December 2011

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Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA) is a non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for
vulnerable communities with a special focus on Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities in the Bay Area. CHAA was
founded in 1996 as Asian Pacific Psychological Services. CHAA improves individual, family and community wellbeing and
increases health equity by providing culturally sensitive behavioral health and youth development services through community partnerships. CHAA is a leading advocate for reducing health disparities and promoting ethnic leadership in low-income,
underserved and new immigrant communities. CHAA staff members speak 20 API languages and dialects as well as Spanish.
Dear CHAA Friends,
On behalf of the board and staff at Community Health for Asian Americans, I am pleased to
bring you the Fall 2011 edition of our newsletter. In the next pages, please join us in celebrating the
diversity of API and other underserved communities and our accomplishments in our work in creating
safe, healthy and thriving communities in the Bay Area.
We started 2011 by launching a year-long strategic planning process. Feedback from our
stakeholders affirms CHAA’s belief that our programs and strategies need to support the unique
strength and expertise of people from the communities we serve. We know that immigrant populations are changing and
newer communities are arriving without adequate support and access to services. For communities such as the Burmese,
Bhutanese, Karen, Karenni, Mongolian, Tamil and Tongan, we believe in building language and workforce capacity within these
communities so they can lead the change process.
This has been a year of building bridges, both internally across the span of community health programs and externally
across the communities we serve. CHAA explored new models and methods to expand our programs and services beyond
counseling as evidenced in the strategies, stories and accomplishments described in the following pages. To that end, I am
particularly proud of CHAA’s multidisciplinary and multicultural team of 65 staff members who come from a myriad of cultural
and professional backgrounds including psychologists, licensed therapists and counselors, public health specialists, community leaders, organizers and social media bloggers. In addition, I am deeply grateful to all those who have supported CHAA over
the past year. Despite the challenging economic trends both in the US and globally, we are encouraged to see that people with
means continue to look for meaningful causes to support.
As you read about CHAA, I hope you will agree that CHAA offers a unique opportunity for meaningful giving. We look
forward to your support in promoting healing of our communities through strength-based and culturally supportive action
and advocacy. CHAA relies on your generosity to make the dream of healthy and thriving communities a reality for all.
Wishing you and your families a lovely holiday season,
Beatrice Lee, MPA
Executive Director
Oakland (Headquarter)
255 International Blvd
Oakland, CA, 94606
Phone: (510) 835-2777
Fax: (510) 835-0164
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STEP AHEAD Youth Center
3718 Macdonald Avenue
Richmond, CA, 94805
Phone: (510) 237-5777
Fax: (510) 233-4545
West Contra Costa
3905 MacDonald Street
Richmond, CA, 94805
Phone: (510) 233-7555
Fax: (510) 233-4545
East Contra Costa
3727 Sunset Lane Suite 110
Antioch, CA, 94509
Phone: (925) 778-1667
Fax: (925) 778-2679
Empowering Youth and Changing Lives in Richmond
SEAYL, or South East Asian Young Leaders, is a CHAA program to promote youth leadership,
community development and cultural exchanges. The program aims to keep youth off the streets,
reflect youth voices and choices, and teach practical skills. SEAYL offers mentoring, after-school
tutoring and media arts workshops. SEAYL’s workshops use DJing and music composition to
promote youth empowerment in partnership with BEATZ, a group of musical artists dedicated to
providing development and leadership activities to urban youth through music technology. Two
youth leaders from SEAYL, Tai and Alex, represent the impact SEAYL’s BEATZ workshops have on
young people. Music was a conduit of positive expression in Alex’s life. As a rapper, performer and
music producer, Alex uses BEATZ to work with the music he loves. Alex hopes to study at San
Francisco State University and transform his love for music into a professional career in the music
industry .
Originally referred to SEAYL through the juvenile drug court program, Tai chose the BEATZ training
to nurture his love of music and rap rhymes. Growing up, Tai believed his options were limited and
felt “stuck in Richmond forever.” SEAYL has inspired youth like Tai to explore their full potential from
a place of strength. Tai received a football scholarship to Oregon State starting Fall 2011. Tai credits
SEAYL and BEATZ for transforming his life through new opportunities based on his love for music
and inspiring him to follow his goals and dreams. In return, Tai gives back to his community by
inspiring other young people to follow their dreams and to avoid drugs and gangs. Tai displayed
his musical prowess in a performance with Alex at the 8th Youth Stopping Violence Summit in
Richmond on October 15, 2011.
