Reimagining a thriving Chinatown.
Welcome to Chinatown
2024 Fundraising Gala
Thursday, September 19 @ 6-10 PM
Featuring our 2024 Chinatown
Champions
Lauren Chan
Alan Chin
About our 2024 Gala
Join us on this transformative journey as we unite our community and partners to build a vibrant, sustainable Chinatown that will thrive for generations. Together, we will celebrate our achievements, confront challenges, and pave the way for a brighter future.
Welcome to the reimagined Chinatown—a beacon of hope, strength, and unity.
In a world where change is the only constant, Welcome to Chinatown is proud to present our 2024 Gala, themed “Reimagine: A Thriving Chinatown.” This year, we don’t just honor Chinatown's rich history and enduring legacy—we boldly embrace its future.
Amidst the backdrop of evolving challenges and triumphs, we are excited to unveil the Small Business Innovation Hub, a visionary project sparked at our inaugural gala two years ago. This hub symbolizes our commitment to fostering innovation, resilience, and growth within our community.
Schedule of Events
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Welcome to Chinatown’s Gala will be centered around the unveiling of our newly constructed Small Business Innovation Hub. After two years of dreaming and seven months of construction, our Hub is here.
To give ample time for our evening’s celebrations, the Hub’s ribbon cutting will be held on September 10, with footage from the ribbon cutting prominently featured at the Gala.
Only select sponsors will be invited to this historic moment.
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Meet our Honorees:
2024 Chinatown Champions of the Year
Lauren Chan
A model, entrepreneur, and size-inclusion advocate, she started as a fashion writer with work in Vogue and the New York Times' T Magazine. As Glamour's fashion features editor, she launched the magazine's plus-size style vertical. She founded Henning, a luxury plus-size brand now acquired by Universal Standard. Passionate about size inclusion, mental health, and women's entrepreneurship, she was recently honored in Marie Claire’s 2023 Power List.
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A “slide into DMs” story For Good. WtC reached out to Lauren over Instagram, asking for her support to amplify our Longevity Fund fundraiser back in 2020. What started as a small seed of connection with Lauren has grown into an exploration and celebration together of AAPI identities. Lauren is a steward of positive change, using her influential platform to advocate for many of the core tenets that make up Welcome to Chinatown -- innovation, entrepreneurship and AAPI intersectional identities.
Lauren continues to support Welcome to Chinatown through various fundraising initiatives and bridging connections between her world of culture and lifestyle with ours in community enrichment, and we had the pleasure to host a recent dinner with her at Golden Diner, sponsored by Banana Republic, to raise funds and awareness for Welcome to Chinatown and AAPI communities.
@lcchan
LinkedIn
Vogue: How Fashion Helped Sports Illustrated Rookie Lauren Chan Come Out
Alan Chin (陳本儒)
Alan, a photojournalist and Adjunct Professor at the New School and Columbia University, was born and raised in New York City's Chinatown. Since 1996, he has documented global events and his work is featured at the Museum of Modern Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his Kosovo coverage, Alan is also a 2020 and 2022 Magnum Foundation grantee.
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Alan has been along our Welcome to Chinatown journey since the very beginning , first meeting him when he was on assignment with the Wall Street Journal in May 2020 covering Chinatown’s impact in the midst of COVID-19.
For decades, Alan has long committed to documenting and highlighting Chinatown and Asians across the U.S. and world. His careful eye behind the lens and empathic storytelling drives us to think critically about the needs of our community and to listen to their voices and stories. We’re proud to support Alan in his current project documenting and digitally archiving Chinese families across the U.S.
@alanschin
Website
NYT: Anger in Chinatown Over a Huge Jail Project: 'We Are The Dumping Ground'
Featured Guests and Performers
Nora Lum (Awkwafina)
Jenny Yang
Jenny Yang is a Taiwan born, LA-raised standup comedian and tv writer who was named one of Variety's Top Ten Comics to Watch. She recently starred opposite Michelle Yeoh as an assassin in the Netflix action comedy-drama series, The Brothers Sun.
