(李寶蔆, 2015-07), plus the Arizona, Boston, Kansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Northern California, Ohio, and Southern California chapter pages.

  • Service projects: 關懷網 (Care Network) by the NATWA 關懷資訊中心, 2016, NATWA serves HavenHouse, and Kansas-chapter meal-delivery / soldier-care / Christmas-gift project records.

  • Culture & education: 2006, NATWA 30th anniversary (consistent with founding March 1988, Los Angeles), NATWA newsletter, annual convention meeting, and community / single-mother scholarship records. NATWA is listed as a participating organization in choral-event records — 2013 and Asian Choral Festival video.

  • Preservation: NATWA archive group collection and 30th-anniversary video.

  • Scholarship & founding record: NATWA is named as one of the host bodies of the community-wide Taiwanese American Community Scholarship Awards for local high-school seniors, run alongside 台灣同鄉會, 台灣會館, TAC and TAYA — T.A. Archives on the scholarship program, 2017-07. The corpus holds a bibliographic record of its founding president: Dr. Fu-Mei Chang 張富美, first NATWA president (1988). 廖郭珠真’s memoir 「我準備『台灣之夜』的經過」 (2016-09) is also filed under the NATWA directory class — Our Journeys 247.

  • Note on naming: corpus pages use both 北美洲台灣婦女會 and 北美洲臺灣婦女會 for the same body (typography variance, not a conflict).

  • Publishing record: the 聯誼通訊 magazine series is catalogued item-by-item in the corpus — 第六期, 1991-11, 第七期, 1992-06, 第八期, 1992-12, 第九期, 1993-07, 第二十二期, 2000-01, 第二十三期, 2000-08, 第三十六期, 2007-02, 第三十九期, 2008-08, 第四十一期, 2009-08 — consistent with the directory’s statement that NATWA publishes a magazine (semi-annual).

  • Chapter craft service (Ohio): NATWA-Ohio’s community-service program produced handmade hats and neck pillows for distribution — 社區的服務：製作帽子與 Neck Pillow by NATWA Ohio.

  • Recent chapter activity (TJJ archive): the NATWA tag page collects community coverage — Tag: NATWA, including the 南加分會 annual meeting held 03/14, reported 02/05/2020 — Tag: 北美洲台灣婦女會南加分會年會.

  • Military-family care (Kansas chapter, first-hand): NATWA-Kansas ran long-running “Care for soldiers” and “Care for wounded veterans” programs — monthly parcels to troops overseas, Christmas gifts for 10–15 wounded veterans’ families, and emergency aid (rent, utilities, car loans) bridging wounded veterans until government benefits kicked in; the chapter received a U.S. flag that had flown over Iraq (2008-05), an Operation Iraqi Freedom award (2009), and a US Army Freedom Team Salute certificate from the Army Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Army (2010) — Our Journeys 137 NATWA-堪薩斯愛心計劃.

  • Community health & visibility: NATWA was among the founding Taiwanese American groups of “Team Taiwan” at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure breast-cancer fund raiser; the NYC/NJ expansion was registered and captained by NATWA NYC chapter president 邱瑞惠 alongside TAA, WUFI, FAPA and FAHUR — Our Journeys 6「Team Taiwan」.

  • Book-donation service: NATWA’s 贈書台灣計劃 shipped books to Taiwanese schools and libraries, documented by press coverage such as《書中包有台灣心》《春風化雨》 — Our Journeys 12 筆會與台美社團.

  • Calendar holding: the corpus catalogue preserves the annual 北美洲台灣婦女會月曆 run for 1993–2018 (dozens of bound issues), corroborating the directory’s “annual calendar since 1991” claim — 555. 北美洲台灣婦女會月曆, 1993–2018.

  • Movement context: a community historian’s survey places NATWA’s 1988 founding in the wave of Taiwanese-American “ethnic politicization” after the 1979 高雄事件, alongside NATPA (1980), FAPA (1982) and the 全美臺灣客家會 (1988) — Our Journeys 357 臺美人認同的形成.