A Journey of Healing for Cambodian Women
Since 2009, CHAA hosted and facilitated a Cambodian Women’s Community Work Group (CWG) as
part of a collaborative project addressing health equity in the Cambodian community. Funded by
the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities,
CHAA collaborated with the Prevention Research Center, the Center for Empowering Refugees
and Immigrants and the Cambodian Community Development, Inc. CWG is an intergenerational
group of Cambodian women in Oakland whose members are survivors or are children of survivors
of the Cambodian genocide. The women meet weekly to identify issues and root causes impacting
their community’s health and wellbeing and to develop strategies for addressing these issues.
Central to CWG’s process is community-based participatory research (CBPR), which engages
community members in a process of reflection and analysis based on individual and collective
experiences, leading to action for change. The women explore their personal and community
histories, Cambodian culture and tradition, and their own sense of what is meaningful and important for overall community health and wellbeing. During the initial meetings, women shared
stories of their lives in Cambodia, reminisced fondly about aspects of their lives that centered
around rice farming and celebrating the harvest with special rituals. They described the texture,
color, feel and fertility of Cambodian soil. Raised in Oakland and inspired by their elders, younger
Cambodian women expressed interest in learning how to grow and prepare food, which led to the
idea of a Cambodian community garden project.
CWG dialogues revealed issues of trauma, isolation, alcohol and other drug use, violence, as well
as socio-economic factors such as access to quality education, employment opportunities and
housing. These issues were analyzed and explored to plan actions toward community unity. To
that end, CWG organized community gardens, an Oakland Cambodian New Years event in April
2011 and a museum exhibit, “Rhythm of the Refugee: A Cambodian Journey of Healing,” in October 2011 at the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland. CWG not only increases the leadership
and improves the lives of the women in the group, but also contributes greatly to the health and
well being of the entire Oakland Cambodian community.
Introducing Our Interns
CHAA offers a rigorous psychology training internship for students who aspire
to become social workers, marriage and family therapists and psychologists. In
its first year, five interns graduated from the program. In 2011, CHAA enrolled
eight mental health interns into our hands-on training program. Interns are
assigned to a licensed CHAA therapist either in the public schools or in the
CHAA clinics. Three of our new interns Daniel van Beek, Julie Leong and Risa
Takeuchi volunteered to share their experiences at CHAA and what inspires
them to work in the field of mental health.
Daniel van Beek, a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Alliant University,
grew up witnessing the social development and speech setbacks his younger
brother faced due to temporary deafness. This personal experience contributed to Daniel’s aspiration to work in emergency psychiatric care, to research
on cultural psychology and eventually teach. At CHAA, Daniel is
developing deeper insight on various self-care approaches and counseling practices when handling a myriad of mental health
challenges. Raised in Oakland in a Burmese family, Julie was witness to many social injustices that inspired her to volunteer as a peer
educator for high school students where she gained an interest in counseling. Julie is a graduate student in Counseling Psychology
at the University of San Francisco. Julie will add to a very small pool of Burmese clinicians in the Bay Area. At CHAA, Julie relishes the
access she has to intensive clinical and hands-on training opportunities. Her post-graduate dream is to work for a community
organization like CHAA. Risa is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at Argosy University. Risa’s interest in pursuing mental health
was inspired by her high school counselor. She is mindful of the fact that students in her home country, Japan, have limited access
to counseling services. Integrating more counseling for children in Japanese schools is a professional aspiration for Risa. At CHAA,
Risa is honing her counseling skills in handling crisis situations.
Koy Phan Fourteen Years of Dedicated Service
Born in Laos to a Mien family, Koy spent five years in a refugee camp in Thailand before immigrating to the United States in 1980
when she was 17. “It was the best time of my life,” she says of her life in the camp. Koy reflects on her initial struggles as a refugee
without language and job skills in a country so foreign to her. “That was the hardest part of my life and I had to adjust to it.” Koy
knows that “many families have a hard time with acculturation, language, mental health issues, general health issues and access to
community services.” Her shared background with many of her clients helps Koy to build trust with the communities she serves.
