From The Integration of Dominican, Chinese, Russian and Mexican Immigrants in NYC
Organizations Helping Chinese Immigrants
Contents |
Brooklyn Chinese American Association
I interviewed an employee at the BCA on April 27th, 2010.
On Education
The majority of the Chinese immigrants that come to the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association have very low education skills. Almost all have no more than a high school education. Because of their low education levels, the immigrants they help have very low incomes. Most receive food stamps.
How the BCA Helps
The BCA offers early childhood, youth, and adult education services. There are more than 300 children enrolled in their pre-Kindergarten program. BCA began the Chinese Cultural School in 1997 for youth students, which teaches mostly Chinese language for students, including some Non-Chinese students as well. The number of enrolled students depends on the location, but more children are enrolled in the lower levels.The NYS Department of Education provided the BCA a grant to the Adult Basic Education and the English Literacy/Civics Program. BCA feels the need to really help these immigrants with low education skills to make their living here more beneficial to their lives.
Photos found on Google Images
On Labor
While the BCA does not provide services to help find employment, they do teach job skills, such as working with computers and pre-employment skills in their more advanced ESL classes. Their inability to provide employment services may be in part due to the large numbers of undocumented immigrants they receive. Since it is technically illegal for undocumented immigrants to work in this country, this organization, who gets their funding from the government, cannot provide employment opportunities.
On Language
Photo found on Google Images
Language is most definitely the most difficult challenge for the people we see. Ninety percent do not speak English.Fortunately, BCA offers free ESL classes which is the most frequently used service they offer. BCA offers ESL classes seven days a week to over 1800 people. They have very basic classes but also more advanced classes that teach computer programs. Because they are a non-profit organization, many people take advantage.
"You see all these people? They are all asking for our help. They need our help " said an employee.
For more information on the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association, please visit www.bca.net [1]
Chinese-American Planning Council Youth Services
Interview with an employee of Youth Services for the Chinese-American Planning Council on April 29,2010
About the Youth Services Program:
The Chinese-American Planning Council Youth Services focuses on providing young Chinese immigrants with an opportunity to do something proactive with their time instead of falling into the wrong crowd. Approximately 90% of the people who seek its services are Chinese Immigrants. An employee said he often sees a change in those who participate in the programs and they often learn to be more sociable and comfortable.
What they provide:
The programs provided by the Youth Services range from prevention programs to training programs. Some of the programs include The Summer Youth Employment Program and the OST Program At Utrecht High-School. The Summer-Youth Program provides work experience during the summer. Volunteers work in different areas such as childcare and private and public companies. OST Program At Utrecht High-School provides after-school youth activities such as emotional and social support as well as academic support.
Problems they face:
Often it is difficult to help undocumented immigrants with employment opportunities but they are never turned away from using their resources. It is also difficult for the Chinese-American Planning Council to obtain funding. They receive hardly any public funding and 96% of their budget is funded by the government (federal, state, and local.)
The Greater Chinatown Community Association
Interview With an employee of the Greater Chinatown Community Association
The Greater Chinatown Community Association (GCCA) stresses the fact that limited English proficiency is the biggest obstacle standing in the way of immigrant integration.
As one employee put it, they use their resources, dedicated staff and years of experience to provide individualized programs that target the specific needs of the undeserved chinese immigrant population in NYC. The employee talked about the difficulty language specifically poses on these immigrants and how densely foreign born populated neighborhoods such as Chinatown hinder their ability to learn English. For this reason, they said, they employ programs that include both english classes and basic education classes in the native language.
while they are in the process of learning the English language, the immigrant population needs to find jobs to support themselves. In order to get a job, they need to learn the skills necessary, even if that means learning them in their native language.
When asked about any other unique programs that the GCCA offers, the employee mentioned a healthcare system that is offered only by the GCCA in chinatown. Complimentary weekly massages and acupuncture are offered to the elderly, while medical doctors also volunteer during the week for standard check-ups.
They then also spoke to me about a Tai-Chi instructor that offered classes to the elderly. They said that this is a very popular program among the elderly in the community.
Like several other foundations similar to the GCCA, they offer guidance and personal tutoring in preparation for the naturalization test and process.
For more information on the Greater Chinatown Community Organization, please visit www.gccanyc.org [3]
Asian American Federation NY
Interview with an employee of the AAFNY
Photo found on Google Images
The employee I interviewed coordinates events with AAFNY, like the press conference the organization had this morning with the Census Bureau. The AAFNY is a Pan-Asian organization with 42 staff members.