  • Joint action with other groups: after Hurricane Harvey (2017) NATWA joined the TAH Foundation, 洛杉磯台灣會館, 聖地牙哥台灣會館 and 休士頓台聲合唱團 in donating ~$87,459 total to the Houston city Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, NATWA’s share $21,090 — Our Journeys 328. NATWA was also one of the twelve groups (TAA, TACL, FAPA, TCCCNA, 人權會, NATMA, NATPA, 旅館公會, 客家會, 文藝協會, 學生會) that jointly canvassed ~12,000 Taiwanese households for the US census campaign in 1989-90 — Our Journeys 253.

  • Annual convention record (corpus holdings): handbook of the 2015 convention — NATWA 年會手冊, 2015-04 — and of the 30th convention — 第30屆年會手冊, 2018-04; convention memorabilia: silk scarf, gift of the 29th Annual Convention, 2017; a Seattle-convention memoir visit — Our Journeys 226.

  • Chapter programming beyond service projects: 北美洲台灣婦女會紐約分會 member art show in Flushing, NY, 05/2018 — art show 28; a 讀書研討會 co-hosted by the NJ chapter with the 紐約區台灣人筆會, 2018 — study group NJ; Kansas-chapter scholarship and meal-delivery project records — NATWA-KS, 2015, Kansas, 2015; NATWA community-service T-shirt — 社區服務 T-Shirt by NATWA, 2015.

  • Calendar contributors: the annual NATWA 月曆 carried named essays — 林郁子, 2015-08 (Our Journeys 160) and 楊碧珠’s 「最後的國民外交」 thanking Congressman Michael McCaul, 06/2020 (Our Journeys 355) — showing the calendar’s role as a public-diplomacy and civic-education outlet.

  • Leadership note: 張月英 (輔仁大學哲學系, Detroit) served as 北美洲台灣婦女會 secretary from 2002, handling annual-convention and registration work, after leading the 底特律婦女會 (1999) — Our Journeys 33 一家人做伙來打拼 (張炎憲, 2014-09). The corpus also preserves NATWA’s 「點心擔」 identity via its logo in 聯誼通訊第四十六期 (2012-01) — Our Journeys 154 — and the 「台灣女力行」 feature — 73. NATWA 台灣女力行, 2017.

  • Founding history (primary, NATWA’s own account): 「咱的故事——NATWA的歷史」 by 吳秀惠 and 黃美惠 (2014-11) — Our Journeys 60 — records that NATWA grew out of 全美會 president 楊黃美幸’s plan to add a women’s department, with 呂秀蓮 (freshly released from imprisonment and brought to the U.S. in 1987) invited to lead the planning. At the 全美會 annual convention in Los Angeles, ~30 women from across North America met on 1988-03-13 and resolved to form an independent women’s organization — electing 張富美 first president, 吳秀惠 vice president (and second president), with 呂秀蓮 as 名譽會長; the charter was ratified by 45 members in July 1988. The vice-president-succeeds-president rule and the 1992 mid-year board meeting/leadership-training practice (introduced under president 黃美惠, formalized by 陳麗英) both trace to this account. The annual 月曆 began when 呂秀莲 urged the idea at the 1990-03 convention; 郭榮桔 donated US$10,000 as seed money, the first calendar appeared 1990-11, and the first (1991) theme 「臺灣傳統建築之美」 was curated by 林郁子 — corroborating the directory’s “annual calendar since 1991” with an earlier first-issue date. HOLD: the directory says five geographic regions / sixteen chapters; this founding account describes seven regions under the 1988 charter (美東、美西、美南、美平原、美東南、美中西、加拿大) — likely reorganization over time, not auto-merged.

