Bridges to Success

Bellevue Councilmember John Chelminiak has been selected by as the 2011 recipient of the Bridges to Success Award.  The award honors one individual’s commendable work that helps create bridges to success for immigrants and immigrant communities.   

 This year’s award specifically highlights the Councilmember’s dedication and passion towards human services and serving local communities.  Mr. Chelmniniak will be presented with the award at CISC’s 39^th Annual Friendship Dinner and Auction on June 4, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue.  

Register online before May 20 for discount pricing! 

Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros

Crossroads Bellevue celebrated Día de los Niños/Día de los Libros on Saturday and CISC was there.

Hundreds of kids and their parents were treated to free entertainment on the Main Stage, lots of prizes and activities focusing on literacy, and information on community resources.
















CISC's Cultural Navigator Program used the opportunity to outreach to our Latino neighbors and inform them about services available through CISC.

We also held a raffle for Dora the Explorer books courtesy of our friends at Community Health Plan of Washington.  Congrats to the lucky winners!

Center for Ethical Leadership

CISC's Executive Director Alaric Bien was honored at this year's Legacy Event for the Center for Ethical Leadership. Chosen for his efforts in significantly advancing social, environmental, and economic justice, he shared the evening with fellow awardees Paola Maranan and Judy Pigott.

Listen to why he is so passionate about CISC.
Alaric Bien--2011 Legacy Award winner from Center for Ethical Leadership on Vimeo.

Seattle University Volunteer Outreach

On March 29^th, CISC’s Jennifer Jan, along with representatives from other local organizations, was invited to an Asian Studies class at Seattle University to speak to Service-Learning students about volunteer opportunities.  Although her pitch was short, 5 eager students signed up to become tutors in the After-School Program – not bad for a class of 12!  Jennifer says that this will hopefully be the beginning of a long-term relationship with Seattle University.  Currently, CISC has already established a strong relationship with the University of Washington – many of our volunteers have been or are current UW students. 

The new quarter has just started, and the number of volunteers for this quarter has increased tremendously –there are now 18 volunteer tutors!  If you would like to volunteer to become a tutor, please call Jennifer Jan at (206)624-5633 x4155 or email her at jenniferj@cisc-seattle.org. 

Family Night: Not Just Dinner and an Awards Show

Every quarter, the After-School Program hosts a Family Night for kids that brings together their families and tutors.  The most recent Family Night was hosted on April 1st (after the end of winter quarter) to recognize outstanding students and to host a potluck dinner.  After the dinner, parents were treated to a proactive parenting class hosted by Michael Chang that taught them how to be more involved with their children’s teachers and education.  They were given lessons in how to ask questions during parent-teacher conferences and how to be more involved with their children’s education through accessing emails and the Source.  Parents were also given information on upcoming computer classes focusing on email set-up and login instructions for the Source.

For more information on how to become more involved with your child’s education, you can reach Jennifer Jan (Chinese or English) at (206)624-5633 x4155.

Unemployment Benefits: Who, Where, What, and Why

Recently, the International Family Center hosted an Unemployment Benefits workshop for those interested in seeking government assistance during these tough economic times.  The workshop was led by a WorkSource staff member from the Washington State Employment Security Department who provided listeners with information about eligibility, the different ways to apply, and the necessary documents needed when applying. 

Interested in learning more?  There is an upcoming workshop on Wednesday, 4/27 that will discuss how to fill out the Unemployment Benefits application and how to file a weekly claim over the phone or internet. 

Date & Time: Wednesday, 4/27 from 1:30pm-3:00pm

Location: CISC International Family Center – Seattle

611 S Lane St, Seattle WA 98104

For more information, please contact Mabel Kwong (Chinese or English) at (206) 624-5633 x 4151.

