2024 Toronto Conference

On behalf of the Chinese Immigrant Services Association Network International (CISANI), it is our pleasure to extend a warm welcome to you at the International Migrant Services Conference. As the overseas host for this event, we are excited to bring together professionals, experts, and advocates from around the world to collectively address the challenges and opportunities in serving our global community of Chinese immigrants.

Established in 1979, CISANI is a collaborative network of member organizations dedicated to addressing the evolving needs of Chinese immigrants. Our member organizations, spanning across the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong, work tirelessly to provide essential services and support to immigrants navigating new environments. The annual CISANI Conference serves as a platform for our members to exchange ideas, share resources, and discuss best practices. Through these collaborations, we aim to strengthen our programs, foster lasting friendships, and ultimately empower immigrants to achieve their goals and dreams.

We invite you to explore the rich tapestry of experiences, knowledge, and insights that this conference promises. Together, let us create meaningful connections, gain valuable insights, and work towards a more inclusive and supportive future for Chinese immigrants worldwide.

To learn more about CISANI and our mission, please visit our website at https://cisani.org/.

Thank you for joining us in this important dialogue, and we look forward to a successful and enriching conference!

Warm regards,

The Chinese Immigrant Services Association Network International (CISANI)

2024 International Migrant Services Conference

Alfred Lam, Executive Director

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Alfred Lam, Executive Director

Alfred’s story with CICS started in 2010 when he joined the agency as Centre Man-ager to lead its efforts to establish and operate Markham South Welcome Centre, part of the York Region network of five centres and multiple partners that provides newcomers with a single point of access to settlement services.

Alfred became Executive Director of CICS in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and pivoted the agency to survive and thrive during challenging times. Under his leadership, CICS has continued to expand and improve its programs and services to meet the evolving needs of newcomers and the community. He has also been actively advocating for policies and programs that support immigrants and refu- gees.

Alfred is currently Board Chair for Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), which advocates for and coordinates responses from more than 200
immigrant and refugee-serving agencies across the province. He also co-chairs York Region’s Newcomer Inclusion Table, a multi-sectoral group that advises regional government officials and staff on developing and implementing newcomer integration initiatives that respond to community needs. Previous to his past 13 years with CICS, Alfred was Executive Director of Helpmate Community Information and Volunteer Bureau in Richmond Hill. Beyond his professional responsibilities, Alfred volunteers to serve the marginalized and vulnerable in the commu- nity and is passionate about empowering youth. He had previously served as Board Chair for Ambassadors For Christ (AFC) in Canada.

At heart, Alfred is a writer who tirelessly promotes awareness and fights stigma on issues relating to mental well- ness. His critically acclaimed book, “Among The Ashes,” documents his journey and struggle with depression and has helped many deal with the disease. The book has been translated into Chinese to reach more people in the Chinese community.

Alfred is active as an Ironman triathlete and lives in Toronto with his wife and their two daughters.

– Centre for Immigrants and Community Services

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Our commitment to our clients
We are committed to providing our clients with equal access to services that meet their individual needs.

Vision Statement
Fully integrated newcomers who participate in and contribute to all spheres of Canadian Society.

Mission Statement
To empower newcomers in settling and integrating as contributing members of Canadian society through diverse, professional and innovative services

Core Values

Compassion
Inclusion
Collaboration

Founded in 1968, CICS is a not-for-profit organization and a registered charity that provides core settle- ment and integration services, including language training and employment, at nine locations across Toronto and York Region, serving more than 20,000 clients every year from early years children to seniors. CICS has also established community food programs that aim at increasing food security through its own community garden, community kitchen and food bank.

CICS is committed to building welcoming and in- clusive communities by being a strong advocate for social justice and anti-racism.

– Chinese Service Center of San Diego

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Sally Wong Avery, Executive Director

Sally has a B.A. from UCSD and J.D. from CalWestern Law School. She served the San Diego community in many roles, as Executive Director of the Chinese Service Center of San Diego, ESL instructor to Chinese seniors, Principal of Chinese School of San Diego, co-founded the Chinese Historical Society, first female President of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, and first Chinese Certified Food Handling Instructor in San Diego and also a lawyer. Her awards include: Outstanding Teaching Award by the Southern California Council of Chinese Schools, Susan B. Anthony Leadership Award, and recipient of the Ellis Island Award.

The WongAvery Asian Pacific Peace Museum, which bears Sally’s name, and which opens on June 8, 2024, reflects her longstanding contributions to education as an instrument of peace.