  • Named-president program record (from the same history): 方惠音 (first post-blacklist return delegation, 1992), 陳麗英 (institutionalized roles; 1994 世界婦女高峰會議), 葉錦如 (fund system, 「婦女與性」), 李素秋 (EQ lectures), 林郁子 (開源組/基金組, NATWA 會歌), 吳美芬 (選罷法, 獎學金組 — 29. NATWA Scholarship Awards), 柯翠園 (website, chapter community service), 黃靜枝 (newsletter, 「聯手組」), 曾暎貴 (921震災認養學童計劃, NATWA tote bags), 程韻如 (founded 國外臺灣婦女聯合會 FOTWA), 賴碧良 (NATWA scarves, first Congressional grassroots lobbying), 葉寶桂 (「Team Taiwan」 — see above — and NATWA II), 楊美麗 (web membership directory; WHO petition delegation to Geneva), 葉明霞 (NATWA II internships; Katrina relief visits 2005). In 2000-12 NATWA was elected a permanent coordinating member of the World Taiwanese Congress (WTC).

  • Public-facing programs in the corpus: the 「婦女信箱」 advice column ran in 臺灣公論報 from 1991-03-25 (hosted by 吳美芬 as 「阿香」, later 柯翠園 et al., to 2001, replaced by 「點心擔」); the St. Louis chapter ran the Festival of Nation — NATWA-St. Louis; the single-mother-student scholarship — 15. NATWA Single-Mother-Student Scholarship Award; and the 「Turn Trash into Treasure」 children’s-book recycling project under Care for Taiwan — 103. NATWA Book Project, 2015-02. A 2016 survey calls NATWA 活動項目最多的全國性台美團體 — 239. NATWA 活動項目最多的全國性台美團體.

  • Chapter profile pages now linked directly: 11. Northern California Chapter, 9. New Jersey Chapter, 10. New York Chapter, 7. Kansas Chapter (2015 profile set, joining the previously linked San Diego / Oregon-South West / St. Louis pages).

From the record

  • 覆核（TJJ-A09260400-19, 2026-09-26）：本 slice 文章 53455d7e（挺港聯合聲明, 2024-02-21 快照, 2019-09-04 發布）正文再驗證——subject 連結為真實提及（正文中英雙語署名清單逐一對照），無錯鏈、無虛鏈；含該文 wikilink 的 2019-09-03 日期事實已在庫 — SKIP，已飽和。

  • 覆核（TJJ-A09240400-2, 2026-09-25）：本 slice 文章 53455d7e（挺港聯合聲明, 2024-02-21 快照, 2019-09-04 發布）正文再驗證——「北美台灣人婦女會會長陳彩雲博士」署名確認見於正文，本社團連結為真，無錯鏈、無虛鏈；2019-09-03 條目已在庫 — SKIP，無新材料。

  • 覆核（TJJ-A09162345-18, 2026-09-24）：本 slice 文章 挺港聯合聲明 53455d7e 正文再驗證——subject 連結為真實提及，無錯鏈、無虛鏈；對應日期事實（含該文 wikilink）已在庫 — SKIP，已飽和。

  • 覆核（TJJ-A09171200-4, 2026-09-24）：本 slice 四篇 TJJ 文章（台美人台加人索引 6f2b431c、NATMA 標籤頁 08b82976、挺港聯合聲明 53455d7e、台美人分類頁 1a2bdc08）正文再驗證——subject 連結為真實提及，無錯鏈、無虛鏈；對應日期事實（含該文 wikilink）已在庫 — SKIP，無新材料。

  • 2019-09-03 — President 陳彩雲博士 signed the overseas Taiwanese organizations’ joint statement 「拒一國兩制！海外台灣人社團：支持香港反對中國暴政」 as head of NATWA, alongside NATPA, WUFI-USA, FAPA, WTC, WFTA, TAA and two memorial foundations (TJJ record, 2024-02-21 archive of the 2019-09-04 posting).

