We’re home!

After 8 years in crowded, temporary quarters at 200 Tremont Street, the Asian American Civic Association moved to its permanent new home at 87 Tyler Street on October 26, 2007.  A ribbon cutting, with Boston mayor Thomas Menino and several other dignitaries doing the honors, was held on Thursday, October 25.

AACA now occupies the ground, fourth and fifth floors of the new five-story building to be known as the Chinatown Community Education Center.  The Kwong Kow Chinese School occupies the other three floors.  AACA’s phone number, 617-426-9492, will remain the same.  Regular hours of operation will be 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with special hours for evening projects..
 
AACA now has a total of 16,892 square feet of space, almost twice as much as the 9,000 square feet we had in our cramped, basement space at 200 Tremont Street.  The ground floor (sidewalk level) will consist of the Early Childhood Education Center, which will be staffed from 7AM to 7 PM.   Fifty-one childcare slots for children from infants to preschoolers will be available in September, 2008 for  community residents and those who work in the greater Chinatown area. 

On the fourth floor is the State Street Foundation Center for Workforce Development which will consists of  two computer labs with a total of 30 stations.  This was made possible through a gift of $500,000 by the State Street Foundation, one of AACA’s strongest corporate partners.  There are 7 classrooms on the fourth floor to serve students in all of our education and training programs.

The fifth floor consists of offices for the Multi-Service Center (MSC), Sampan newspaper, teachers and administrative staff, along with a conference room, an employee eating area, a small library and desk space for volunteers , as well the agency’s reception desk. There are two private rooms for counseling and the Chinatown satellite office of TERI College Planning. Since 1995, a Chinese-speaking counselor from TERI has assisted more than 4,000 AACA students and community members with college application forms and financial aid forms.

The total construction cost is  $12.58 million, of which AACA’s share is $6.54 million. Financing of $3.5 million has been secured from Massachusetts Housing and Investment Corporation and Wainwright Bank. AACA will be able to expand in the following ways:

• Respond to the community’s growing need for education, skills training, counseling, youth services, and childcare
• Boost AACA’s workforce development capacity by focusing on sectoral industries and developing career pathways to help immigrants achieve sustainable self-sufficiency
• Continue collaborating with community-based organizations and industry leaders in tackling the issues of poverty, unemployment, and under-employment among language minorities
• Further the commitment to provide critical and in-depth news reports and information about Greater Boston Asian and other immigrant communities.

The community celebrates the opening of its newest resource, the Chinatown Community Education Center at 87 Tyler Street.
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