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Asian Family Support Services of Austin (AFSSA)

24-HOUR HOTLINE: 1-877-281-8371

Staff and Board of Directors

The agency has 40 staff members who provide direct services, community outreach, prevention education, and administrative support to the agency.

The Board of Directors gives generously of their time and leadership on a voluntary basis. They lend expertise and oversight in our governance, and embody our mission, vision, and values.

Impact Report

AFSSA 2022 Annual Impact Report
AFSSA 2021 Annual Impact Report

The Annual Impact Report was new in 2021; it highlights contributions and accomplishments of staff, volunteers, and donors to create a world where all immigrant and Asian people are free from physical, psychological, and economic harm.

Audit Report

2020 Audit Asian Family Support Services of Austin

2021 Audit coming soon.

The Audit is conducted by an independent CPA firm. It demonstrates that our financial management conforms with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and tests of compliance with federal government contract requirements. We publish and share our financial reports, which are audited each year by an independent auditor, so you can view with confidence how we steward gifts from our generous supporters and resources from competitive government contracts.

Photo of Darlene Lanham

Darlene Lanham
Executive Director

About Darlene
Picture of Helen Wormington, AFSSA Board Member.

Helen Wormington
Co-President

About Helen

Charles Lu
Co-President

About Charles

Rajina Pradhan
Secretary

Picture of Lorrayne Ward, AFSSA Board Member

Lorrayne Ward
Treasurer

About Lorrayne
Picture of Michelle Arishita

Michelle Arishita

About Michelle
Picture of Kirtana Banskota

Kirtana Banskota

About Kirtana
Picture of Al Bovik, AFSSA Board Member

Al Bovik

About Al

Adrián Rizo

About Adrián

Geeta Shah

Jinny Suh

About Jinny

Paul Yin

Community members interested in serving on the board should contact
Darlene Lanham at dlanham@afssaustin.org

Call Us

Adrián Rizo

Kirtana Banskota is an award-winning, first-generation Nepali- American filmmaker and filmtrepreneur who loves applying her global-grown work ethic to the world of film and media. She thrives in working with underrepresented communities alongside women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community while seeking to promote themes of passion, social impact, and integrity in all of her work. She is a Producer, Director, Actor, and Philanthropist. She is the founder of Banskota Productions an entertainment and film Production company, and the co-founder and  Producer of the South Asian House, the very first representation of the South Asian Diaspora in such a large global capacity at SXSW ( South By Southwest). She is the co-founder of the Nepal America Film Society and the Nepal America International Film Festival. Banskota has two feature films- Premonition( A Psych Thriller Drama) and Where The Stars Are ( An AAPI Romantic Dramedy with Original music) along with several short films focused on various social impact premises and music videos set to release in the year 2023. Kirtana also serves as a Board Member at the Women in Film and Television ( WIFT) Austin chapter. WIFT is an International organization that hosts various competitions. 

Adrián Rizo

Adrián comes to AFSSA with extensive experience in financial services and technology. An immigrant from Mexico, Adrián's work in the U.S. has focused on financial inclusion, expanding opportunities and access to financial services for communities that are traditionally underserved. Adrián's volunteer work has previously focused on immigrant communities and arts education. He lives with his family in Austin, TX.

Picture of Charles Lu, AFSSA Board Member

Charles Lu

Dr. Charles Lu currently serves as the Associate Dean of Diversity & Inclusion at the Johns Hopkins University. Prior to arriving at Johns Hopkins, he was Director of the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (OASIS) at the University of California, San Diego and the Director of the Gateway Scholars Program at The University of Texas at Austin, where he led cross-functional efforts in student success, strategic initiatives, organizational change, and justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.  He is a proud alumnus of several notable programs, including the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Program, Education Pioneers, and Teach for America. Dr. Lu received his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and B.S. in Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin, and his M.A. in Secondary Science Education from Loyola Marymount University.

Picture of Lorrayne Ward, AFSSA Board Member

Lorrayne Ward, MBA, MPP is the Executive Director of Planning and Business Development for UT Austin’s Dell Medical School. In this role, she leads strategy development and business partnerships for Dell Medical School and its clinical enterprise, UT Health Austin. She has been at Dell Medical School since its inception in 2015, serving the organization in various leadership positions. Prior to moving to Austin, she served in an internal consulting role at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Lorrayne started her career at McKinsey & Company, and worked in global health organizations in Switzerland and Tanzania for several years before pursuing her Masters in Business Administration and Masters in Public Policy at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. She also holds a BA magna cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard College.

Lorrayne was inspired to join the AFSSA board based on her own personal experience as an immigrant from Asia to the United States who helped her family manage through challenges acclimating in a new country. She enjoys cooking, hiking, traveling and spending time with her partner and two dogs.

Picture of Al Bovik, AFSSA Board Member

Al Bovik is the Cockrell Family Regents Endowed Chair Professor at The University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Institute for Neuroscience. He teaches classes in Digital Image Processing and Digital Video and conducts research at the nexus of visual neuroscience, streaming video, social media, and deep learning. He and his students have created many neuroscience-based algorithms that are used to monitor and control most of the traffic that passes over the Internet. Along the way, he has won a couple of national Emmy awards, but he is mostly in it because working with students is the best, teaching is even better, and the technology is cool and has real-world applications at the largest scales. He is most proud, however, of his son and daughter who are in the process of learning to become an astrophysicist nonpareil and a Broadway star, respectively, and a spouse whose high-tech job at Whole Foods is way more important than his own – and that his family is diverse, consisting of people of Tamil, Liberian, and Swedish descent.

