2012 ANNUAL REPORT
GROWING THE COMMUNITY OUR MISSION
The mission of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Inc. MISSION STATEMENT (BCNC) is to ensure that the children, youth and families we serve have the resources and supports they need to achieve greater economic success and social well-being.
For more than 43 years, BCNC has been the vital link energizing the ABOUT US Asian immigrant and Asian American community of Greater Boston. Now, as one of the largest human service providers for New England’s Asian American population, over 2,300 people receive services in one or more BCNC programs.
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BCNC’s family-centered approach underlies all its work, and encompasses eight programs that serve infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; school-aged children and youth; parents and grandparents; new immigrants; and those who are born here. OUR PROGRAMS
EARLY The Acorn Center for Early Education and Care program, a licensed EDUCATION and accredited bilingual Chinese and English full day child care center, serves 81 children, ages 15 months to 6 years old.
FAMILY CHILD The Family Child Care program helps license Asian Americans who wish CARE to open family child care homes, and provides support to over 60 providers, with each home serving anywhere from two to ten children.
AFTER The Red Oak After School program provides licensed child care, SCHOOL education, and enrichment services for up to 160 children, 5 to 13 years old.
YOUTH The Youth Center program provides education, leadership, and CENTER enrichment programs for 300 youth, ages 11 to 18 years old to become
FAMILY The Family Services program empowers and supports families in SERVICES learning about the school systems and in advocating for their children through workshops, support groups, referrals, and counseling.
ADULT The Adult Education program teaches English, basic computer literacy, EDUCATION job-readiness skills, and provides U.S. naturalization test preparation for over 400 adults a year.
RECREATION & The Recreation and Fitness program offers swim lessons, swim teams, FITNESS arts classes as well as a gym and pool for the community.
ARTS & The Arts and Enrichment program provides arts education ENRICHMENT opportunities for all ages through after school and weekend arts, enrichment and cultural activities.
2012 BCNC Annual Report | 5 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Elaine Ng
BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADVISORY BOARD
Selina Chow, President Debra Ashton Eugene Mahr, Vice President Frances Burke Marian Tse, Clerk Paul Chan Brian Downer, Treasurer Annie Chin Louie Stephen Chan Susan Fung Dean Chin Rhys Gardiner Jimmy Chiu Edward Gee Christopher Lam Maya Honda Mabel Lam Johnny Ip Wendy Lee San San Lee Vivian Louie Irma Mann Marie Moy Ruth Mercado-Zizzo Betty Szeto Win Tung Carissa Wong-Sauve Hong T. Vuong Beverly Wing Perry Wu Anna Yee Raymond Yu
6 | www.bcnc.net DEAR FRIENDS,
In 2012, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Inc. (BCNC) celebrated 43 years of service. Born from the hearts of a small group of community activists seeking to have a say in the schooling of their children in 1969 to becoming a recognized leader in providing family-centered services to the Asian American and immigrant community in 2012, we think of the old adage: From a small seed, a mighty trunk may grow. Every year we are inspired by the accomplishments of those who come through our doors to learn new skills and receive support, our staff members who work tirelessly to deliver the highest quality programs and services, and the outpouring of generosity from our donors and volunteers.
This year, we would like to highlight BCNC’s commitment to growing leaders – from corporate business leaders to promising teachers, from parent leaders to youth educators. We are proud that in 2012, of nearly 90 full and part-time staff, 1 out of every 5 people employed at BCNC were former participants themselves who have chosen to work as professional educators, advocates, counselors, and leaders. Some began their journey with BCNC as children and youth, others as adults learning English, or as parents seeking support and knowledge. But no matter what their start was with BCNC, we are grateful that they chose to direct their strength and energies to serving the community.
In this year’s annual report, you will learn the inspirational stories of three women who are each giving back to the community and to BCNC in their own unique way. You will read about Amy Li, who struggled to learn back as a peer leader and speaking at the White House as part of BCNC’s Chinese Immigrant Student Leadership (ChISL) program.
There is also Melody Wan, whose journey with BCNC began as a toddler learning Chinese and English at our Acorn Center for Early Education and Care. Now completing her Master’s degree in Music Therapy at Lesley University, she has returned to give back to BCNC and the community as an intern in our Family Services program. Melody is working with children in the same program she attended as a child herself!
