Supporting Chinatowns Across the United States
Wherever you are in the United States, you can always feel at home in your local Chinatown. We are excited to spotlight the incredible organizations that are supporting Chinatowns and empowering AAPI communities in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and our very own NYC. Join us in supporting your local Chinatown and the vital work of these organizations.
Chinese Community for Equitable Development (CCED)
What Chinatown and/or community do you serve?
Los Angeles Chinatown, we organize with the multiethnic, working-class, and immigrant community residents and small business owners in the neighborhood.
Why and when did your organization start?
CCED was founded in March 2012 through the support of community activists, residents, business owners, workers, and youth in Chinatown. The organization formed in the wake of the campaign to stop Wal-Mart from moving into Chinatown.
What are some of the issues that your community is facing, and how is your organization working to address them?
We fight gentrification and displacement caused by developers eating up the land in Chinatown and corrupt and greedy landlords following suit by evicting tenants to make higher profits. LA Chinatown lacks essential services like truly affordable housing, full-service grocery stores, laundromats, and more. We organize with the residents and community members of Chinatown, amplifying their demands and empowering them so their needs are met and their homes are protected. Since the start of the pandemic, CCED has also provided mutual aid support for elders and members in critical need in Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, and Solano Canyon in the form of meals, care packages, and financial support.
What are your long-term goals your organization has for your community?
We are united around a common vision for a vibrant, culturally diverse neighborhood, where everyone is valued for their talents and contributions to the larger community. We envision a Chinatown with: self-determination and engaged stakeholders, cultural integrity and preservation of the neighborhood, affordable housing, healthy environment, good jobs, quality education, and community-serving businesses.
Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) 費城華埠發展會
What Chinatown and/or community do you serve?
Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) 費城華埠發展會 is a grassroots, non-profit, community-based organization. Our mission is to preserve, protect, and promote Philadelphia Chinatown as a viable ethnic, residential, and business community. We serve a low-income, limited-English proficient Chinese immigrant community of Chinatown and Greater Philadelphia. On an annual basis, PCDC provides direct services to over 4,000 low-income, limited-English proficient, Chinese immigrant clients.
Why and when did your organization start?
Established in 1966, PCDC is the only institution in Chinatown that addresses the needs of urban renewal and affordable housing development. The history of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) is inextricably tied to the history of Chinatown. In 1966, the proposed Vine Street Expressway would demolish the Holy Redeemer Church and School, a valuable and cherished religious, education and recreation center for Chinatown. Led by Cecilia Moy Yep (PCDC Founder), a young widow with three small children, residents decided to fight for their homes and community. PCDC has since emerged as the leading community development corporation for Chinatown’s urban development, neighborhood planning, and community advocacy.
What are some of the issues that your community is facing, and how is your organization working to address them?
To meet the needs of a low-income immigrant community, PCDC offers a comprehensive array of programs and projects that fall into five main categories: Neighborhood Planning, Community Organizing and Advocacy, the Chinatown Homeownership Initiative (Housing Counseling), Economic Revitalization (Small Business Support), and Family and Youth Services. Immediate issues currently facing our community include:
Language, culture, and digital barriers to the City’s COVID-19 vaccination program: To help our community overcome these barriers, PCDC partnered with SunRay Pharmacy (independently- and Asian-owned) to launch the Crane Chinatown COVID-19 Vaccination Site at Crane Community Center (1001 Vine St.) in March. Since March 17th, PCDC has helped over 1,400 of eligible and vulnerable Chinatown residents and workers receive vaccinations. The Site provided needed multilingual language access in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, as well as Spanish.
COVID-19 Small Business Recovery: As early as January 2020, PCDC saw Chinatown's 350+ businesses being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. PCDC launched our #AiLoveChinatown campaign to support small business COVID-19 recovery. Additionally, PCDC partnered with Franklin Square for a Chinatown Scavenger Hunt from February to March. The Chinatown Scavenger Hunt brought over 400 people to Chinatown to search for clues, win prizes, and learn more about Historic Chinatown.
Asian Immigrant Mental Wellness and Emotional Support: In 2020, PCDC launched the Chinese Immigrant Family Wellness Initiative (@cifwi20). CIFWI partners with trusted local mental health professionals and community workers to cultivate a culture of care at the family and community levels. Programs include wellness workshops, support groups in Chinese languages, and youth leadership programs, and referrals to culturally situated mental health care. Read the full CIFWI 2020 Impact Report.
Anti-Asian Hate and Racism: In March, PCDC hosted an Anti-Asian Hate Town Hall to provide community leaders and stakeholders an opportunity to advocate against recent anti-Asian racism/incidents and speak with Congressman Dwight Evans and Councilmember Mark Squilla. Additionally, PCDC conducted a bilingual Anti-Asian Racism Incident Survey of 315 individuals of the Chinese immigrant community. The Report gathered important data on attitudes towards reporting incidents to the local police, where incidents occurred, and what kinds of discrimination our community members face. Read the full report in Chinese and English here.