Community Travel Ambassador training

In our Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care program, our staff works hard to help Chinese seniors lead active, healthy, and mobile lives. In that spirit, Sunshine Garden staff member Andes Kong has completed a Community Travel Ambassador Training course, sponsored by Sound Transit, King County Metro, and Hopelink. Community Travel Ambassadors are trained to help seniors, low-income individuals, people with disabilities and those with Limited English Proficiency access appropriate forms of available transportation. Now the approximately 120 seniors who come to Sunshine Garden will have better assistance than ever when they need to see friends, go to the doctor, or just do a little shopping.

National Victim Assistance Academy

CISC Crime Victims Service Project Director Alan Lai was in Albuquerque, NM last week to attend the March 2011 National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA). Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, the NVAA provides victim service professionals with skills and knowledge to better serve victims. The trainings were conducted by experts in the criminal justice field and focused on areas such as cultural competence, ethics, resilience, victims' rights, and leadership.

Congratulations to Alan for being accepted into this competitive program. He is pictured here with Carroll Ellis, the new Director of the NVAA.

CISC Commended in Identity Theft Case

Today we received a letter commending CISC Crime Victims Service Project Director Alan Lai for his exemplary work in helping to crack a multi-state credit card and bank account takeover scheme based in Georgia, which targeted Asian immigrants up and down the West Coast.

Not only did Alan develop trusting relationships with the victims, he helped Department of Justice attorneys bridge the language and cultural barriers, and traveled with the victims to Georgia when they said they needed his support in order to testify.

With CISC's assistance, these Vietnamese, Korean, Laotian and Chinese victims, many of whom are small business owners, saw justice done with eight guilty pleas and one very short trial.

The US Attorney says that without CISC and the services of Alan Lai, "I am certain that we could not have been as successful as we were with the victims and the case."

Students Meeting Students - in Mandarin

The CISC Step Ahead Preschool program had some special visitors last week - a Chinese-speaking middle school class from Lakeside School. It wasn't the students' first visit to CISC; they've also visited the Play and Learn program as part of their regular service learning trips. The Lakeside class is a mix of students who speak Mandarin at home and students who are learning it as a foreign language, and they had the chance to practice their Mandarin skills, play a few games, and visit the library with the Step Ahead kids. Maybe by the time our Step Ahead students reach middle school, they'll be making their own preschool visits?

El Centro de Información y Servicio Chino

Cultural Navigator program highlighted in La Raza del Noroeste!


"CISC offers a free Cultural Navigator program that helps Latino families find resources in the community." This article talks about Paula Marin Hernandez and her two year long search for help navigating American systems.

An Unexpected Gift

At CISC, our clients show their appreciation in many ways. One of our clients, Mr. He, went a little further (and farther) than most: he had a flag specially made in Shanghai! Mr. He is the caregiver for his wife, and the two of them have been coming to our Family Caregiver program for assistance with housing and health insurance. The words on the flag translate roughly as: "Through adversity, I have experienced true compassion. When I face difficulty, CISC is always in my heart."

2011 Walkathon

 

Thanks to everyone who took part in our 2nd Annual Lunar New Year Walkathon! Our staff had a lot of support from our walkers, donors, performers, volunteers and sponsors at this year's event. Walkers got to try their hand at Chinese calligraphy, enjoy free massage, watch some great entertainment, and be part of their own lion dance. Watch the video above to see photographs from the event.

Did you attend this year's event? We'd love to hear your feedback for next year. Please contact Dan at danielj@cisc-seattle.org. 

CISC ED To Receive Center for Ethical Leadership Award

From the International Examiner:

Center for Ethical Leadership’s Recipients of the 2011 Bill Grace Leadership Legacy Award
This award identifies and celebrates Puget Sound individuals or groups whose vision, leadership and commitment work to advance the common good in local communities. The Center is particularly interested in celebrating those who recognize the importance of collective leadership, and/or who are often out of the traditional spotlight. This year’s recipients are: Alaric Bien, Executive Director, Chinese Information and Service Center; Paola Maranan, Executive Director, Children’s Alliance; and Judy Pigott, Co-Founder, Personal Safety Nets. The awards will be presented at the 6th Annual Legacy Event, Thursday, March 10, 6:30 – 9 p.m. in the Rainier Room at Seattle Center. Tickets are $55 and include dinner. Tickets must be purchased in advance online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/141887.

