Asian community-building vision, experience, and challenges

1. Asian community-building vision, experience, and challenges Dr. M.P. Chow Ned Li Chih-Hsiang Li Stan Tsai

2. What is CCACC? • A 501(c)(3) non-profit membership organization established in 1982 to serve Chinese community at large; • The founders were all leaders from various area Chinese schools to form a broader base coalition; • Currently there are approximately around 1,500 registered units (family or single) of members; • Headquarter is at 9366 Gaither Road in Gaithersburg, but additional activities are all over Montgomery County.

3. What is CCACC? • Board of Directors with subcommittees serve as the policy maker and oversight body; • Office of Executive Director including accounting, HR, and IT services; • Adult Day Healthcare Center (ADHC) • CCACC Services Operations • Health & Human Service Division: Evergreen Club, PAVHC, and Community services; • Education Division: CLAPS (Chinese Language School), ESOL classes; • Culture and Recreation Division: a total of thirty-one (31) clubs in sport, arts, dance, and culture.

4. VISIONS • A vibrant organization serving, strengthening, and celebrating Chinese American community • 願景 • 一個服務社區 ,提昇華裔形象的草根社團。 • 宗旨           • 服務僑社，團結華人華裔，促進社團合作，維護華人權益。 • 服務社區，推展中華文化，促進中西交流，提昇華人形象。

5. Mission • Enhance the quality of life and well-being of Chinese Americans and the community-at-large, • Promote the awareness of Chinese culture and appreciation of cultural diversity, • Facilitate assimilation of Chinese immigrants into American society, and • Advance coalitions in community development and building.

6. The First 10 Years • Established regular activities on Saturday evening at Walter Johnson High School; • Started coordinating combined field days for all Chinese Schools; • Sponsored the first summer camp at Salisbury State University; • Started student speech and calligraphy competitions for area Chinese Schools; • Started first senior activities; • Establish social dance club; • Establish first media center for CCACC; • Joined Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) for donations.

7. The Second 10 Years • Expanded senior activities with other organizations; • Started Chinese New Year Celebration activities at Montgomery Mall; • CCACC was approved by United Way; • Moved the annual Chinese New Year Celebration to Lakeforest Mall; • Started the first senior center in Rockville then expanded to Germantown; • First successful fundraising to purchase Comprint Circle office building; • Commenced health clinic services and health fair.

8. The Third 10 Years • Established Chinese language school as CLAPS specifically for adopted Chinese kids; • Established Pan Asia Volunteer Health Clinic (PAVHC); • Received first grant from Dept. of Labor to provide employment assistance; • Established executive branch to take over all daily operations of CCACC and the Board stayed away from operations; • Further expanded senior program to additional centers;

9. The Third 10 Years (Cont’d) • The Board passed resolution to establish Adult Day Healthcare Center and the operation started in 2008; • CCACC and its management received numerous community awards for its services; • PAVHC moved to Gaithersburg and started its independent operation; • Besides ADHC, CCACC is organized into three divisions: Health & Human Services, Education, and Culture & Recreation; • CCACC received a major donation from anonymous person; • CCACC headquarters moved to Gaithersburg.

10. EXPERIENCES - Images • CCACC is one of the largest grass-root non-profit Asian organizations in metro-DC area; • CCACC emphasizes the organization is non-political and non-religious; • CCACC is actively serving our members as well as community at-large through various clubs and sponsored activities; • CCACC works well with all local Chinese organizations.

11. EXPERIENCES - Organization • Started with working board of directors and each director with specific operational responsibilities; • 2000 – the only fundraising activity for the townhouse office building; • 2004 – the formation of executive branch and the board is no longer involved in the daily operations of the center; • 2008 – the formation of Adult Day Healthcare Center and created sustainable operation for CCACC; • 2011 – moved to the current headquarters location and consolidated the three divisions of operations

12. EXPERIENCES - Facilities • Started out renting Montgomery County School System facilities exclusively • Several unsuccessful attempts in trying to buy land, buildings, and/or both • Never really seriously considered how to sustain a dreamed CCACC facility • Scaled back to raise fund to buy Comprint office in 2000 • 2011 moved to 9366 Gaither Road to primarily accommodate ADHC operations • Currently the majority of the spaces were not utilized after 3:00 pm on weekdays

13. CHALLENGES - Images • Service image were overshadowed by the ADHC operations; • How should we allocate our resources to all service areas? • How do we reach out to work with other Chinese organizations? • How can we best leverage our assets to further advance our causes?

14. CHALLENGE - Facilities • Started with renting Montgomery County School facilities exclusively; • Several unsuccessful attempts in buying land, building, and/or both; • Bought the Gaithersburg townhouse office in 2000; • Never really seriously considered how to sustain a dreamed CCACC “owned” facility; • 2011 move to 9366 Gaither Road is really ADHC centric; • How to balance our ADHC requirements vs. other center requirements; • Feasibility of acquiring additional spaces.

15. CHALLENGES - Operations • The immediate impact of “Affordable Care Act”; • Human resources & employee benefits; • Accounting policy and SOP; • Purchase requisition policy; • Inventory of physical assets and IT equipment; • Transition into paperless operations; • Balance between paid staff and volunteers; • Volunteers recruiting, training, and management; • New services such as after school care, etc.

16. CHALLENGES – Moving forward • Need a compelling story for fund raising; • How to attract donations in general; • Volunteers Management; • Balance between paid staff and volunteers; • Aging top tier volunteers – Board directors, division directors, and most volunteers; • The next level of senior services: in-home care, assistance living, and nursing home, etc.

17. Questions & Answers

18. Asian Community Building • Vision and missions • First ten years • Second tem years • Third ten years • Experience • Image • Organization • Facility • Operations • Challenges • Image • Organization • Facility • Moving forward