Seattle Maritime Festival

Saturday, members from Sunshine Garden Senior Day Center took a field trip to the Seattle Maritime Festival. Another activity exposing our seniors to the community they live in, this fun and educational outing featured lots of activities for young and old alike.

There was a spectacular fireboat display, tugboat races, and a Coast Guard Air-Sea helicopter rescue demonstration.

There was also a survival suit race - you know, those orange inflatable things they wear on Deadliest Catch.

Maybe the highlight was the Chowder Cook-Off, where a $5 passport let you sample the best chowder 8 different waterfront restaurants had to offer. Yum!

Stress Reduction

Every month, the Family Caregiver Support Program hosts groups for caregivers at the International Family Center-Seattle, one in Cantonese, another in Mandarin.

As we all know, caring for your loved one at home is a very stressful job, and many caregivers find they have little time for themselves.

"Being a non-paid family caregiver, I am often overwhelmed by physical and emotional distress. Thanks to CISC, I can have some time off for myself, watching a movie or practicing tai chi."

These groups provide social support, counseling, practical information and perhaps most importantly, a chance to get out of the house and relax a bit.

Here, a group of caregivers practices tai chi after learning about the swine flu.

Seniors @ Crossroads Mall

This Saturday, the 12th annual volunteer fair was held at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue. Hundreds of community members interested in learning about volunteer opportunities attended.

There was lots of entertainment, including CISC's Eastside Chinese Senior Choir. Very professional looking, and they sounded great too!




The group practices every Wednesday from 10:30 to noon at the North Bellevue Community Center. New members are always welcome to join!

Swine Flu

As part of our response to the swine flu scare, CISC held an information session on the H1N1 influenza this morning for seniors at Sunshine Garden, and caregivers in our Family Caregiver Support Program.

The speaker was Dr. RF Zhang, former director of Fijian Medical College. Over 40 people showed up, and many expressed their gratitude for having the opportunity to hear the latest information about this pandemic in a language they could understand.

CISC continues to monitor the situation closely and educate our community on any updates available in our clients' native languages. Remember:

• wash your hands
• cover your coughs and sneezes
• don't touch your eyes, nose or mouth
  
• and stay away from sick people

Let's all stay healthy here!

Employment Workshop

Another sign of the times. Tuesday CISC held an employment workshop and over 20 anxious job seekers attended in the middle of the day!


Michael Lin, Business Liaison from WorkSource Redmond, did the presentation, talking about the current job market, and new trends in resume preparation, online applications, and interview skills.

Good luck to all our attendees!

2010 Census

Also today, CISC hosted a press conference in conjunction with the Organization of Chinese Americans - Greater Seattle Chapter, and the US Census Bureau.

The purpose was to help kick off the 2010 census and make sure our community members know the importance of being counted.

Speakers from a variety of community groups were in attendance, all highlighting the need for an accurate count.

CISC applauds the work the Census Bureau is doing and is a proud partner in our 2010 Census count efforts!


Check out the video here!

Partners in Preparedness

Today, CISC, in conjunction with the Seattle Office of Emergency Management, received a Partners in Preparedness Award from the International Association of Emergency Managers.

This award recognized some of the groundbreaking work CISC has been doing in terms of nonprofit preparedness.


Working with Public Health, United Way, the Statewide Disaster Preparedness Task Force, and King County, CISC has taken a lead in preparing nonprofit organizations, and our community members in the event of a disaster.

Troop 52844

Saturday, Brownie Troop 52844 came to CISC to distribute rice to low income families.

They used the money generated from their cookie sales to buy hundreds of pounds of rice, which they bagged and handed out with hand made cards for the recipients.



The girls also entertained those waiting in line with songs and cute smiles. Thank you Troop 52844!

CPR Training

As part of National Disaster Preparedness Month, CISC once again held CPR recertification classes for all staff.

In addition to CPR, staff receive updated first aid training and we evaluate our Agency Emergency Plan at this time each year.

Later this month, we'll be holding an evacuation drill with consultation from the Seattle Fire Department. You can never be too prepared!

South

As a member of the steering committee for South Seattle Community College's AANAPISI grant (10 points if you can guess that that stands for!), we are happy to share this first video highlighting some of the great supports and services available to students at South.


SSCC was one of only 6 schools nationwide to receive the designation of "Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution". With this comes 2 years of funding to develop mechanisms to support student retention and success.

