Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs
For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 28, 2009            

Contact: Dory Peters (202) 727-3120

Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs Awards $276,000 in Community Grants 

(Washington, DC) The Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (OAPIA) has awarded $276,000 in community grants to provide grassroots services to the city’s Asian and Pacific Islander (API) residents, especially culturally and linguistically isolated residents.

“These community grants are extremely important in linking vital social services to the growing Asian and Pacific Islander community,” said OAPIA Director Soohyun Koo. “They provide much-needed funding to our community-based organizations for services that complement those offered by the city.”

Ten community-based organizations (CBOs) received the community grants ranging from $12,000 - $43,000 in funding. The CBOs that received awards are:

• Asian American Leadership Empowerment and Development
• Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project
• Chinatown Community Cultural Center
• Chinatown Service Center
• Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co
• Emmaus Center for the Aging – Asian Service Center
• Hepatitis B Initiative
• Housing Counseling Services
• Newcomer Community Service Center
• Vietnamese American Community Service Center

Some of the services that will be provided by the CBOs include job preparedness and training to increase and improve workforce development skills, education services that complement public school curriculum, and health-related services that improve health status or enable and/or enhance access.

This is the third time OAPIA has given funding in its 20-year history. OAPIA hopes this funding will enable CBOs to continue to provide crucial services to the District’s API residents.

“These community grants give us a funding means to provide services at the local level to APIs in the District,” Koo added. “They will be a continual part of the Mayor and OAPIA’s response to the needs of our API community.”

Click here for a printable version