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Photo of Darlene Lanham

Darlene Lanham, Executive Director

Darlene Lanham is Executive Director of Asian Family Support Services of Austin (AFSSA), serves on the Board of Texas Council on Family Violence which serves survivor-focused organizations across Texas, and is a Board Trustee at University of the West in California, where higher education is informed by Buddhist wisdom and social justice. 

Darlene's vision is to end domestic and sexual violence. Along with her team at AFSSA, she educates, advocates, and empowers Asian and immigrant communities to break the cycle of violence. 

AFSSA is the only Asian/immigrant-focused organization that offers a 24/7 in-language hotline for people who experienced abuse, long-term support for survivors of violence, supportive housing, economic empowerment, and prevention efforts in ten counties in Central Texas. AFSSA is creating an environment built on the values of Prevention, Advocacy, Responsiveness and Transformation -- where we can all live our lives with peace, dignity, and joy rather than oppression and violence.

Darlene served on the Capital Area Council of Governments Criminal Justice Advisory Committee for 12 years, helping to prioritize victim services funding and projects in the 10-county region; is active with Texas Council on Family Violence, Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce, and is an active leader in diversity and inclusion practices of National Coalition Building Institute. She formerly worked for a statewide law enforcement association and through a consultancy she founded, served a number of business-member associations and created CAFRDATA to help people leverage the power of government comprehensive annual financial reports.

As a survivor herself, and as a bi-racial woman of Han Chinese ethnicity and national origin of Taiwan, who immigrated to Texas by adoption, she knows the level of power and resilience – and essential supports—that it takes to create a life of basic safety, dignity, and independence. 

Headshot Photo of Caroline Tang

Caroline Tang, Past President

Caroline Tang is an attorney practicing immigration law in the Austin office of Ogletree Deakins. She has spent a decade helping multinational corporations navigate and apply U.S. immigration policy, helping immigrants secure better lives. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the State Bar of Texas, and the Austin Asian American Bar Association. She is also actively involved with the Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of Austin and was a member of the Leadership Austin Emerge Class of 2015. Caroline graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Sociology and Gender Studies and received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. A native of Katy, Texas, she has lived in Austin since 2007, and she and her husband have two young sons. A native of Katy, Texas, she has lived in Austin since 2008, and she and her husband have two young sons. Caroline is a foodie, who enjoys travel and musical theater in her spare time.

Photo of Helen Wormington

Helen Wormington

Board Member-at-Large, Helen Wormington, has lived in Austin for 25 years, graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with bachelor’s degree in Communications and a master’s degree in Higher Education. Helen currently works at the University of Texas at Austin as the Deputy to the Vice President of Diversity and Community Engagement and has been with the university for close to 20 years. She is actively involved with working with the Texas Exes and their mentor/mentee program, and dedicated to working with her mentees to make their transition to UT and beyond as smooth as possible. Helen’s work in the Division has led her to the amazing work that AFSSA is doing in the Austin community. Her husband and her two sons enjoy the movies, musicals, skiing, traveling, and spending time with their close friends.

Photo of Lila Brolsma

Lila Brolsma, Treasurer

Lila Brolsma returned to Austin in 2014 after living in Switzerland for two years. She is a Certified Public Accountant, whose experience includes working for ABB Ltd in Switzerland, Arthur Andersen, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Lila is currently the Accounting Director at Abilitie. She recently joined the AFSSA Board because of its mission to provide culturally relevant support to victims of domestic violence within the Asian community. Lila desires to lend her accounting knowledge to AFSSA, as well as to help promote its mission to the wider Austin community. She has been an active volunteer at her son’s schools and extracurricular activities in the US and Switzerland. In addition, she has volunteered at various organizations within the Texas community, such as the Ronald McDonald House, Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet and Special Olympics.

Along with her husband and son (and sometimes their dog), she enjoys traveling, hiking and exploring the outdoors. The entire family is happy to be back in Austin, where the food, music and art options are plentiful!

Photo of Michelle Arishita

Michelle Arishita, Co-President

Michelle Arishita is an attorney at Vinson & Elkins LLP, where she has represented clients in both federal and state courts in commercial disputes involving contract, antitrust, oil and gas, and trade secret law.  In addition to working on commercial and business litigation matters, she has also represented individuals in pro bono matters.  She graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Psychology and received her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.  A native of San Antonio, Texas, Michelle has lived in Austin since 2011.  She and her husband have one young son and dog.  Michelle enjoys distance running and traveling.

Photo of Jinny Suh

Jinny Suh, Co-President

Board Co-President, Jinny Suh, settled in Austin in 2010. Jinny graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Biology and earned a master’s degree in Biology from the University of Michigan. She also graduated from the School of Law at Columbia University and went on to work as a patent litigator for 5 years. Jinny currently is the Lead of Immunize Texas, a grassroots network of parents, friends, and community members dedicated to promoting immunization in Texas and keeping Texan communities protected from vaccine-preventable diseases. In addition to her work at Immunize Texas, Jinny remains involved with the legal community and is on the council for the Austin Asian American Bar Association. She is also active in the crafting community and is a Board Member of Austin Craft Riot. She and her husband, Kurt, and their two young sons, love exploring Austin’s food and entertainment scene.