Last but not least is the inspirational story of about Susan Fung – a long-time activist, educator and advocate for the Asian American community in Boston. Susan has been an eyewitness to the growth and development of BCNC. Her deep and continued involvement with education has inspired her to support the growth of BCNC through the Fung Family Endowment Fund.
We thank you – our BCNC family of friends – for making this growth possible and for your support in improving the community and our participants’ access to a better future. We invite you to read about their contributions, and know that you too will be inspired, just as we are!
Sincerely,
Selina Chow (left) Elaine Ng (right) Board President Executive Director
2012 BCNC Annual Report | 7 FROM CHINA TO THE WHITE HOUSE
CHINESE STUDENTS “NEED TO BE INVOLVED IN WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THEIR NEW COUNTRY.
In 2008, 14 year-old Amy Li was reluctant” to leave her home in Guangzhou, China. While her parents wanted better educational opportunities for her, Amy was not looking forward to leaving her hometown. “I did not want to come to Boston. I had friends in China. I was very familiar with that place.” When Amy arrived in the United States, she lived with her aunt in South Boston. “I would always sit in my aunt’s car, driving from place to place.” She was frightened; to Amy, Boston was very big and didn’t know what to say, he came over and said ‘Hi’ very foreign. Within 24 hours of arriving in Boston, and started making jokes,” she happily recollects. “He however, her aunt whisked her off to BCNC’s Youth always came with a big smile.” Center (YC). Her aunt had heard about BCNC from Cultural gaps were quickly bridged friends in Chinatown and from her cousin who had between herself and other BCNC youth and staff. attended BCNC as well. Although celebrity names like Lady Gaga and TV At the YC, Amy started attending English shows like Glee buzzed around like UFOs, she found the youth at the YC kind and inviting. “You would join their topics of conversation and they would tell you sidelines. “I’m a quiet person. I just sat there.” Yet, ‘This is a very good show, you need to watch it.’” Amy began to join different activities and staff member, Arthur. “When I was just sitting and was a regular presence at YC. Before long, she
8 | www.bcnc.net volunteered and became a member of the teen staff ChISL received national attention when its video, My Voice – Their Stories won the White House’s “What’s Your Story” Video Challenge. Amy, “The staff will encourage you when you are upset, along with a group of fellow students, teachers, and - BCNC staff members were invited to participate in a panel discussion in the nation’s capital. During keep on encouraging you.” This self-described wall- the event, the White House recognized ChISL at the Champions of Change awards ceremony. to Charlestown High School, where she joined the “I felt so nervous because I’ve never been inaugural Chinese Immigrant Student Leadership on stage with a lot of people there. But, at the White (ChISL) group. ChISL was formed in partnership with House, I felt that I could do it.” “I improved a lot since BCNC to help allay bullying at Charlestown High, by working to empower Chinese immigrant students. person who gets very nervous on stage and As Amy put it, “Immigrants need to have leadership cannot talk. But this year having been a panelist with roles. Chinese students need to be involved in what another BCNC staff member, Chu Huang, I answered is happening in their new country.” questions in front of a whole audience.”
