2nd Vietnamese Community Forum

Come join the Vietnamese Friendship Association’s 2nd Community Forum.   We had a huge turnout at the first forum. Thank you everyone who attended and provided input. This second forum will provide us with another opportunity to gather information on the strengths and needs of the Vietnamese community. It will be slightly different than the first forum, so even if you attended that one, please join us again. And bring your friends!.
This event will be at the Asian Counseling and Referral Services on 3639 S. MLK Jr. Way S. Seattle, WA 98144 from 10AM-12PM on Saturday June 26th.

*food and daycare will be provided

Click on the links below for a view of the fliers and directions to get to the ACRS, hope to see you all there!

Community forum 2 Eng

Vietnamese Flyer

“Getting from Here to There” Retreat #2

The Youth Action Team spent an overnight retreat on May 14th-15th to reflect as a team on their progress so far, and how they can improve as a team.  They also began to create a game plan for the next two months to implement what they have learned so far about focus groups, interviews, and surveys.  In the next two months 7 more focus groups will be conducted, 100 interviews, and 300 surveys will be done throughout the Vietnamese community!!!

PHOTOGRAPHY TRAININGS!

The last two trainings the YAT members learned how to, “capture the moment” with professional photographer Mel Ponder.  The purpose of this is that by the end of the project the YAT members would be able to present their findings in a way that can showcase their progress, and the work that they have done for the Vietnamese community through pictures.  Essentially, the pictures can reflect many things that words can’t describe.

VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY FORUM

The Youth Action Team hosted their first community forum on April 7th, and was able to gather various voices to express their wants and needs of the Vietnamese community.  This first step, helps us narrow in on the possible changes that would be proposed in the 3-5 year plan, however interviews, surveys, and focus groups are underway to evaluate the exact needs that would benefit our community.

CARE’s Vietnamese Community Forum

A chance for your voice to be heard specifically for the Vietnamese Community, help spread the word, because the more people there are, the more opinions we can get in order to have the most accurate data and evaluate the needs in the community!

CARE Community Forum Check out the link to the left for a more detailed picture of the flier

*Vietnamese translation, childcare, and refreshments will be PROVIDED!

Youth Action Team and Advisory Committee Meets up to Bowl and Bond!

Last week on March 5, 2010 the YAT team and Advisory committee spent an evening to get to know each other through rounds of bowling and pizza.  This event turned out very successful and and was a blast getting to know each other a little better and improve on our gaming.  By doing this YAT members will be more prone to asking the Advisory Committee on what their next step should be, or what kinds of questions they should include while conducting their surveys.  This is just one of many VFA events to come as the CARE project is being further tackled!  Stay tune for the next event!

YAT Trainings!

YAT experiences possible scenarios of what might take place in an interview. Here Ton is playing a mother while tending to two very needy kids, while Rosa and Paul attempts for the interview, but fails, and reschedules.

(Left) In a previous training the YAT members learned all about interviews!  They learned to transition their questions to make the conversation smoother, to not include their own bias, and to especially accommodate the interviewee in all possible way for their convenient.

YAT members then did an Oral History interview on their parents and shared their process with the group.  Although, it was awkward for many, it proved to be a stepping-stone for better interviews in the future!

YAT’s Retreat-Bonding through Teamwork!

YAT team is introduced to building a square blindfolded, this requires much teamwork and usage of the surroundings!

The first Youth Action Team (YAT) retreat was a success in November!  YAT team members were introduced to one another as well as to some of the members of the  Advisory Committee.  The YAT team was introduced to the CARE project and figured out some general ideas of what the Vietnamese Community may need.  Through various games, and late night adventures, the YAT team has bonded and will work throughout the upcoming year to develop surveys, interview questions, and form focus groups in order to access the data necessary to compile the 3-5 year plan for our community.

YAT Team Members:  Vivian Dao, Paul Le, Cuong Nguyen, Nghia Nguyen, Ton Nguyen, Rosa Nguyen, Tanner Phan, Tony Vo, and Verlinda Vu

YAT runs successful CARE Launch Party

YAT members Ton Nguyen and Verlinda Vu give a brief presentation on positive youth development, one of the CARE project's primary goals.

On Thursday, November 19th,  some 50 people gathered at the ACRS Recreational Room to celebrate the beginning of the ambitious CARE Project.  The launch party was spearheaded by the Youth Action Team, and supported by CARE’s other two teams, the Advisory Committee and Community Task Force.  Throughout the evening, the YAT entertained the crowd with poster presentations and a skit to emphasize the important involvement of the community in the CARE project.  Parents of YAT members also donated free food to the event!

CARE receives third grant: Neighbor to Neighbor

The N2N grant informed VFA today that it will reward 5K to the CARE Project.  This brings the total grant reward to $120,100:

$95,100 from Seattle’s Dept. of Neighborhood, Neigborhood Matching Fund (notified in July/August)
$20,000 from the United Way of King County, New Solutions Grant (notified beginning of Oct)
$5,000 from the Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) Grant (notified late Oct)

VFA also applied to one national grant — National CAPACD’s Action TA grant for 15K in July, but was rejected this past week due to recent budget cuts.  With $120,100 secured for CARE of the projected 173K, CARE will proceed as planned with just a few minor tweaks in the budget to decrease expenses and increase volunteer matches.