On November 7, 2011, Koy celebrated her 14th year with CHAA as the Wraparound Services Program Coordinator. Koy tracks and
facilitates support groups and provides direct client services. She runs a weekly support group for parents and caretakers to develop
functional skills to help boost their self-esteem and social abilities. She uses dolls and other creative approaches in her counseling
services. Koy is inspired by the visible impacts her work has on families. When she meets former clients, many thank her for her
life-changing support as they move on successfully with their lives. Koy notes that ”the work can be very difficult, it doesn’t give you
the result right away, due to years of traumas and difficulties, any result you see is a positive one, even if it takes years to see it. It’s
not like working on flower arrangement [her hobby] where you do some work and see the result immediately. It’s not like this in
mental health, you may not see results for a while, but when you do it’s there and the impacts last a long time. It is rewarding.” CHAA
is grateful to Koy for her dedication and hard work.
VISION
Community Health Services
CHAA programs span behavioral health services, prevention,
early intervention and advocacy. CHAA offers community-based
behavioral health services for children, youth and adults through
individual, group and family therapy, case management, alcohol
and other drug prevention and treatment, consultation and
psychological assessment. We offer wraparound services for
children, adolescents and families facing emotional and behavioral challenges as well as adults who are homeless or at-risk. As a
school-based behavioral health provider, CHAA is committed to
collaborative efforts to develop full service community schools
that provide safety, health and support. CHAA is the only provider
in West Contra Costa County of adolescent alcohol and other
drugs treatment services and is the treatment provider for the
West County Juvenile Drug Court. CHAA supports healthy youth
development through activities including after-school academic
tutoring and DJing and digital media training. CHAA’s Community
Engagement efforts include prevention and early intervention
programs designed to reduce the stigma attached to behavioral
health issues and services, and to improve overall wellbeing,
particularly in API communities. We recognize that building trust
is at the core of the increased use of behavioral health services by
API communities. Through community engagement, advocacy
and behavioral health services, CHAA focuses on solutions and
strengths, offers referrals and ensures a continuum of care within
a comprehensive, integrated system.
Asian and Pacific Islander communities are healthy
both individually and collectively, and empowered
to live independent and productive lives.
MISSION
CHAA’s mission is to provide community-driven behavioral health services,
family support, youth development and advocacy for the historically underserved API communities in the Bay Area.
Models and Interventions
CHAA is committed to developing culturally sensitive models and methods for meeting the needs and aspirations of our communities and clients. Our strategies include popular education and community-based participatory research (CBPR) that assist communities in building action for change. Wellness Advocates, who are from the communities they serve, work to identify the factors that
contribute to wellness in their communities, organize workshops, develop cultural wellness activities and offer assistance with
access to needed services. By partnering with immigrant and refugee communities, CHAA addresses immigration, integration and
identity challenges through facilitated dialogue, co-design and implementation of programs. Examples of community-driven
program design includes community gardens, arts and crafts, dance, music and storytelling. CHAA’s therapists and counselors
extend services into the community in order to engage individuals, families and communities in the process of facilitating health
and wellness. Individualized counseling, group counseling and youth-centered activities build on unique strengths and capacities
to address substance abuse and other risk factors, including issues related to family dynamics, violence, trauma and poverty. Youth’s
interests and values to develop leadership skills, foster positive community participation and build peer relationships in a supportive and empowering environment drive CHAA’s youth activities.
Training and Technical Assistance
Workforce and leadership development within API communities is critical to improving
self-esteem, empowerment and family income levels. In 2010, CHAA initiated a rigorous graduate
psychology internship program to prepare API students to become social workers, marriage and
family therapists, and psychologists. CHAA uses community-based participatory research and
popular education approaches to promote and support community leadership, voice and choice.
CBPR is grounded on the principle that communities are the drivers of the research process and the
sources of change for mutual decision making with CHAA staff and partners. Through API Connections, a collaborative of API community groups and partners in the Bay Area, CHAA also piloted a
community workforce development training and support group. We provide consultation and
technical assistance to community-based organizations in program development, proposal writing
and conflict resolution.
VALUES
Respect
Inclusion
Innovation
Integrity
Participation
Engagement
Social justice
Empowerment
Positive change
Action-oriented
Strength-based
Health equity
Family-driven
Culturally-sensitive
Client-centered
Community-focused
Advocacy for Systems Change
The impacts of the economic downturn along with state budget reductions and healthcare reform
on our community partners has heightened CHAA’s role in policy, advocacy and systems change.
