CISANI 2009

Just back from the 30th annual conference of the Chinese Immigrant Service Agency Network-International hosted by the Chinese-American Planning Council in NYC.

Two very full days of meetings, site visits, discussions and sharing. This year's focus was on Service and Advocacy in Changing Times. And what times they are!

We heard about significant challenges for some of our California partners and what steps they have taken to meet them - furloughs, layoffs, dealing with state-issued IOU's.



We learned about the importance of advocacy and working together, especially now when resources are tight and ever shrinking.

Also had a chance to sit down with New York's only Asian American Assemblyperson, Grace Meng representing the incredibly diverse community in Flushing. Rich discussion amongst the partners about how to empower and mobilize the community to benefit all our members.

Workforce development, access to resources, civic engagement. These are issues common to all our communities across the US, Canada and overseas. Thank goodness there are organizations like CISC that help people around the world adjust to their new life and help create opportunities for success!