– Centre for Immigrants and Community Services

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Brian Joyce, Program Director

Brian Joyce is the Community Services and Facility/Operations Director at the Centre for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS). Brian attended Carleton University in Ottawa where he received his degree in Ecology. After university, he volunteered at Long Point Bird Observatory learning how to catch and band migratory raptors and songbirds. In 1995 he had the opportunity to start his own bird observatory which is now the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory located in Prince Edward County south of Picton which has been operating for the past 29 yrs. Although for many years Brian worked in outdoor education for the Ministry of Natural Resources, school boards, and the local conservation authorities he eventually settled into full-time work at the Oshawa Community Health Centre working with youth. From there he worked his way up to Manager of Health Promotion which delivered valuable services to high need communities. Much of his later work with the health centre was working with the urban Indigenous community to give them a voice to advocate for cultural programs and services to help serve the urban Indigenous communities in Durham Region. Brian then briefly joined the Alzheimer Society of Durham Region as Director of Programs before accepting the position at CICS as the Director of Community Services at the start of the pandemic. Brian manages several teams that deliver Early Years, Seniors, Volunteering, and Food Programming to the community. In the last 4 years, there has been an increased focus on Food Insecurity as inflation and rising food costs has seen a dramatic increase in people accessing food banks. Part of the direction is helping to provide resources to assist newcomers and those in poverty, to address social isolation and their food insecurity through a number of new innovative projects.

Keynote Speaker- Dr. Joseph Wong

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Dr. Joseph Wong

Founder and Chair, ALPHA Education
Founder, WongAvery Asia Pacific Peace Museum
Founder, Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care & Chair of Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation

Dr. Wong is a Canadian physician and philanthropist. With a group of volunteers, he set up Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation in 1987, and the foundation established the first Yee Hong Centre in 1994. The foundation has been raising funds for the centre’s development and operation for more than three decades.
He served as the chairman for the United Way of Greater Toronto from 1990 to 1992, and founded a non-profit, ALPHA Education, in 1997 to promote humanity and global peace. He also spearheaded the building of the Wong Avery Asia Pacific Peace Museum, which is dedicated to peace, to the struggle for a world without war, and to bet- ter future for our children. The museum officially opens on June 8, 2024.

He was named Man of the Year in 1986 by the Toronto Star, and one of “Toronto’s most influential people” in 1991 and 1992 by Toronto Life magazine. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1993. Dr. Wong was the winner of the 2005 Power of Humanity award, presented to him by former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev. He was named one of the 180 most influential people in Toronto’s history by the Toronto Star for the city’s 180th birthday.

His other community involvement and honours include: Founding National President, Chinese Canadian National Council, 1980-1983; Hon. Chair of United Way of Greater Toronto, 1994-2000; Award of Merit, City of Toronto, 1986; Humanity Award, Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, 1994; and Humanity Award, Canadian Red Cross, 2005. Dr. Wong has been given many awards from different ethno-cultural organizations in Canada for supporting differ- ent communities to gain equity and recognition. He is recognized for his leadership role in various refugee relief, natural disaster relief around the world, and health care research. He has fought racism and racial discrimination in Canada for over three decades.

– Chinese American Service League

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Annie Reyes , VP of Market and Communications

CASL was founded in 1978 when ten dedicated Chinese Americans came together to bridge the gap in services for Chinese American immigrants in Chicago. Starting with just a small budget of $30,000 and one staff member, CASL has grown into the Midwest’s most comprehensive non-profit social service agency for Chinese Americans with a $13 million annual budget and over 500 multilingual and multicultural employees.

CASL is located in the heart of Chicago’s Chinatown and housed in the award winning Kam L. Liu Building. CASL runs five separate service departments; Child Education and Development, Elderly Services, Employment and Training, Family and Community Services, and Housing and Financial Education. Through specific programs like Adult Day Services, Chef-Training, Child Day Care, and Youth Programs, CASL serves over 17,000 clients of all de- scents each year. In 1998, CASL has also developed an Affordable Senior-Housing Facility, just steps away from our main facilities. Around 130 elderly are housed in this 90 unit facility, all receiving culturally appropriate care.

The large majority of CASL’s 17,000 clients are immigrants who often do not have a formal education, possess few transferable job skills, and know little of the world around them. Since many of these individuals do not speak En- glish and sometimes have no family or friends in the area, CASL becomes their instant family, friend, and teacher. As a community center for people of all ages CASL has established itself as an anchor institution in the community, employing the most individuals in all of Chinatown.