While CHAA’s policy work is targeted at multiple systems, the work begins at the individual and
community levels. Using popular education and community-based participatory research, we
assist communities in building action for change. We bring the voices of the communities we represent to various local, state and national forums in advocating for resource allocations to new and
emerging API refugee communities. This year, we partnered with local groups such as the East Bay
Refugee Forum and the Chinatown Youth Center Initiative in joint advocacy. Examples include:
restoring adult ESL educational resources, placing Karen and Karenni health navigators and
interpreters at Eastmont Health Center and seed-funding an Oakland youth center. We helped
develop the community engagement strategy for The California Endowment’s Healthy Communities 10-year strategic planning for Richmond. CHAA’s Executive Director, Beatrice Lee, is the
President of the Steering Committee for Racial and Ethnic Mental Health Disparities Coalition
(REMHDCO) and has a leadership role in the California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP), both as
the regional lead for the API Bay Area chapter and as a member of the California Mental Health
Service Act’s (MHSA) Multi-Cultural Coalition. REMHDCO and CRDP’s efforts include ensuring that
stakeholders’ involvement continues to shape MHSA County plans and funding for communitydriven programs. On the national level, we work with the Commissioner for the Whitehouse Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to raise awareness on issues affecting emerging API
communities living in the Bay Area and beyond.
HIGHLIGHTS
Collaborative Assessment Program CHAA staff and interns began a client-centered and
strength-based assessment program with children, families and Oakland public school
communities. At CHAA, assessment is viewed as a form of therapeutic intervention that
reduces disability and focuses primarily on individual behavior in order to improve functional
skills.
CHAA Staff Receives Awards CHAA's Burma Community Wellness Advocate, Nwe Oo, was
recognized by C.E.O. Women as 2011's "Most Innovative" Entrepreneur for her "Weaving
Through Change" social enterprise model, which brings handwoven products made by local
refugee women from Burma to market here in the US. Nwe was also recognized for her work on
domestic violence, receiving the Bay Area API Vagina Monologues Vagina Warrior award in May
2011.
Community Workforce Development and Support Through API Connections, CHAA
organizes skills building training for volunteer case managers and service navigators especially
in the Bhutanese and Burmese communities. Volunteers learn interpretation skills, coping skills
and self-care to address vicarious trauma and service planning.
First Himalayan Youth Summit CHAA partnered with Sahayeta, Samuel Merritt University,
Bhutanese Community in California, CAN-USA, Center for Asian American Media and the
Tibetan Association of Northern California to co-host the first annual Himalayan Youth Leadership Summit on August 20, 2011 in Oakland. The Summit aims to empower youth, facilitate
exchanges of ideas and talents between young people and create a platform for youth and
adults to connect. Over 200 participants attended the event that included a youth panel on
identity and acculturation, skills and media workshops and talent shows.
Women’s Arts and Crafts CHAA supports the unique strengths and expertise of people from
the communities we serve. The Women's Arts and Crafts group includes women from multiple
refugee and immigrant communities, including Burmese (Chin and Karen), Tibetan, Cambodian, Bhutanese and Vietnamese. In addition to providing a weekly setting for participants to
make clothing, share ideas and teach each other skills, the group reduces isolation and builds
friendships across communities.
Community Gardening CHAA developed, coordinated and supported community gardens
for new refugees at Oakland Unified School District’s Family and Community Center, Oakland
International High School, Harbor House and the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. Gardening
offers a nurturing environment for Cambodian, Karen, Karenni and Bhutanese refugees to
interact with each other and provides a connection between health and community engagement that benefits immigrant elders and inner city youth.
Drama Therapy in Youth Counseling CHAA therapist, Sarah Armstrong, uses drama therapy
concepts and art therapy with youth in schools. Drama interventions are incorporated through the
Performing Arts for Depression, a newly initiated Improv-based support group at Oakland High
Wellness Center, to support self-esteem building and healthy self-expression and social skills.
Supporting Community Diversity CHAA supports budding community voices, such as those
of One Love Oceania, a queer Pacific Islander women's art and activist organization based in the
Bay Area. During the National Queer Arts Festival in June 2011, OLO organized "Kava [ritual drink]
and Kanvasation: Queer Pacific Islanders Sustaining Community," a performance to raise awareness about the identities and experiences of queer PI women in their communities.