The AANAPISI grant team is currently developing programs, activities, curriculum and other resources to promote student success. While the grant focuses on developing strategies that are culturally relevant to Asian American and Pacific Islander students, these resources will be available to all students and will promote the success and retention of South students overall.

Congratulations to our friends at South, and keep up the great work!!

Facebook

We're on Facebook! Join the group at http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=34853903657

Invite your friends! Keep up to date and add your own thoughts and stories about CISC!

Family Caregiver Program on KOMO

Starting today, you might see ads on KOMO TV for CISC's Family Caregiver Support Program. In partnership with Senior Services, these ads will publicize the services offered by CISC to people caring for their elderly or disabled relatives at home.

Did you know that folks come from as far away as Bellingham for these services? Though there are other providers in Whatcom County (and Skagit County too), none of them offer the specialized services required by our clientele.

Culturally competent services in a language you can understand. That's CISC!

2010 Census Briefing

This afternoon CISC and the Organization of Chinese Americans - Greater Seattle chapter teamed up to brief the community on the 2010 census.

We're now less than one year away from the big count and CISC is working actively with other partners to educate our community on the importance of being counted.

Did you know that for every person counted by the census, as much as $800 comes from the federal government to the local community each year?

And the individual information collected stays confidential for 74 years. It doesn't get shared with immigration, housing authorities, welfare agencies or police.

For more information, click here. And stay tuned for more updates as we get closer!

GivingWorks

Did you know that you can support CISC through eBay? In addition to donating items for our Friendship Dinner and Auction (June 6!) you can sell items on eBay and donate all or part of the proceeds to CISC!

Just click on the GivingWorks icon and choose Chinese Information and Service Center as the beneficiary.

Listings sold through GivingWorks attract 20% more bids, sell 50% more often, and close with 40% higher prices. And best of all, eBay fees associated with sold items are credited back to you at the same percentage as that donated!

Just another way to help immigrants make the transition to a new life while keeping later generations in touch with their rich heritage!

Thought ‧ Inspiration ‧ Mastery

During the spring break, staff from CISC's International Technology Community Center took a group of energetic youth to visit the University of Washington and Bellevue Community College. For most of them, this was the first time to set foot on the campus of an institution of higher learning.

After our guide explained the meaning of the inscription "Thought Inspiration Mastery" on the statues outside Suzzallo Library, we couldn't help but hold our breaths as we stepped into our first university library. Hmm... maybe it's time to do some serious planning about our future!

Although ice cream tempura may have been the highlight of the tours, we learned a great deal about preparing for college and college life. We were thrilled to learn about various support programs for bilingual students and meet with representatives from local colleges and universities.

In the highly competitive job markets of today, having a college degree is not a luxury, but a necessity. Our kids are taking the first step to preparing for their future success.

Economic Stimulus

Here's an easy way to make a quick $75:

The Speech Research Laboratory of Dr. Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, is studying Social Information in Language Control. They are looking for adult bilingual Chinese/English speaking males for a brain imaging study at the UW to explore how monolingual and bilingual adults process speech.

If you are a healthy, right-handed bilingual make 18-40 years of age, with no metallic implants in your body (?!), they are looking for you!

The study involves one visit lasting about 1 hour 45 minutes. Eligible subjects will receive $75 for participating. Parking will be reimbursed.

If interested, contact the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at 206-616-6221 or yapeng2@u.washington.edu.

Play and Learn in Redmond

The Spring/Summer Redmond Recreation Guide just came out and CISC will continue to offer Play and Learn groups at Grasslawn Park. OK, so they got the name wrong, but at least it's in the catalog.

Although this group is sponsored by the City of Redmond, anyone can join in the fun. If you haven't been to the newly renovated Grasslawn Park, you need to go and check it out! Especially the new water feature, which will be lots of fun for the little ones when the sun comes out again.

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00 in the pavilion! Click here for details-->

Fake HUD Website

A fake HUD website was recently discovered: bailout.hud-gov.us. It tries to dupe people into giving out personal information (phishing) and because it appears to be an official US government website some people may fall prey to this scam.

Interestingly, when you go to the real HUD website, there is no mention of this scam, even when you try to search for it. But it has been reported by the Oregon Attorney General's Office, the Ohio Housing and Finance Agency, and others.

According to Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods, this matter is under investigation by the Inspector General's Office.

Don't go here!