  • 覆核（TJJ-A09221500-6, 2026-09-24）：本 slice 四篇（台美人台加人p354 6f2b431c、NATMA標籤頁 08b82976、拒一國兩制聯合聲明 53455d7e、台美人category p3 1a2bdc08）正文再驗證 — 本頁條目確認見於正文，連結為真；日期事實已在庫 — SKIP，無新材料。

  • 覆核（TJJ-A09300400-22, 2026-10-04）：本 slice 四篇快照頁 53455d7e（挺港聯合聲明, 2024-02-21 快照）、c9dd9fb7（Covid-19 浩劫餘生錄, 2021-11-29 快照）、9a66943e（台美人台加人 p353, 2024-04-21 快照）、2ac7d756（鄉情與文化 p3, 2020-06-28 快照）正文再驗證——subject 連結為真實提及（署名清單／專欄標題逐一對照），無錯鏈、無虛鏈；含該文 wikilink 的日期事實條目已在庫 — SKIP，已飽和。

  • 2024-02-27 — NATWA president 陳慧中 (also conductor of 「白鷺鷥與水牛合唱團」) originated and produced the 台灣百合 memorial corsage for the 228 事件 77th anniversary, inspired by the Canadian Remembrance Day poppy she observed after immigrating to Canada ~40 years prior; Premier 陳建仁 and cabinet members wore it at the legislature and President 蔡英文 and Vice President 賴清德 wore it at the central 228 ceremony — TJJ report of the中央社 piece, “NATWA居功厥偉”.

  • 2021-05-13 — NATWA and NATWA 南加分會 were co-initiators of the Southern California overseas-Taiwanese joint statement supporting Taiwan’s participation in the 2021 World Health Assembly (press conference at the LA 華僑文教服務中心, alongside 大洛杉磯台灣會館, 北美洲台灣人醫師協會, TAC, TAHS, FAPA-LA and ~40 other groups) — TJJ record, 2021-06-16 (same statement re-archived here).

  • 2021 — NATWA 南加分會 was listed among the友情宣傳 supporters of the 大洛杉磯台灣會館 228 online memorial and series events — TJJ record, 2026-02-10.