Supporting Emerging Refugee Communities CHAA partners to support emerging API
refugee and immigrant communities, such as those from Burma, Bhutan, Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand
and the Pacific Islands living in the East Bay. CHAA partnered with these communities to reestablish community and cultural events essential to maintaining traditions and identity in the US.
CHAA COLLABORATIVES & PARTNERS
API Connections
Bay Area Network for Positive Health
Bridges to Home
Building Blocks for Kids
California Reducing Disparities Project
Cambodian Women’s Health Project
Chinatown Youth Center Initiative
East Bay Refugee Forum
Racial & Ethnic Mental Health Disparities Coalition
West Contra Costa County Children’s Mental Health Collaborative
Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy & Leadership
Asian Community Mental Health Services
Asian Health Services
BEATZ
Bhutanese Community in California
Burma Refugee Family Network
Burmese Youth Association
Cambodian Community Development, Inc.
Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants
Chin Youth Organization
City of Oakland Parks & Recreation
City of Richmond
City of Richmond Youth Works
City of San Pablo
Contra Costa County Mental Health
Contra Costa County Homeless Programs
Contra Costa County Alcohol & Other Drug Services
Familias Unidas
Ger Youth Center
Harbor House Ministries
International Thai Isaan Association
Laney College
Laurel Methodist Church
Mental Health Association of California
Mongkolratanaram Temple
Mongolian Christian Church
Mongolian Students Non-Profit Organization in America
National Council on Crime and Delinquency
Oakland Burmese Monastery
Oakland Burmese Missionary Baptist Church
Oakland High Wellness Center
Oakland International High School
Oakland Unified School District’s Family and Community Center
Oceania Coalition of Northern California
One Love Oceania
Pacific Clinics
Peralta Hacienda Historical Park
Phuttanusorn Temple
Prevention Research Center
Rubicon
RYSE Center
Sahayeta
San Leandro Karen Baptist Church
Street Level Health Project
Supervisor John Gioia’s Office
Tibetan Association of Northern California
Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay
West County Juvenile Court
Youth Enrichment Services
88 Burmese Students Association
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GRATITUDE
Board and staff of CHAA wish to thank all the following supporters in FY 2010-2011
Government: Alameda County Behavioral Health, Alameda County Health Department, Alameda County Office of AIDS Administration, Contra Costa County Health Department, Contra Costa County Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs Services, The
National Institute of Health's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Corporations: California Bank & Trust, Chevron, Wells Fargo Bank. Foundations: Asian Pacific Fund, Bay Area Network for Positive Health, Kaiser Community Foundation, Kaiser
Permanente Asian Association, Soda Foundation, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation. Individuals: Mitchell I. Bonner, John JiWong Chung, Leon Lee & Carrie K. W. Cheng, Hank Delcore, Tsering W. Dhompa, Leslie Duling, Carmen Erasmus,
Margery Farrar, Louise Francis & Dennis Cusack, Kelley Gin, Tom Hansen, Anjali & Thomas Hanzel, Nicki Harper, Gail Harper, Eva Herzer,
Taj Herzer-Baptiste, Rajiv & Tsering Judge, Mr. & Mrs. Keh, Joyce Kim, Kenneth & Joyce Kirkpatrick, Sean Kirkpatrick, Jan Lecklikner, Ray
& Beatrice Lee, Rahendra & Sujana Maskey, Xuan Nguyen, Ferment Change Organizers, Robert Hedley & Harriet Power, Ne Ne Rakhaing, Pearl Ratunil, Ann Rojas-Cheatham, Carolyn S. Shine, Dr. K. M. Tan, Helen F. Tang, Sonam Gyaltsen & Kalsang Y. Tashi, Dolkar &
Wangchuk Tsering, Dechen Tsering, Wayne Wagner, Susan Willey, Katherine Xu, Tsering Yangdon, Doma & Tenzin Zoepa.
DONATE TODAY
When you donate to CHAA, you give a gift that really matters – the gift of mental health and wellness. Your
generous giving makes it possible for CHAA to ensure that more Asian and Pacific Islander communities receive
access to our services all across the Alameda and Contra Costa Counties in California!
We welcome any amount you can give. To donate by mail: Make checks payable to
‘CHAA’ and mail to: CHAA, 255 International Blvd., Oakland, CA 94606.
To donate online, please visit www.chaaweb.org or contact us at [email protected]
CHAA is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax deductible.
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DESIGN BY TENZIN NORSANG [email protected]