“I’ve realized that one person’s actions can help make a difference, but that true success is found in our collective power and action—empowering the community to make the change it needs. The Women’s Foundation has played a key role in making this happen.” – Julia Liou, Co-Founder, CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative

The Collaborative was honored by the Women’s Foundation of California at the 2011 Momentum Awards for our ongoing work supporting low-income women in California, recognizing our efforts to pass the San Francisco Nail Salon Recognition Ordinance and the California Safe Cosmetics Act. The Women’s Foundation was the first funding agency that supported the Collaborative when we were founded in 2005.

The Collaborative was also excited honored by the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum at the Voices 2011 Conference in Washington, DC. The Collaborative received the Community Health Champion Award for making significant contributions and providing community leadership in moving forward the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) health agenda. The APIAHF is a health justice organization that works to generate policies, programs, and systems changes to improve the health of AANHPI communities.

In conjunction with our National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance partners, the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative co-led a Healthy Salons Week of Action in May 2011 in Washington, DC! The action-packed week included:

A Congressional Briefing focused on salon worker health and safety elements of the Federal Safe Cosmetics Act . Advocates, research experts, and hair and nail salon workers/owners spoke of the need for increased regulation of the cosmetics industry, shared new research documenting health risks associated with exposure to toxins in cosmetic products, and spoke of the need to pass the Federal Safe Cosmetics Act.

A White House Interagency Meeting hosted by the EPA and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders that included officials from the EPA, FDA, OSHA, Department of Labor, NIOSH, NIEHS, and other federal agencies with jurisdiction over salon worker occupational health and safety. The Alliance also presented the agencies with key Policy and Regulatory Recommendations.

Congressional Hill Visits conducted by advocates and salon workers to key congressional offices to educate on occupational exposures and other concerns facing salon workers, and to advocate for the passage of the Federal Safe Cosmetic Act.

The Collaborative was excited to bring California salon workers to Washington, DC for the first time as they shared testimonies on their workplace experiences, exposures and health impacts.  The Healthy Salons Advocacy Week provided an important national platform for the Collaborative and the Alliance to reach the US Congress and key federal regulatory agencies on salon worker health and safety issues. In addition, on behalf of the Alliance, NAPAWF released Removing the Topcoat: Understanding Federal Oversight of Nail Salons, which provides an overview of the various roles that federal agencies have in overseeing health and safety of salon workers.

The Week of Action activities earned a significant amount of media attention and coverage, including the Wall Street Journal and the The Washington Times.

For More Information:

For more information or to get involved with the National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance, please contact Christine Harley, Policy and Programs Director at the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum at 202-470-3170 or charley@napawf.org.