  • 2014-06-30 — The TaiwaneseAmerican.org video interview 「Author Julie Wu Discusses her Novel, The Third Son」 (byline Ho Chie) includes segments of Julie Wu speaking on a panel moderated by TaiwaneseAmerican.org’s Kristina Lin at the NATWA national conference — source.
  • 2013-01-12 — NATWA II and the NATWA Southern California chapter co-hosted 「Taiwanese American Women Standing Up: A Community Service Event」 at the Taiwan Center, Rosemead CA: an Asian Pacific Women’s Center keynote on domestic violence in the API community, NATWA II’s Deana Chuang on prosecuting domestic-violence crimes, and a drive for kitchen items/toys/clothes for APWC clients — source.
  • 2012-02-22 — Screenwriter Marilyn Fu (Tribeca Creative Promise Award, inaugural William Goldman Screenwriting Fellow) told TaiwaneseAmerican.org she was slated to speak on the 「Exploring Parent-Child Relationships」 panel as a NATWA II speaker at the NATWA convention, April 20–22, 2012, theme 「Love and Compassion」 — source.
  • 2018-03-16 — NATWA II’s 2018 national convention was announced for the Renaissance L.A. Airport Hotel, April 20–22, 2018, theme 「Face Challenges, Live Better」, with a Sunday spotlight panel of filmmakers Jessie Lee, Mian Mian Lu and Remii Huang whose shorts screened at the inaugural Taiwanese American Film Festival — source.
  • 2015-12-31 — The TAH story corpus catalogues the NATWA national-body record 「1. North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) 北美洲台灣婦女會(總會)」 (bibliographic record; full text held in the vault) — source.
  • 2015-07-22 — The corpus preserves the record 「14. North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) Community Scholarship Award」 — source.
  • 2015-11-30 — The corpus preserves the record 「19. 2015年北美洲台灣婦女會聖路易分會年終慈善晚會」 — the NATWA St. Louis chapter’s 2015 year-end charity gala — source.
  • 2018-05-05 — NATWA is listed among the related organizations of the Asian Choral Festival (亞洲合唱節) hosted by the Taiwan Center of Greater Los Angeles in Arcadia CA, 05/05/2018, per the corpus record published 2018-06-06 — source.
  • 2019-02-24 — The corpus preserves the record 「North America Taiwanese Women’s Association Greater San Diego Chapter (北美洲台灣婦女會聖地牙哥分會的活動)」 — the Greater San Diego chapter’s activity record, published 2019-02-24 — source.
  • 2015-07-28 — The corpus record 「18. Choral Concert of Taiwanese Folk Music (台灣民謠演唱會) by Chime-In Chorus (拾音合唱團), New Brunswick, NJ on 05/09/1998」 catalogues the 拾音合唱團 folk-music concert (event 1998-05-09) with NATWA listed as a mentioned organization — source.
  • 2016-07-14 — The corpus record 「69. 2016 Mendelssohn’s Oratorio Elijah (孟德爾頌 以利亞 神劇) by Los Angeles Formosan Master Chorale (洛杉磯福爾摩沙聖樂團)」 documents the chorale’s Elijah performances at Laguna Woods (03/12/2016) and Pasadena (04/09/2016) with NATWA listed as a mentioned organization — source.
  • 2017-04-20 — The corpus record 「98. Asian Choral Festival (亞洲合唱節) by Taiwan Center of Greater Los Angeles (大洛杉磯台灣會館), Arcadia, CA on 05/07/2017, 05/05/2018」 lists NATWA among the mentioned community organizations of the festival record — source.
  • 2015-06-22 — The corpus collection hub 「一、咱的故事 Our Journeys」 catalogues the community-history story collection with NATWA listed as a subject organization — source.
  • 2015-06-22 — The corpus collection hub 「二、我的故事 My Stories」 catalogues the personal-narrative story collection with NATWA listed as a subject organization — source.
  • 2019-04-19 — The corpus record 「27. Interview artist at latwtvfinearts By Artist Nami Yang (李淑櫻)/2019」 carries the 2019 artist interview with NATWA listed among the record’s mentioned organizations — source.
  • 2019-08-02 — The corpus record 「150. Los Angeles Formosan Master Chorale/2019」 catalogues the chorale’s 2019 record with NATWA listed among its mentioned organizations — source.
  • 1996-04-15 — The coordinators and teachers of UC Berkeley’s student-volunteer Taiwanese language classes (six semesters, three De-Cal classes, 90+ students) addressed a letter to the members of the North America Taiwanese Women’s Association asking the organization for $500 toward their $1,000 annual funding goal, citing moral as well as financial support from national community organizations — preserved in the corpus as an Our Journeys record published 2016-05-31 — source.
  • 2016-09-19 — The corpus preserves the record 「248. 支持甘迺迪餐會花絮 / 台仙 /09/2016」 (sourced from 鄉訊 by Houston 台灣同鄉會, 08/1982), with NATWA listed as a mentioned organization of the record — source.
  • 2016-09-22 — The corpus preserves the record 「251. Invitation letter of 1st year and 7th year of Summer Conference / South East Region」 (sourced from Mr. Kent Liu 劉格正), with NATWA listed as a mentioned organization of the record — source.
  • 2014-11-10 — The corpus preserves the photo-album activity record 「19. Laguna Woods Village Taiwanese Chorale, Laguna Woods, CA」, with NATWA listed as a mentioned organization of the record — source.
  • 2015-01-11 — The corpus preserves a dedicated NATWA record 「46. North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) / 2015/01」 (bibliographic record only; full text held in the vault) — source.
  • 2016-10-14 — The corpus preserves the record 「台灣口述歷史研究室」 (Taiwan Oral History Research Office), sourced from Taiwan Tribune Issues 1302 (1995-11-02), with NATWA listed as a mentioned organization of the record — source.

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