How does your organization help improve the practices of the various businesses that come to the organization for help?
The organization has contact with businesses, sponsors, but she doesn’t necessarily deal with necessarily human services
What kind of advocacy does your organization do for the welfare of Asian Americans?
The organization deals with the well-being, Asian Americans by, more than anything, raising awareness. Her latest report was on the poverty of many Asian-Americans, and it was pretty in-depth, and meant, more than anything, to raise awareness.
What sort of philanthropic work have donors done for your organization?
Actually, a lot of people inquire about ways to volunteer, get involved, etc. The AAFNY’s role is not to do direct service but to act as a middle person. Donors have raised awareness and money with smaller agencies. It is hard to get money for big donors
For the Coalition for New Philanthropy, again, what work have philanthropists done for the organizations that are part of the coalition?
I can’t really say on behalf of other minorities in the Coalition.
The organizations are part of the coalition, but it is not my area. The other agencies are part of an umbrella group, that is, the AAFNY. The website has a list of other groups that are part of said umbrella.
What sort of work has your organization done to help with poverty among Asian Americans?
The most important thing was to really make a big step in creating awareness of poverty. Many are unaware of the problem. A recent investigative news report has been done about this problem, and it was featured on Fox News. Also, because of this report, the governor’s office held a special meeting with community leaders to discuss these problems. However, politics moves slowly, and she is not sure if any further movements have been made
What sorts of fields do the groups under your umbrella specialize in?
There are 42 agencies, a lot of them being specialized. There are probably 5 or 6 agencies specializing in domestic violence victims consultation alone because it is a big problem in Asian-American communities. Other organizations specialize in elderly service, providing day centers, to allow seniors to socialize with each other, and taking the seniors on outings, lunches, etc. However, these agencies are not living situations, i.e., retirement homes.
Do you have any relations with the University Settlement?
No, but we have relations with the Hamilton Madison house, a settlement house with a 90-something year history. It is interesting to note that the population has changed throughout the years, like University Settlement. At first, the house was predominantly Italian and Jewish. Now, it’s mainly Chinese. The needs of the people have changed have changed with the change of immigrant populations in the area.
What other political issues does your organization raise awareness for?
The AAFNY has two main projects: the Census and elderly suicide prevention. Once the census campaign settles down. the AAFNY will move into helping with poverty, people who live alone, don’t speak English, and help in language translation. The AAFNY also helps licensed social workers, giving them prep classes for Asian students. They do this because they have found that oftentimes, Asian students don’t pass the test because these classes were not designed with Chinese immigrants in mind. When it comes to non-citizen voting rights, we do not do anything, but some organizations in our umbrella advocate for said rights.
What percentage of Asian Americans fill out the census?
67% of Asian Americans fill out the census, but there is no way of knowing how many Asians have participated in the current census until the census is counted.
What does your organization do to help register Asian American voters?
The AAFNY does not help register voters itself, but other organizations get people to register to vote, such as the MINKWON Center for community action. We don’t know the percentage of those who vote, but for more information, Asian demographic data can be found at the AAFNY website.
For more information on the Asian American Federation of New York, please visit www.aafny.org [4]
Adult Learner Program at the Flushing Queens Library
Interview with: employee at the Library Literacy Center Interview conducted on April 28, 2010
What They Provide:
" Language bridges everything together "The services that they do help the immigrants obtain survival skills in New York, but what that really comes down to is being able to communicate in the most basic situation. The immigrants learn how to communicate while grocery shopping, transportation, doctor visits and more. The Adult Learner Program takes the immigrants on field trips throughout the city, where they can practice their language skills.
Problems They Face:
According to an employee, the biggest struggle is not having enough programs like theirs to help the immigrants. The Adult Learner Program is funded by the city and state government, but they cannot accommodate everyone. Over the course of 3 days they can get 500 applications. They then use a lottery to select 10-20 participants a day. This means they barely take a third of the immigrants applying. More programs to help learn English would benefit the people and make it easier to integrate.
While the Adult Learner Program is not solely for Chinese Americans, because it is located in Flushing, Queens, a dense Chinese American neighborhood, most of the participants that seek their services are of Chinese decent
For more information on the Flushing Queens Library, please visit www.queenslibrary.org [5]
