A. Clarkston Community Center

The Clarkston Community Center is a grassroots movement that began in 1994 to preserve Clarkston High School by turning into a community center that would meet the needs of an underserved population. The Clarkston Community Center is a non-profit organization with a mission of creating a place for Clarkston residents to come together for recreation, education and community building. The Clarkston Community Center is accomplishing its goals with initiatives in five focus areas: Arts, Sports, Community Development, Education and Health. Programs target both long standing residents and newcomers.
http://www.clarkstoncommunitycenter.org

B. Pilot Project: Citizenship & ESL Classes

At Clarkston Community Center three refugee Somali elders assist in ESL and Citizenship classes offered. All three elders have been long time participants at the Center's Senior Program. All three elders are fluent in English and have served the community in informal ways, such as accompanying refugees to appointments and translating. They now come to assist in the ESL and Citizenship classes offered at the Community Center three times a week and at two different levels. With the additional support from the elders, learners receive more individualized attention and tailored instruction.
Currently, these elders are working with many Bhutanese elders who have recently settled into the area. Despite cultural and language differences, the Somali and Bhutanese elders have begun building strong relationships. The Somali elders' teaching style have shown to be very effective for the Bhutanese elders who show great respect for their teachers.

A. Coffee Cup Senior Center
Coffee Cup Senior Center, a satellite location of Philadelphia Senior Center, is a friendly retreat providing an array of social services, including ESL classes and a hot lunch program for those age 60 and older. Coffee Cup is located in Center City Philadelphia close to Chinatown and serves primarily Chinese seniors. It provides an inviting space for seniors to have a hot meal, take-home snacks, social interaction and support. Coffee Cup creates a feeling of extended family for the over 600 elders in the centers registry. Coffee Cup is also located near three senior citizen housing complexes, providing easy access for those with physical limitations.
http://www.philaseniorcenter.org/misc.html

 

 

 

B. Pilot Project - Chinese Language and Culture Exchange
Within the framework of this pilot project, Southeast Asian senior participants taught Chinese culture to students learning Mandarin at Temple University, sharing their expertise on specific topics including: traditional Chinese medicine, poetry, music, tea, and calligraphy. This project empowered the seniors by giving them a formalized method of connecting and contributing to a new generation, enhancing their sense of belonging to the American community, and increasing their understanding of American culture through their conversations with the students. Also, the students had a chance to experience weekly lectures giving them a taste of various Chinese cultural traditions from the perspective of an elder immigrant, in addition to practicing their Mandarin,
The pilot occurred at the American Postal Workers House at 801 Locust Street in Center City, Philadelphia, which is very near Coffee Cup and Philadelphia's Chinatown district. This large residence was home to all seven seniors involved in the project which allowed them easy access to our weekly meetings. The pilot was held over eight weekly sessions running from late March to early May. The five students involved from Temple University commuted to the site each week for an hour to an hour and a half long session with the elders providing information on specific topics in a lecture format.
There were seven Chinese elders involved each week during this pilot. Six of the elders, two female and four male, took turns giving presentations on their chosen topic. The seventh elder, a Chinese woman, was considered the elder leader and was at each session to provide support to the Coffee Cup staff member(s) present and the elders as well.

 

 

 

A. Sagal Radio Services
Since 1998, Sagal Radio has given a voice to new Americans by offering radio programming on a variety of issues in the native languages their listeners. They have grown from a two-hour local Somali news broadcast to a twice weekly broadcast in three African languages broadcast to metropolitan Atlanta on the radio and to the world online.

Radio shows are at the heart of Sagal's mission; a desire to build a strong community. They offer educational tools (cultural information, translations of news), public service announcements (safety, health), resources (job information, community services) and opportunities for involvement (on-air discussions, volunteer information).Their community-led radio program started strongly in spring of 1998 and has gathered momentum ever since.

Begun by a handful of African refugees who saw a need to create a voice for their community, Sagal Radio has steadily grown in the scope of its reach and in its capacity as an organization. Over the years they have garnered recognition from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Georgia Department of Human Resources as a key community resource for our contributions to strengthening Georgia's diverse community. In 2003, Sagal Radio Services increased its effectiveness by becoming a fully licensed non-profit organization and significantly diversifying the board of directors.
http://www.sagalradio.org/about_us.htm

B. Pilot Project - Radio Programming
Sagal Radio creates media programs which address issues affecting the health and well being of East African refugees living in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. Through the Civic Engagement for All pilot project three Somalia refugee elders have instituted Listening to Your Elders, a radio program which focuses on educating fellow elder refugees on how to use the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), the public transportation system in the Atlanta area. The team understands the necessity for refugee elders to navigate public transportation to travel to local area hospitals, grocery stores and social services centers.

The elder team worked with volunteer staff from Sagal Radio and WRFG, a partner radio station to design the content for Listening to Your Elders after traveling around the Atlanta area on many different routes using MARTA to arrive at key destinations. With help from the volunteers, the team was able to develop clear and simple instructions on the air so that other refugee elders can travel safely and independently. Part of the team's vision is to create video clips of elders arriving at the stations, getting on and off buses and trains, as well successfully purchasing and using MARTA cards for instructional purposes.
Along with public transportation issues, the team is also in the process of interviewing elders in the community on health related topics. Sagal, and this program provide a forum in which elders may share their experiences and advice.

A. SEAMAAC
SEAMAAC was founded in 1984 to serve and advocate on the behalf of the Southeast Asian communities in Philadelphia. Located in South Philadelphia, it was created to be a dynamic coalition of several Mutual Assistance Associations already serving those communities. SEAMAAC created a greater voice for the needs of the diverse populations they serve, which include Cambodian, Ethnic Chinese, Hmong, Laotian and Vietnamese people.

For the past 22 years, SEAMAAC has been a refugee and immigrant-operated organization that has helped to bring immigrant/refugee interests and issues to the collective agendas of agencies concerned with refugee resettlement, social services, employment and job training, health, education and culture. SEAMAAC provides a wide array of services, including a well established Elders Program and Elder's Council, and currently maintain programs and services to bolster the South Philadelphia South East Asian community.
http://www.seamaac.org/history.php

B. Pilot Project - Elder's Council Newsletter
Using the existing framework of their Elders Council, SEAMAAC took on the task of working with elders to develop a community newsletter. The idea of the newsletter was generated by the Elders Council members desire to share their ideas with the wider community of Southeast Asians, SEAMAAC partner organizations, and public officials as well. For this introductory issue of the newsletter, specific members of the Elders Council made contributions in the form of written articles on subjects such as health, crime and safety, and the importance of exercise. The Council also chose the template design of newsletter, and helped determine the geographic area of distribution of the newsletter and how it will be distributed. Further, the Council approved the content of the newsletter and approved the final draft before it was forwarded for publication.

The development of the roles assumed by elders took place, primarily, in Elders Council meetings, wherein staff familiarized themselves with the elders' characteristics, skills, and preferences. In some instances elders were requested to contribute to the newsletter while in other cases elders took the lead and volunteered to contribute. The elder contributors to the newsletter included one female Vietnamese elder, two male Vietnamese elders and two male Laotian elders. Two of the Vietnamese elders wrote articles for the newsletter, one Laotian elder focused on the newsletter's design, and two elders, Vietnamese and Laotian, assumed primary responsibility for distributing the newsletter in the community.