The Korean lmmigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA) is the recipient of the 2002 JACL PSWD Community Achievement Award.

Founded in March 1992, KIWA has made significant contributions to the empowerment of Korean immigrant workers and to the development of a progressive constituency in the Korean community. Following the April 1992 Civil unrest, the Korean American Relief Fund, a self-appointed group of conservative businessmen, denied relief money to worker victims. KIWA organized 45 displaced Korean and Latino workers to demand inclusion of workers in relief fund distributions. The workers eventually succeeded in receiving $109,000 in relief funds.

In 1997, KIWA helped win over $2 million for workers from retailers and manufacturers connected with the El Monte "slave shop" operators. KIWA organized 55 Latino garment workers and was a part of the legal team that eventually won this landmark case. In collaboration with other progressive organizations, KIWA fought to maintain the state's affirmative action programs,raise the minimum wage, lower bus rates for the poor, save hundreds of union jobs at two local hotels and win dignity and respect for workers locally and internationally.

KIWA initiated the Koreatown Restaurant Workers Justice Campaign. lmmigrant restaurant workers in Koreatown labored up to 72 hours per week for as low as $2.20 an hour and faced brutal abuse from their employers in the form of unfair firings and physical abuse. The problems were exacerbated by the fact that the workers were not provided workers compensation and healthcare benefits even though they often work in unsafe work environments. KIWA organized Korean and Latino restaurant workers to demand an industry-wide reform that included raising sub-minimum wages, raising substandard working conditions, gaining a voice for workers in the industry and in the community through collective activism.