Yuhua Hamasaki
Yuhua Hamasaki appeared on "RuPaul's Drag Race" and is the host of "Bootleg Opinions" on YouTube, where they interact with a different drag entertainer every week. You can also catch Yuhua's performances live in person, who is known for her humor, wit + sass.
Emi Grate
Born and raised in Mandalay, Burma, drag artist Emi Grate (she/her) is an LGBT asylee in the US. Throughout her career, she has consistently championed diverse representation, community building and avant garde experimentation in drag—sometimes making appearances as drag king Desmond DooDoo.
Grace Young
Grace Young is an award-winning cookbook author, culinary historian, and Chinatown activist. Grace Young was one of Welcome to Chinatown’s 2022 (and first) Chinatown Champions.
Hope King
Hope King is a former finance executive turned journalist, news anchor and writer who has led shows from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and interviewed thousands of top business and culture leaders in the world.
@lisahopeking
Sponsorship Tiers
Innovator ($20,000)
$20K goes directly towards small business grants to those that need it the most
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As an Innovator Sponsor, your contribution supports the vital celebration of Chinatown’s community members and small businesses. Your involvement in the Gala and the Small Business Innovation Hub’s opening emphasizes your dedication to innovation, inclusivity, and the sustained prosperity of our cherished neighborhood.
1 gala table (8 seats)
Option for Welcome to Chinatown to curate up to two seats with community members
All table guests invited to the VIP Reception at Phoenix Palace
Invitation (1) to The Hub's ribbon cutting on September 10 leading up to, and to be featured at, the Gala
Name recognition on digital donor wall at The Hub
Opportunity for product inclusion in gift bag
Prominent logo placement on all event branding and promotion
Prominent logo placement on event registration and communications
Prominent logo placement on event recaps and social posts
Optional full page ad in Gala program
Community ($10,000)
SOLD OUT
$10K can help us create content and marketing materials for Chinatown small businesses
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1 gala table (8 seats)
All table guests invited to the general cocktail reception at The Hub
Option for Welcome to Chinatown to curate up to 2 seats with community members
Prominent logo/name listed at event and across marketing materials
Verbal sponsorship acknowledgement at event
Sponsorship acknowledgement on at least one post and one social media story
Optional product in gift bag
Name recognition on digital donor wall at The Hub
Inclusion on website
Inclusion in program
Friend ($5,000)
SOLD OUT
$5K supports community events to celebrate and showcase AAPI culture and traditions
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Shared table (4 seats)
All table guests invited to the general cocktail reception at The Hub
Option for Welcome to Chinatown to curate 1 seat with a community member
Prominent logo/name listed at event and across marketing materials
Verbal sponsorship acknowledgement at event
Sponsorship acknowledgement on at least one post and one social media story
Invitation to the pre-event reception at The Hub
Inclusion on website
Inclusion in program
Supporter ($2,500)
SOLD OUT
$2,500 supports free co-working and meeting spaces to foster collaboration in Chinatown
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High top table (4 seats)
All table guests invited to the general cocktail reception at The Hub
Option for Welcome to Chinatown to curate 1 seat with a community member
Prominent logo/name listed at event and across marketing materials
Verbal sponsorship acknowledgement at event
Sponsorship acknowledgement on at least one post and one social media story
Invitation to the pre-event reception at The Hub
Inclusion on website
Inclusion in program
Meet our Gala Committee
Junior Host Committee:
Scout LeBedis and the Big Dragons Little Dragons Club
Sponsors
Jordan
Lim
Yao King
Scout LeBedis and
the Big Dragons Little Dragons Club
Jennifer
Tam
Ina
Li
Impacting Nonprofits LLC
WtC Associate Board Small Business Committee
Looking back at 2022
CONTACT US
CONTACT US
As we gather to commemorate this occasion, we will unveil the opening of our long-awaited Small Business Innovation Hub—a culmination of our vision set forth two years ago at our inaugural gala.
Join us as we embark on this journey of transformation, uniting our community and partners to create a vibrant and sustainable Chinatown for generations to come.
Interested in attending or being a sponsor? Be the change-maker that Chinatown needs.
For sponsorship opportunities and inquiries, please contact:
Erika Scelfo
Development + Community Manager
erika@welcometochinatown.com