The HAP is a non-profit organization based in Appleton, WI.

To strengthen our community by working to provide opportunity, service, and partnerships to help the Hmong community reach self-sufficiency and successfully integrate into the broader community.

HISTORY

The Hmong in the United States are members of a distinct ethno-linguistic group from northern Laos. During the 1960s and 1970s the U.S. Central intelligence Agency recruited the Hmong to fight in the “Secret War in Laos” on the side of the Royal Lao government against the Communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese. The Hmong served as armed combatants during the Vietnam War assisting and rescuing US forces in the conflict. After Laos fell to the Communist party in 1975 Hmong were targeted for reprisals and many fled to refugee camps in Thailand. Most were later resettled to various countries around the world, including the United States.

THE PRESENT

Today, Wisconsin ranks third in the United States for Hmong population, with more than 47,000 residents. About 4,700 Hmong call the Fox Cities home. Fifty percent of the Hmong population in the United States is under the age of 18. There are 1200 Hmong children in the Appleton Area School District and another 500 in Neenah, Menasha, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Little Chute, Hortonville and Wrightstown. Originally founded as the Fox Valley Lao-Hmong Association in 1980 by settled refugees, the Hmong-American Partnership was established to help identify the needs of the local Hmong community and to coordinate services and educational activities.
Since the agency was launched it has become a vibrant hub of the Hmong community and newly arriving refugee communities including, but not limited to Somali, Iraqi, Burmese, Cuban, and Congolese. Today the Partnership is a vital, full-service agency, housed in its own centrally located building. It responds to critical needs of the community such as:
• overcoming language barriers,
• improving employability and job skills,
• facilitating the education of students in elementary, middle and high school,
• increasing awareness and understanding of cultural differences,
• working with social service agencies in mitigating family problems, and
• supporting local law enforcement in improving relationships with the Hmong community.

In addition to these needs the HAP also helps clients deal with other issues. On a weekly basis the staff serves 35-45 individuals who need assistance with issues such as: citizenship questions, INS applications, landlord/tenet issues, insurance questions, energy assistance, translations, and referrals to other service providers. HAP is indispensible because it provides comprehensive, culturally sensitive programs and services to clients of all ages.