Diversity in the Schools

Did you know that Tukwila has THE most diverse school district in the nation? According to this article in the NY Times, they do.

In King County, Seattle comes in at #4 - after Tukwila, Highline, and Renton. Check out how your own district stacks up.

Immigrants are settling in less traditional places like - Oregon, Nebraska, and Arkansas. Nevada is now the most diverse state in the US! Who woulda thought?

You can see immigration trends decade by decade for individual countries on this cool interactive map!

And join the conversation on how we teach our children by clicking here. Or better yet, post a comment on this blog!

Open House

Last week we held our first open house since moving into the new building two years ago. Can you believe it's already been two years?

We used this opportunity to highlight some of the programs we offer, from our bilingual pre-K, to our computer technology center, to our elderly case management program, which celebrated the 108th birthday of one of our clients last year. Yes, that's right, 108!

Here are some photos from the event.

Crossroads Play and Learn

We've been practicing with our new Flipcam and came up with this video from our Wednesday morning Play and Learn group at Crossroads.



Let us know what you think! And if you think you can do better (which we're sure you probably can), let us know and we'll set you loose with a camera too!

Bellevue Connections

The Spring issue of Bellevue Parks & Community Services' Connections just came out. Now's the time to sign up for fun and enriching activities!

A number of CISC's programs are listed, including Information & Assistance Services for Seniors, Mandarin Book Club, tai chi, and more.

Check it out by clicking here and don't forget to register online at www.myparksandrecreation.com

As always, you can see all the activities for our Eastside seniors
on our main web site.

Get Stimulated!

Just found out that a significant chunk of money will be coming down through HUD to local jurisdictions for Community Development Block Grants! These funds are to be used

"to create suitable living environments, provide decent affordable housing and create economic opportunities, primarily for persons of low and moderate income."

Jurisdictions and the amounts they are receiving are:

• Seattle $3,263,057
• King County $1,218,852
  
• Kent $211,808
• Bellevue $191,689
  
• Renton $123,689

Let's hope these dollars are put to good use and truly help those in most need during these dark economic times!

For those of you actuarial types out there, and those who just love graphs, check this out!

Unity Day 2009

Once again, CISC participated in the Minority Executive Directors Coalition's Unity Day in Olympia.

Over 50 members from the Asian Pacific Islander, African American, Latino and Native American communities descended on the capitol to educate our legislators on issues of concern to our communities of color.

With the $8 billion budget shortfall, it's going to be a difficult session, to say the least. But we need to ensure that cuts in funding and services do not disproportionately affect our constituents and our communities.

It's democracy at work!

Power of the Web

As we continue to explore the use of Web 2.0 and how to better market our organization in the community, we recently discovered just how global and closely linked we all are.

An announcement for one of our workshops at the International Family Center-Kent was picked up by SINA.com 新浪, an online media company based in Shanghai, China! See the announcement by clicking here.

We are experimenting with Facebook and checking out all the new opportunities it presents for us to interact with our donors and supporters. It's a little bewildering, so if you have any suggestions, let's hear them.

If you'd like to join our CISC Facebook community, sign up, become a friend, and join our group! It's fun and it's friendly. Do it today!

Census 2010

In a down economy, one bright spot is that the Census is hiring. Monday, we held an informational workshop and had over 50 people attend!

Applicants are returning over the next several weeks for testing and are looking forward to positions that, while temporary, pay quite well.

Another session will be held at the International Family Center - Kent in March. For more information, contact Gilbert Kwok at gilbertk@cisc-seattle.org

"Thank you so much for the superb job you did... the workshop totally surpassed my expectations!"

- Lily Woo, Census Recruiter

Year of the Ox

In what been described by attendees as "barely controlled pandemonium", CISC once again celebrated the Lunar New Year with a lively and raucous luncheon for over 350 seniors, volunteers, and community members.



This year's program featured musical entertainment, traditional Chinese dance, raffle prizes and lots and lots of food! Many of these seniors look forward to this event as it is the only time they have to celebrate the new year.

We are happy to continue on this tradition of Chinese culture and are even more glad we were able to share it with a Seattle school group who just happened by on a field trip!

Just $1!

Even better than everything for a buck is this book sale where you can fill an entire bag for just $1!

The Friends of Bellevue Library are having a sale on books in world languages at Crossroads Saturday. Arrive early for the best selection, and don't forget to bring your recycled bags!

What a deal!!

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