Congratulations to all the recipients!

2nd Annual Lunar New Year Walkathon

Come celebrate the lunar new year with CISC! Join hundreds of other walkers in our upcoming Walkathon and enjoy dance and martial arts performances and free massage, get a fashionable t-shirt, fulfill that New Year's Resolution to get more exercise, and support important CISC programs. You can also form a team and walk with your company, your church group, or your friends.

Registration is $15 in advance, or $20 on the day of the event (starting at 8:45 am). The walk begins at 9:30am. Sign up early and start gathering pledges to support your walk!
To register and learn more, visit the Walkathon website: http://cisc.martysoft.org/.You can also register at the CISC front desk.

Chinese Expulsion!

On a February day in 1886, church bells rang and filled the Seattle air. A mass eviction was to begin. Bands of men took wagons and headed to Washington Street, near Second and Third avenues, and entered the heart of Seattle’s first Chinatown. 

They rounded up anyone who looked Chinese – in neighborhood laundries and restaurants, wooden dwellings, meeting rooms. The vigilante men pounded on doors and ordered Chinese on wagons for a ride to a Waterfront dock – for a forced and frenzied removal by ship from Seattle. 

What unfolded was one of the most egregious and lawless acts of hatred against ethnic Chinese in Pacific Northwest history. Similar expulsions of Chinese in Tacoma, Bellingham and Olympia also occurred.

February 7, 2011 will mark the 125th anniversary of this largely overlooked but dramatic expulsion of people living in Seattle and other cities in Washington State. A core community group is planning a public education project aimed at understanding this violation of civil rights, the resilience of the Chinese and the span of events that led to their return and reestablishment in the city of Seattle. This anniversary occurs at a time when the issue of immigration to the United States remains unresolved and a recent Arizona law catapulted the topic to the top of public policy agendas.

For more info, to go http://iexaminer.org/cerp/ 

CISC FAQ

Everything you ever wanted to know about CISC as explained by 2 animated robots.

January Promotion at eScrip

From now until January 25th, the eScrip service is having a "10% Goes Back to Schools" event on selected items. That means that if you have signed up for eScrip or sign up now and choose CISC as your organization to support, an even higher percentage of your purchases at participating stores (Safeway being the big one) will go towards the CISC Bilingual Preschool program. To sign up for eScrip or learn more about it, visit the website at http://www.escrip.com. As you sign up, you will need to enter your Safeway Card number or the credit card number you use to shop, and enter the CISC Step Ahead Preschool (Group ID: 500025005). You don't actually pay anything; instead, every time you shop with that card, Safeway and other participating stores donate a percentage to the CISC preschool.

Christmas at Sunshine Garden

The Sunshine Garden seniors enjoyed the holidays and celebrated some December birthdays with their own Christmas party. Things really got festive with a visit from Santa Claus himself. Happy New Year from CISC!

Family Caregiver Appreciation Party

Last Monday, the Family Caregiver Support Program at CISC held a party in appreciation of all the hard work and selflessness of the family caregivers, who spend much of their time taking care of their loved ones. The Family Caregiver program helps these caregivers, who are taking care of their elderly parents or partners, by providing support education, counseling, and creating long term care plans. The unpaid work of a family caregiver can be demanding, and the program works closely with them to ease any physical or mental burn-out. Most caregivers work, and on average caregivers put in 20 hours a week taking care of their loved ones, with almost one in five putting in over 40 hours per week.

Before the party started, there was also a workshop on "How to Ease Muscle Pain" put on by chiropractic physicians Dr. Esther Cheng and Dr. Albert Wu. In the workshop, caregivers learned some simple but effective exercises to ease muscle pain.