– Chinese Community Center

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Chi-mei Lin , CEO/ Executive Director

Since 1979, the Chinese Community Center (CCC) has played a leading role in welcoming newcomers to America and in creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to contribute to the Houston community. CCC mission is to bridge East and West by enriching families with educational, cultural, and social service programs. The agency serves over 10,000 diverse families each year with programs that reach people at all stages of life—from infants to the elderly. CCC’s primary areas of service include:

Supporting the learning and positive development of at-risk, minority children
Helping people from low- and moderate-income households achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency
Helping immigrants integrate successfully into American society
Supporting healthy and independent lifestyles for older adults
Promoting cultural awareness and respect, and (6) building social capital within the community.

– Chinese Information & Service Center

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Jered Pruitt , Chief Operations Officer

CISC is a nonprofit organization working to support immigrants and their families in the greater Seattle area by creating opportunities for them to succeed while honoring their heritage. Our team of bilingual staff provides linguistically and culturally appropriate information, referral, advocacy, social, and support services to the Chinese immigrant community and immigrants from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and other parts of Asia. Our services in- clude early childhood education, youth development, family support, senior and disabled adult services, health care
access, and anti-hate/anti-bias programs.

– Chinese- American Planning Council

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Wayne Hi , President and Chief Executive Officer

Founded in 1965, the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) aims to promote the social and economic em- powerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities. CPC is a social services organization that creates positive social change. We empower Asian American, immigrant, and low-income communities in New York City by ensuring they have equitable access to the resources and opportunities needed to thrive. Today, CPC is the nation’s largest Asian American social services organization and we are the trusted partner to 80,000 individuals and families striving to achieve goals in their education, family, community and career. We welcome community members at every stage of life to over 50 high-quality programs at 35 sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Through all of our services, we empower New Yorkers to become agents of positive change in their own lives and in their communities.

– Chinatown Service Center- Los Angeles, CA

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Peter Ng , Chief Executive Officer

Chinatown Service Center (CSC) was founded in 1971, when the Pastor of the Chinese United Methodist Church started an outreach program to provide bilingual services to Chinese immigrants. The Church provided office space for one paid bilingual staff along with several volunteers to help the newly arrived immigrants adjust culturally to their new surroundings. In 1975, with the assistance of Judge Ronald Lew and other community leaders, CSC was incorporated as a non-profit organization dedicated olely to serving the community.

CSC is the largest community-based Chinese American health and human service organization in Southern California. CSC provides a comprehensive range of services, organized under eight service categories: Social Services, Behavioral Health, Medical Services, Dental Services, the Small Business Program, the Youth Center, the Child Development Center, and In-home Senior Care Services. Services are available in a variety of dialects, including (but not limited to): Cantonese, Mandarin, Toisan, Chiu Jou, Vietnamese, Spanish, and Khmer (Cambodian).

Fast forward to today, we opened the CSC Health Simulation Center, which is a state-of-the-art, immersive facility that prepares the workforce and the next generation of healthcare professionals to enhance patient outcomes. Additionally, we are proud to say CSC is the top-performing clinic out of all clinics contracted with L. A. Care Health Plan, Anthem, and Blue Shield Promise for Medi-Cal related to care or services for Chronic Disease Management. Chinatown Service Center remains steadfast in its dedication to providing social and health services.

– International Social Service- Hong Kong Branch

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Mr. Stephen Yau , Chief Executive of ISSHK

Founded in 1924, the International Social Service (ISS) is an international NGO without political, racial, religious or nationality bias with a General Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Thanks to its extensive Network of Branches, Affiliated Bureaus and Correspondents in more than 120 countries across 7 continents, ISS is unique in its ability to identify and protect children and families that are separated across two or more countries or territories as a result of migration, displacements, conflict, asylum and refugee issues through inter-country social work assistance and international coordination efforts.

ISS was established in Hong Kong as a headquarters delegation in 1958. In January 1972, ISS Hong Kong was for- mally admitted as a Branch by the International Council of ISS and on 9th February 1973, it became locally incorpo-rated. ISS Hong Kong is a company limited by guarantee.

As an integral part of the ISS worldwide network, ISS Hong Kong works closely with other ISS units around the globe in providing inter-country social work and cross border social services to needed children and families be- tween Hong Kong, Mainland China and across countries. It has established a strong reputation in serving migrants (Chinese and non Chinese), divided families and cross border families as well as asylum seekers and refugees. In response to the local community’s needs, it also provides an array of services for families, children, youths and the elderly including adoption, foster care, small group home, integrated family service, school social work etc.

ISS Hong Kong is an active service provider with an international perspective and worldwide connection. One of our strengths is our ability to provide social work assistance across borders, races, ethnicities and beliefs.