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Chinese-American Planning Council 2017 Annual report

We took a big step forward to advance and transform our work this year.

Quality services and engaged leadership have made the Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc. (CPC) a trusted voice for Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income families of New York City for more than 50 years. We are the largest Asian American social services agency in the United States.

Through 50 programs at 30 sites and with the help of more than 700 staff, we serve 60,000 people of all ages every year.

Letter from the Board Chair and CEO

CPC was founded in response to the end of the Chinese Exclusion years that coincided with the Civil Rights Movement, the War on Poverty, and the waves of immigrant families entering the U.S. Today, our growing and diverse community continues to face barriers, so, we remain committed as an inclusive, trusted, and vigilant advocate for all.
We are excited to announce Advancing Our CommUNITY, CPC’s organization-wide strategy to promote social and economic empowerment of our Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income community members. Thank you for your enduring support as we strengthen our services and develop the advocacy and leadership skills necessary to transform lives.
Jenny Low, Board Chair & Wayne Ho, CEO and President

BY THE NUMBERS

Community Needs

Out-of-school-time programming, job opportunities, and other immigrant supports were identified by NYC's Department of Youth & Community Development (DYCD) as top areas of community need in our primary service areas of Chinatown, Manhattan, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens.

Half of NYC Asians, or more than 150,000 households, have insufficient income to meet the basic costs of living in New York City

25% live below the federal poverty level in our service areas

2 in 3 NYC Asian seniors are limited English proficient, and 1 in 5 don't speak English at all

70% of Chinatown households underutilize SNAP benefits

1 in 5 NYC Asians do not have a high school diploma

NYC has the largest population of Asians of any U.S. city at over 1.2 million, including more than half a million Chinese

CPC Impacts

281 families served by 11 free or affordable early childhood centers

204,722 meals and snacks provided through funds from the Child and Adult Care Food Program

100% of literacy program participants received bilingual books in their native language, including Albanian, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish

5,054 young people served across 12 youth programs

2,490 young people worked 315,000 hours in summer jobs at 200 work sites

58% of youth attending University of Buffalo's Instant Decision Day were accepted on the spot

1,200 adults served this year through various education and career programs

925 adult literacy students studied across 37 English classes

263 seniors found employment through a work-based training program

400 special needs families provided respite and person-centered care

708 individuals provided HIV/AIDS support services

5,000 families screened for benefits like SNAP and Medicare

2,900 homebound individuals served through our Home Attendant Program

Immigrants served from more than 25 countries, speaking 19 languages

Chrystie Street School-Age Child Care Center provides a free or low-cost, child-centered environment for intellectual, social, emotional, and physical learning .

We are our community

CPC operates three community centers in New York City.

One in Manhattan's Chinatown, one in Flushing, Queens, and another in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

This year, we completed and opened a new Community Center in Flushing, Queens. It houses the Nan Shan Senior Center, a senior employment program, an adult literacy program, workforce training, after-school programming, a brand new early childhood education center, and services for families with special needs.

On March 24, 2017, CPC celebrated the opening of Queens Community Center at 133-14 41st Avenue, Flushing, Queens with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
“This place made me the person I am today, a person who is passionate and ready to change the community for the better. It is my second home.” - Annabel Xie, Brooklyn Beacon After-School Youth Worker and Chinese Traditional Dancer

We embrace our community

We support our youth by nurturing their interest in the arts. More than 135 children from two public schools took part in a second year of arts programming, including live musical theater, and instruction in choral and musical instruments, thanks to funding from The Trinity Foundation. 161 families were provided with bilingual books through CPC's Ready Readers program funded by the Brooke Astor Fund for NYC Education.

A family works together to depict what they do for the Lunar New Year (Year of the Rooster) as part of the annual celebration at their school site.
Participants in CPC Brooklyn's Weekend Recreational Program for families with special needs visit Governor's Island.

We support our families with special needs by providing weekday case management and weekend activities, as well as respite for caregivers. In June 2017, we held the first-ever Family Support Conference for Chinese-Speaking Caregivers and Self-Advocates, bringing together more than 13 service providers and 100 families with special needs.

Our early childhood education programs prepared 99 children for success in kindergarten by developing interests in reading and the arts, healthy eating and cooking, and teaching stress management and coordination through yoga and soccer.

Sitora, an energetic fourth grader who at 5-years-old emigrated from Uzbekistan, was the youngest winner of this year’s Young Poet’s Society competition. Sitora is a student at one of CPC’s school-age child care centers (SACCC) in public schools that incorporates positive youth development principles and caring adult role models with interactive methods for tutoring, and recreational, artistic, and community service programming.
The Nan Shan Senior Center in Flushing, Queens provides seniors with lunch, ESOL classes, culture and arts programming, health and nutrition education, exercise classes, and case assistance.

CPC's four senior centers provided comfort, aid, and enrichment to New York’s expanding population of seniors. More than 14,000 seniors participated in classes, social activities, and health services this year.

Free ESOL classes are offered regularly through Brooklyn Senior Services, along with computer classes, Tai Chi, field trips, and holiday celebrations. Brooklyn also offers mental health counseling to at-risk seniors through ThriveNYC's Geriatric Mental Health Initiative.
Lion dance participants during the Summer 2017 Art Opening at Project Open Door Senior Citizen Center in Manhattan.

We empower our community

CPC's newest initiatives leverage our history as a trusted community advocate to confront hateful rhetoric and better serve all of our community members.

This year, we began a campaign called Advancing our CommUNITY that puts into practice a strategy to build coalitions and empower clients through engagement and education on immigrant rights, citizen rights, and voting rights.

Staff attended a Unity in Diversity rally at Borough Hall in Queens on March 5th, 2017.

Our staff received 40 hours of training through a grant from the ActionNYC Immigrant Outreach Capacity-Building program held by the Center for Neighborhood Leadership.

Hundreds of Know Your Rights cards were distributed to community residents and more than 20 Know Your Rights and voter workshops were held for staff and clients.

With the help of legal services partners, we assisted more than 1,000 people with immigration and naturalization services.

When Sam Yeung left Hong Kong for New York City in 2012, he was fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Fujianese, but he could not speak English. After completing 5 levels of free ESOL classes, he cracks jokes with his teachers and gives travel recommendations to tourists. Sam participated in a press conference at City Hall, and met Councilmember Debi Rose's legislative director. He testified to the needs of New York's immigrant community.
Holding his textbook, Sam Yeung stands beside instructor Jeffrey Lau and the ESOL Level 5 class.

We participated in the annual Asian Pacific American City Advocacy Day and worked to increase allocations of City Council funds to services for Asian Pacific American and other minority-serving nonprofit organizations.

Our deepest gratitude

Financials

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