Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc. (CPC)

History

As the largest Asian American social services agency in the United States, the Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc. (CPC) provides culturally sensitive programs for all ages. CPC currently serves over 8,000 people daily through 50+ contracted programs in 30+ locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

CPC was founded in 1965 as a grassroots, community-based organization in response to the end of the Chinese Exclusion years that coincided with the Civil Rights Movement, the War on Poverty and the vast influx of Chinese immigrants after the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. Initially, CPC founders volunteered and counseled families referred by local schools and then as the agency developed, provided case management services to help recent entrants adjust to their new homes. Original services centered around case management for new immigrants who were seeking support for a wide variety of challenges upon arrival in NYC, working in close partnership with public schools.

In 1966, CPC launched its first school-age child care center (SACCC) in Manhattan, in close coordination with the Department of Education’s public school system, in order to best support immigrant families. CPC also provides day care through five Early Child Care centers throughout the city, a vital asset for working immigrant families. Soon after, CPC launched Project Reach which originally provided programs for at-risk gang youth in Chinatown. Today the program focuses on services for youth of all backgrounds especially LGBTQI teens. CPC over the years added Youth Employment and Internship Programs, a school-based Beacon community center, Project Gateway college options program, and other after-school and in-school programs for underserved youth and teens.

CPC’s programs for adult members of the community include a wide range of services. CPC’s Multi-Social Service Center, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, expanded to serve clients in Brooklyn and Queens in the 1980’s and now receives over 100 walk-in clients daily. In 1972, in response to the isolation, economic and language barriers faced by many Chinese seniors, CPC opened the Open Door Senior Center. Open Door serves as a model for the agency’s Chinatown Senior Center in Manhattan, Nan Shan Senior Center in Queens, and Brooklyn Senior Services, opened in 1981, 1988, and 2005, respectively. Since 1983, CPC has also offered culturally competent home care services to home-bound seniors through its Home Attendant Program. In 1975, CPC opened the English Language Center, now the Workforce Division, which provides new immigrants with job-readiness training and workplace English instruction.

CPC currently has five program areas that serve three New York City boroughs (Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan): Child Care Services, Youth Services, Senior Services, Community Services and Workforce Development. CPC’s Home Attendant Program is an affiliate with its own tax identification number.

Asian Child Care Resource & Referral (ACCR)

Asian Child Care Resource & Referral (ACCR) is one of the programs offered by CPC’s Community Services Division. It is also part of the New York City Child Care Resource & Referral Consortium that is composed of four culturally diverse child care resource and referral agencies in New York City. Our service goals are to serve the child care needs of families through providing education, information and referrals, as well as to increase the supply and improve the quality of child care services through coaching, assessment-based & intensive technical assistance, health care consultancy and training.

Our staff members are multi-lingual in English, Chinese and Spanish. We provide parents with Free information on quality and affordable child care and assist them in navigating New York City’s complex child care delivery system. In addition, ACCR offers Family Day Care orientations, trainings, technical assistance, grants to potential and existing child care programs/providers, in order to increase the supply and improve the quality of child care service in New York City.

This Program is funded by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.