What are your long-term goals your organization has for your community?
PCDC is currently working toward a long-term vision of economic stability and growth for the Chinese immigrant community and Philadelphia’s immigrant and minority communities at large. PCDC has a long-term strategy to achieve equity for Chinatown by using urban planning as a tool to empower residents to have a say in the planning of Chinatown’s neighborhood. We developed our most recent Chinatown Neighborhood Plan (launched in 2017), which engaged 1,300 stakeholders to outline six development goals for Chinatown:
To create more Affordable Housing
Minimize Gentrification
Pedestrian Connectivity and Open Space
Maintain Small Business Affordability
Community Wellness
Coalition Building
Read our 10-year vision for Chinatown here.
Cut Fruit Collective (Formerly Save Our Chinatowns)
Daphne Wu, Co-Organizer
What Chinatown and/or community do you serve?
We serve Oakland and SF Chinatowns and recently expanded to serve AAPI communities across the Bay Area.
Why and when did your organization start?
Our founder Oakland-based artist Jocelyn Tsaih originally started Save Our Chinatowns in March 2020 in response to the devastating effect COVID was having on Chinatown communities. She wanted to use her skills to rally the community around Chinatown and specifically small businesses. We've collaborated with artists on fundraisers that benefited small businesses and community organizations.
What are some of the issues that your community is facing, and how is your organization working to address them?
Our communities are struggling with the pressures of gentrification, displacement, community safety, food insecurity, and so much more. Oakland Chinatown for instance is often thought of as a living, breathing Chinatown serving primarily Asian immigrant residents and communities rather than tourists or outsiders. COVID placed immense pressure on the small businesses that serve those residents. Many have shut down or were forced to reduce staff. For the past year, we've fundraised directly for small businesses and community organizations dealing with food insecurity. It's been heartwarming to see the support from our audience and how our work has inspired so many AAPI artists and creatives to do the same. We also want to continue to uplift AAPI artists by creating programs where art supports building equity and coalitions across our communities.
What are your long-term goals your organization has for your community?
In terms of our long-term vision, we want our work to support a future where all AAPI communities thrive and feel seen, heard, and celebrated. To get there, our goals are to:
Support AAPI artists
Amplify AAPI activists
Invest in vulnerable AAPI communities
Build coalitions across AAPI communities and beyond
The 1882 Foundation
What Chinatown and/or community do you serve?
DC Chinatown and the greater DC metro area
Why and when did your organization start?
In 2012, after a successful grassroots effort for Congressional action on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, we wanted to form a permanent educational organization.
What are some of the issues that your community is facing, and how is your organization working to address them?
Steady loss and erasure of Chinese Heritage in DC Chinatown addressed by preserving oral histories and story sites; loss of a meaningful Chinatown addressed by public heritage programing within Chinatown to establish it as a "cultural touchstone;" building allies and collaborations to ensure support for at city of diversity includes a visible Chinese element.
What are your long-term goals your organization has for your community?
Establish a "National Chinatown Research and Story Center" in DC Chinatown. Assuming "community" means Chinese or American and not Chinese located in a specific location (DC, Virginia, or nationally), three additional long term goals are to: advocate for national landmark or national memorial status for the Summit Tunnel site in California and to establish an Interpretive program/center on-site there; develop and maintain a national platform of lesson plans and research material for k-12 grade educators; and promote collaboration and best practices among APIA museums and historical societies within a network that shares exhibits and programs linked digitally.
Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA)
What Chinatown and/or community do you serve?
Seattle's Chinatown-International District
Why and when did your organization start?
CIDBIA is a non-profit organization that has been based in this historic district since 1994. The CIDBIA was founded by property and business owners in Chinatown and Japantown who wanted to see enhanced cleaning and promotion services for the District.
What are some of the issues that your community is facing, and how is your organization working to address them?
Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area works to improve and promote Seattle's Chinatown-International District. We are currently helping neighborhood businesses navigate reopening efforts through core areas of our work, which includes sanitation, public safety. marketing & events, and advocacy.
What are your long-term goals your organization has for your community?
CIDBIA's mission is to ensure a clean and welcoming district and together with our partners, advocate for an increase in public safety and a healthy environment for businesses and the community.
Protect Chinatown
What Chinatown and/or community do you serve?
The AAPI Community in New York City
Why and when did your organization start?
February 2021
What are some of the issues that your community is facing, and how is your organization working to address them?
Protect Chinatown was formed in response to the increase in anti-Asian attacks across the nation. It is founded on the principles of engaging and supporting the, often discounted, Asian-American communities. We provide chaperone services to allow our community to see their doctors, get vaccinated, buy groceries, see their loved ones and more. Requesters choose their start and end location and we provide the volunteers. Our goal is to allow others the freedom to leave their homes with peace of mind.
What are your long-term goals your organization has for your community?
Protect Chinatown remains committed to spreading awareness on major issues, collaborating with like-minded individuals and organizations, and restoring our community’s safety and confidence. We hope our services will no longer be needed in the future, but for now, we are here for you.
