Boston (May 7, 2012) – The Asian American Civic Association (AACA) announced today that jazz saxophonist sensation Grace Kelly will perform at its 45th Annual Gala, Their Courage to be New, on May 18, 2012, at the Park Plaza Hotel.  The evening, co-chaired by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and First Lady Diane Patrick, will celebrate milestones and great achievements of immigrants and their families in greater Boston.

At only 19 years old, Grace Kelly has already accomplished more than most do in a lifetime. She has been voted “Best Jazz Act” inBostonfour consecutive years in the FNX Phoenix Best Music Poll, received the ASCAP Foundation’s Young Jazz Composers Award in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2011 and won “Jazz Artist of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards in both 2008 and 2010.  Kelly has released 7 albums, performed with musical giants, including: Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Hank Jones, the Boston Pops and many others. In addition to these accomplishments, Kelly was invited to join the ensemble at theKennedyCenter’s Eisenhower Theater inWashington,D.C.for President Obama’s Inauguration Celebration.

“We are thrilled to welcome Grace Kelly to perform at this year’s Gala event,” said Mary Chin, president of the AACA. “She possesses an incredible amount of talent and continues to amaze audiences all around the world.  We’re sure it’s going to be a performance to remember.”

The evening will an award ceremony, sit down dinner, silent and live auction, and a Dragon Dance performed by Wah Lum Kung-Fu. Proceeds from the evening will allow AACA to continue expanding its workforce development programs, English classes and social services, including the operation of Sampan, the only bilingual English/Chinese newspaper in New England and Buds & Blossoms Early Education and Care Center, the first Chinese Mandarin-immersion childcare center in Greater Boston.

To purchase ticket(s) or become a corporate sponsor, please contact Georgiana Tam at (617) 426-9492 x203, or gtam@aaca-boston.org.

For event details, press images, or for press RSVP, please contact Teresa Cheong at  (617) 426-9492 x206, or teresa@aaca-boston.org.

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About AACA:

Founded in 1967, Asian American Civic Association (AACA) is a non-profit organization based in Boston Chinatown providing a wide range of services to all immigrants and economically disadvantaged people, including education, occupation training and social services which enable them to realize lasting economic self-sufficiency.  For more information, please visit www.aaca-boston.org.

About the Gala:

The AACA Annual Gala 2012 “Their Courage To Be New,” will celebrate the brave immigrants–past, present and future–who make this country the shining beacon of hope for all the world. Set at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, the Gala will feature ethnic performances from the four corners of the world, and an exciting auction featuring unique gifts. The Gala is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 18, 2012 at 6 pm.

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Our free internet ESL program provides English as a Second Language students with opportunities to learn English online at any place in any time.  The program was also featured in a promotional video made by English for New Bostonians.

To put your name on a wait-list for this program, email or call:

AACA Recruitment Coordinator
617-426-9492 ext. 251
intake@aaca-boston.org

Diana Satin, Coordinator, Distance Learning ESOL Program
dsatin@aaca-boston.org
617-942-0433 (home office)

The Asian American Civic Association Youth Council kicked off its first-of-its-kind free tutoring service to children grades K-8 on March 18 at the AACA headquarters.

The new service is aimed at providing academic support to elementary school students as well as engaging the youth to community services and civic contribution.

According to Chau-ming Lee, AACA’s Executive Director, this unique service provides mutual benefits to both the youth and children.

“Through mentoring a young child, the youth will learn how to be responsible and show compassion towards others.  At the mean time, the children can learn from the big brother/sister who grew up in an immigrant family like theirs,” he said.

Twelve AACA Youth Council members have already committed to being teen tutors, and nine children are enrolled in the growing program.  Each child will be paired with a tutor who will continue to work with him or her on a weekly basis.

Chinatown resident Miaowen Wu enrolled her two sons in the program, nine-year-old Adam and seven-year-old Brian, right after she heard about it.

“We are immigrants and education is different in theU.S.fromChina.  I hope that my children can learn from the teen tutors who receiveU.S.education,” said Wu, who moved to theU.S.thirteen years ago. “Other than learning English and Math, they can also pick up some social skills.”

The group meets every Sunday at AACA headquarters.  For more information, please contact Alex Lucas, (617) 426-9492 x205.

Asian American Civic Association is hosting Julian T. Tynes, chairman of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, as part of its Spring 2012 Community Forum series on Thursday, March 15th, 2012 at 12 – 1 p.m.

Tynes, who leads the state’s chief civil rights agency, looks forward to establishing a discrimination-free community and promoting greater public awareness of civil rights protection.  He will talk about the definition of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in the workplace at the AACA Community Forum, and there will be a discussion following the talk.

