The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) was a United States governmental office first created on June 7, 1999, under the Clinton Administration that coordinated an ambitious whole-of-government approach to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPIs).

In its most recent iteration during the Biden Administration, the Initiative collaborated with the Deputy Assistant to the President and AA and NHPI Senior Liaison, White House Office of Public Engagement and designated federal departments and agencies to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPIs in the areas of economic development, education, health and human services, housing, environment, arts, agriculture, labor and employment, transportation, justice, veterans affairs, and community development.

[1] The Initiative focused on cross-cutting priority areas that spanned all issue areas and agencies, including advancing disaggregated AA and NHPI data collection and dissemination, workforce diversity, ensuring access (especially linguistic access and cultural competence) for limited English proficient individuals, and building capacity for the AA and NHPI community.

On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump revoked Executive Order 14031, which had re-established the Initiative under the Biden Administration, leading to WHIAANHPI's closure.

[13] On December 20, 2021, Biden announced his intent to nominate 25 individuals to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders including Amy Agbayani, Teresita Batayola, Ajay Bhutoria, Luisa Blue, Kimberly Chang, Emily Chen, Kerry Doi, Grace Huang, Victoria Huynh, Mia Ives-Rublee, Kamal Kalsi, Michelle Kauhane, Daniel Dae Kim, Kevin Kim, Sarah Min, Simon Pang, Ai-jen Poo, Naheed Qureshi, Raynald Samoa, Sonal Shah, Smita Shah, Robert Underwood, and KaYing Yang.

[15] According to Executive Order 14031, the Initiative is tasked with advancing "equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPI communities by coordinating Federal interagency policymaking and program development efforts to eliminate barriers to equity, justice, and opportunity faced by AA and NHPI communities, including by advancing policies, programs, and initiatives."

This includes:[9] Under Biden, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) has participated in various efforts across government agencies and nonprofits to promote equity and alleviate issues stemming from COVID-19.

These are a few examples of those efforts: [7] Through the Indigenous Communities program, the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Agency (EDA) is allocating $100 million in American Rescue Plan funding specifically for Indigenous communities, including Pacific Islanders, which were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic On May 20, 2021, President Biden signed into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which allowed the U.S. Justice Department to review hate crimes related to COVID-19 and establish an online database.

The Commission provided advice to the President on: Co-chaired by the Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders contained both an Interagency Working Group and Regional Network.

[9] President Biden's Executive Order (EO) 14031 established a federal Interagency Working Group (IWG) as part of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI).

The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) was charged with coordinating and supporting an existing Regional Network (RN) of federal officials who facilitated improved communication, engagement, and coordination between the federal government and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities throughout the United States.

Through regional roundtables, technical assistance programs, regular planning calls, resource-sharing, in-person convenings, and webinars, the RN worked on the ground to respond to community needs.

Each Regional Network branch included several states and or U.S. territories:[18] On June 7, 1999, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13125 to establish the first White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders "in order to improve the quality of life of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders through increased participation in federal programs where they may be underserved (e.g., health, human services, education, housing, labor, transportation, and economic and community development).

The Interagency Working Group under the Clinton Administration was chaired by then Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Kevin Thurm.

Prior to assuming his appointment, Duong served as Vice President of Bridgecreek Group, Inc. and was Deputy Director of the Office of Community Relations for California Governor Pete Wilson.

[28] Prior to joining the initiative, Badrina was an appointee to the White House Liaison Office at the U.S. Department of State, working on the Bush Administration's transition efforts.

"[32] The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) under President George W. Bush focused on three key priorities: increasing the appointment of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) to senior government positions and commissions, providing capacity development and resources for small businesses and community-based organizations through federal partnerships, and advancing legislation that strengthened small business support for the APA community.

During the Bush Administration, WHIAAPI launched NEXT Conferences, a series of 30 capacity-building workshops held in major cities, including Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston, to provide technical assistance and federal resources to small businesses and nonprofits.

Additionally, following Hurricane Katrina, WHIAAPI deployed staff and Commissioners to New Orleans to assist displaced Vietnamese American fishermen in rebuilding their livelihoods.

Throughout its tenure, the Initiative prioritized bipartisan collaboration, ensuring that both Democratic and Republican leaders were involved in delivering resources and events to support the APA community.

Other Commissioners include: Dr. Nina Ahmad; Michael Byun; Lt. Col. Ravi Chaudhary; Lian Cheun; Billy Dec; Jacob James Fitisemanu, Jr.; Bill Imada, Kathy Ko Chin, Daphne Kwok, Dee Jay Mailer, Diane Narasaki, Shekar Narasimhan, Maulik Pancholy, Linda X. Phan, Sanjita Pradhan, Lorna May Ho Randlett, Bo Thao-Urabe, and Dr. Paul Y. Watanabe.

On January 27, 2020, Vice President Mike Pence swore in 13 members of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders including Paul S. Hsu, Congresswoman Amata C. Radewagen, Herman Martir, Governor Eddie Calvo, Doris Flores Brooks, Grace Y. Lee, Prem Parameswaran, Michelle P. Steel, Chiling Tong, Jennifer Carnahan, George Leing, Jan-Ie Low, and Keiko Orrall.