Baby Boost

It was bumper to bumper stroller parking today as over 100 people came to our Baby Boost Fair today at the International Family Center-Seattle.




They learned about health and nutrition, breastfeeding, and other community services.






Attendees at this event received free baby products for feeding, hygiene and safety. Everyone enjoyed refreshments and door prizes as well.




Thanks to Solid Ground's Food Security for Children Program for sponsoring this fun event!

Diabetes Management

The day after the outing to the zoo, Sunshine Garden and the Family Caregiver Program teamed up to host a workshop on diabetes management. This topic was so popular that we had an overflow crowd.
Seniors and their family caregivers alike were grateful to learn how better to control their diabetes and improve their quality of life. Thanks to Michelle Yip, RN for conducting this workshop!

Seniors at the Zoo

Tuesday, members of Sunshine Garden Senior Day Center participated in the city's annual Oldtimer's Picnic at Woodland Park Zoo.




Thirty seniors joined others from around the city for a great meal, stage performances, and lots of fun. They even had a chance to tour the zoo and check out the new tapir calf!









(No, that's the mayor... Click here to see the tapir calf.)

Back to School Kick Off

Last Saturday, the International Family Center-Kent hosted a Back to School Kick Off event at the Great Wall Mall. Backpacks from Office Depot were distributed to kids, while families got valuable information from Public Health and the Washington State API Hepatitis B Task Force, Section 203 Coalition including the Organization of Chinese Americans and King County Elections office, and the Office of Emergency Management.

We hope to make this an annual event and work to make the IFC-Kent a gathering place for our community to access information, resources, and support.

The center was also featured recently in the International Examiner. To view the article, click on the logo.

Backpacks for Kids

For the 3rd year in a row, CISC has received hundreds of backpacks for our kids going back to school through Office Depot's National Backpack Program. This program, in its 6th year, provides 300,000 backpacks with school supplies to low income and at risk youth across the nation.

Backpacks will be distributed through our International Family Centers in Seattle and Kent. And don't miss the grand opening of the Kent center this Saturday at the Great Wall Mall!

Voter Education

As part of the Section 203 Voting Rights Coalition, CISC hosted a voter education workshop last week to help limited and non-English speaking voters learn about the August 21 primary.

Staff from the King County Elections Office spoke and answered questions about the primary, new(er) requirement to vote by party, and absentee ballots.

Don't forget that the primary is early this year - and be sure to vote on August 21!

Seattle Public Library

ESL students from CISC visited the new Seattle Central Library and toured levels 1 through 10 of this Rem K00lhaas icon. They learned about all the different services offered, including ESL classes, computer access, and of course how to check out one of the 2,000,000 volumes housed at this site.

Some comments from students:

"The library has many computers for readers, the equipment are advanced, and it is cool."

"It is so great that the library cooperate with CISC to hold this kind of activity, we hope that you can hold the library field trip every six months, so more students can have the chance to know more about the library."

Summer Youth @ Food Lifeline

Kids in this year's summer youth program recently volunteered at Food Lifeline, helping to repack supplies for distribution to food banks across King County.

13 of them repacked nearly 2,500 pounds of food in less than 1 ½ hours, providing 1,928 meals. Way to go guys!!

Bridge to Success

At our annual Friendship Dinner and Auction this year, we presented awards to 2 special people who have helped move CISC from the past into the future. Former board chair, Steve Price was recognized for his work in getting us into our new building and preparing us for the future.


Mr. Peter Chen, who retired last year after 27 years of service, was honored for his significant efforts and dedication in bringing CISC from the past into the present. Over the years, 陳生 has become synonymous with 人人服務社. Unfortunately, he was away on vacation and unable to accept the award, so today, we presented him with a small token of our appreciation and congratulations for a job well done!

CISC on KKNW

This afternoon, Eastside Cultural Navigator Program Coordinator, Chor Phen Ng was featured on KKNW's Voices of Diversity program. Highlighting our services on the Eastside, he spoke about how CISC is coordinating efforts to bring services to our underserved Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, and Hindi/Gujarati speaking communities. This is a innovative project is the work of the Eastside Refugee and Immigrant Coalition and is now being replicated in other parts of King county.

Fun and Games - Part II

It isn't just the staff of CISC that gets to celebrate summer. Every year we also host a Family Center picnic at Pratt Park for young and old alike.




On Saturday, families from the youth program, International Family Center, and Sunshine Garden participated in this annual event with fun games, great prizes, and lots of food!






Just another way to connect families to each other, build community, and help new immigrants find a place in their new home.

Light at the End of the Hallway

If you were at our grand opening in February, you remember that the south wall of our main offices were boarded up as we waited for the floor to be filled in and work on the entrance downstairs to be done.

Well, it's finally happening! Nine months after we moved in, we're seeing progress on this last phase of the project.

They've created a new entrance facing Dearborn Street for Labor Ready, who is moving in downstairs. Upstairs, that means that we get 4 feet of extra floor space, and natural light coming in from the south side of the building.

Unfortunately, our idea to create a deck for barbeques and selling bubble tea on game days didn't pan out. Oh well, we still have a GREAT space!