2012 BCNC Annual Report | 9 GROWING UP AND COMING BACK TO SERVE
Melody Wan came to BCNC’s Acorn Center for Early Education and Care in September 2011 BCNC PROVIDES A not for an education, but to educate. A Master’s “SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY student in music therapy at Lesley University, she THAT THEY CANT FIND approached BCNC for an internship with the Family ANYWHERE ELSE. an unexpected odyssey home. As she was introduced to teachers at Acorn, she was surprised that her former teachers remembered her. Mrs. Mui ” stopped her and said “I had you in my class!” She had a vague recollection of playing at a center beneath her grandmother’s apartment in Tai Tung Village in Chinatown. Her mother had showed her pictures of her parading around a playground outside a tiny red brick building. She had always wondered what had happened to the
10 | www.bcnc.net playground that she had loved so much. While While at BCNC, she worked with a growing up in Randolph, MA, Melody had strong number of students who had a variety of issues: connections to both BCNC and the Chinatown developmental delays, speech and language issues, community. Her family would come in almost every and behavioral problems. Music therapy, she shares, weekend for Chinese language and music classes. offers an alternative form of expression especially for those who are unable to express themselves verbally. Chinese opera community and she continued the Playing music for the students and then interacting family’s musical heritage, learning violin and guitar with the instruments and melody provides an outlet and performing in Chinatown’s August Moon for the introverted; music communicates and can Festivals. communicate inexpressible emotions. Now, Melody came back to the community Coming back to BCNC, she saw a place that as a twenty-something college graduate, hoping to served as a vital link in advocacy; as a trusted instill her love for art and music in its children. institution, BCNC could bridge the cultural gap and Working in BCNC’s Arts and Enrichment program as pave over fears concerning music therapy. “I believe that BCNC provides the link for the Chinese children had very limited exposure to arts. “I community especially those who are unable to get resources because of language barrier issues. BCNC kids were fascinated and their eyes widened and offers the help and resources for those who are unable were like ‘What is this?’” Their limited exposure to to get them. BCNC provides a supportive community art motivated her to bring alternative and aesthetic mediums back to the community that had nurtured her own creativity. In addition to art, she wanted to advocate for music therapy – a method that many found alien. She understood the negative associations that many Chinese had with the word “therapy,” “I hope that I’d be able to encourage the from it because it could bring out something they would never expect.”
2012 BCNC Annual Report | 11 A LEGACY OF EDUCATION
“Forty years ago when I came here, Boston Chinatown was a very rundown neighborhood.” Susan recalls. Yet, she still moved into the area after college. She felt that her children should experience the life and diversity – as well as adversity a city offers. In the midst of Boston’s controversial busing program, Susan’s children were attending schools with shifting demographics and furious parents. While racial tensions between blacks and whites are featured prominently in history books, less known are the obstacles that Asians and Latinos faced at the time. Grouped into a third racial category, Latinos and Asians were supposed to make up one third of a school’s population along with African Americans In 2012, Susan Fung created the Fung and whites. In addition, each school was expected to Family Endowment Fund to support BCNC’s have one Asian parent representative. Susan was that education efforts. As a student activist, involved parent. parent, and government representative, Susan Fung has Susan advocated for both Asian and had a longstanding relationship with Chinatown. Latino immigrant language needs. Students Susan has been involved with the Chinatown struggled with total English immersion and Susan community since she moved to the United States from sought out bilingual alternatives. Her objective, Hong Kong in the 1970s to attend the University of along with other Latino and Asian parents was “to Massachusetts, Boston. Back then, she and a group of students initiated an adult ESL language program Susan eventually became a member of the City-Wide to help newly arrived immigrants. Without funding Parents’ Advisory Council (CPAC) Board, working or classroom space, the group pieced together their own curriculum and they provided classes in borrowed issues of educational inequity. space from the Kwong Kow Chinese School. With this legacy of educational advocacy and
12 | www.bcnc.net “BCNC HAS BEEN HERE FOR JOIN THE LEGACY CIRCLE A LONG TIME AND I HAVE OBSERVED THE GROWTH OF THIS ORGANIZATION. BCNC has established the Legacy Circle, a planned giving program to meet the philanthropic interest of donors and the needs civic involvement, Susan is especially grateful of the of the children, youth and families we serve. The services provided by BCNC. “The community” needs Legacy Circle honors donors who made a support,” she says, thinking of the language, legal, life-long commitment to BCNC. and social service needs of immigrants. “BCNC is working very hard to support the community in this We are proud to honor the following in transition.” She remembers BCNC in its early stages BCNC’s Legacy Circle: when it was called the Quincy School Community Chin Tunn Fon Endowment Fund Council and operated out of a tiny brick building. Fung Family Edowment Fund BCNC’s building of a permanent home serves as a Carmen Chan particular point of excitement. “BCNC has been here Nobuko Kuhn for a long time and I have observed the growth of Elaine Ng and William Greally this organization.” Susan is animated when she discusses There are many options to join the Legacy Circle: BCNC’s new center, excited about the opportunities Make a charitable bequest, gift of life insurance, IRA or retirement plan, charitable gift annuity, or a central location can provide. But she also looks to endowment fund. BCNC’s expansion into Quincy and the growth of its