This is a free event.  To RSVP and for more information, please contact 617-426-9492 ext. 312, or rsvp@aaca-boston.org.

Our Level 4A class prepares students for college.  In the words of one of the graduates: “Through three [and a half] months of studying, I considered that I got a progress on the writing skills, knew more about American cultures and learned some real college skills.”  Almost a dozen of our students will be enrolled in community college classes in January, while others are waiting on acceptance notice to graduate level programs.

Our Level 4B class prepares students for entering the American workforce, either through a job training program or directly into a livable wage job utilizing professional skills acquired in their home country and English and soft skills finessed in AACA’s Next Steps Transitional English Program (Next STEP).  Several of these students are already accepted into Job Training programs at AACA and elsewhere, while others are already working in their field here in the US, hoping to be able to achieve promotions or better jobs with their enhanced skills.

Our graduation / holiday party on 12/23 included all 6 classes (at 4 levels) of the Next STEP program receiving certificates of completion acknowledging their successes at the level they were studying.  Two of the graduating students addressed the crowd to inform the “underclassmen” of the specifics of each of their classes, hoping thereby to inform the lower level students of the choices they have when they get to level 4.

Following the formal graduation ceremony, a holiday party ensued with delicious food brought by all students organized by the student council.  After enjoying the food, some sharing around holiday traditions occurred in one classroom, where students had fun learning about the Hanukkah dreidel, hearing a recital and brief explanation of “‘Twas the night before Christmas…” and singing some of the popular holiday songs in English, and, in one case in their own languages as well.  Following that, some students had fun continuing to finesse their English skills with a Scrabble game.

Our new Next STEP cycle will start on January 17th.

For more pictures taken at the graduation ceremony and Christmas party, please visit our Facebook Page.

This video was produced for our very successful 2011 gala and features many notable businessmen, politicians and educators.

Daniel Rodriguez and Benjamin Desire were so motivated that they secured positions, as Weatherization Technicians with Green Beginnings, before they graduated.  Javier Torres is now the Lead Facility Technician at Dave & Busters in Braintree, MA.

Sabahudin Dervisevic performed so well during his internship with Shore East Plaza, that Weston Associates hired him as a facilities technicians splitting his time between two residential properties.

Stop by the Boston Public Library and you can meet Gregory Stewartson, who was hired to maintain all those wonderful bookshelves, reading rooms, and other common areas.  Skip over to the Liberty Hotel and say hello to Mourad El Anbi in the hotel’s engineering department.

Mayceo Branch has been accepted in to the Plumber’s Union and will also start working for Rebuild Boston as a construction worker on their latest project in the Grove Hall Area of Dorchester.

The remaining graduates, Vinh Troung, Mohamed Dalil, and Monique Barrows are hard at work completing their internships at the Harbor Point Apartments in Dorchester, MA.  They are attending job search class, interviews, and networking events.  With their excellent references, great training, drive and dedication I am positive that we will be reporting their employment very soon.

To learn more about our B.E.E.M.S. program and employer partners, click here.

Over the course of 13 weeks, these students have received intensive training in banking procedures, policies and services, customer service, cross sales, cash handling, professional development and English for the retail banking industry. Students also received nearly 30 hours of direct training from the bank employees from major banks in the area.

The students were all excited to graduate and are looking forward to obtaining new employment in the industry!

One student wrote “During the training, I learned a lot of knowledge about banking. I met a lot of professional bankers from Greater Boston that you introduced to us. All the things the program did for us were very helpful.” Anonymous, graduate of the 2011 CBF class.

Good job everyone, wish you all the best and luck in your job search!

Welcome to AACA!

In addition to providing the best workforce development programs and social services to new immigrants and economically disadvantaged people in our community, AACA would love to keep in touch with our supporters and clients like YOU, and keep you updated on our latest movements!  Here at AACA, we have made huge progress this month in connecting with you through our Facebook and Twitter channels. If you haven’t checked us out on our social media pages yet, there has never been a better time to do so!

We have been delighted to see many of our BEEMS, PACE, ESOL, Next Step and CBF graduates establishing successful careers and continuing to pursue their American dream after their educations at AACA. As we all know, it is always difficult to take the initial step toward changes in life but as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “you don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Therefore, by taking your first steps through an education at AACA, you’ve also taken your first steps toward a better life. Educate, Empower and Employ, these three E’s are our motto as well as our greatest gift to our community.

If you have any questions with our workforce development, immigrations services or ESOL classes, feel free to call us or drop by at our office!

Stay tuned for more updates from AACA:)