Thanks for opening the winter edition of AACI’s newsletter! Throughout the past year, we’ve appreciated the opportunity to share our latest news and all the innovative ways we continue to serve, educate, and advocate for our communities. In this issue, you’ll see that we have many new announcements and happenings. Thanks again for your continued support of AACI, and thank you for reading!

Sincerely,
Michele Lew
President and CEO
Asian Americans for Community Involvement

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Join AACI in Giving for the Holidays

AACI is collecting brand new, unwrapped gifts for families in our Youth Development Services and Domestic Violence Program/Asian Women’s Home. These families would love to receive toys and warm clothing for children ages 0-17 as well as $40 Target gift cards.

Our services target a population that is vulnerable, at-risk, and underserved due to their ethnicity, immigration status, and socioeconomic background. Youth Development Services work with high-risk east San Jose youth impacted by substance abuse and gang activity. The Asian Women’s Home provides a 24-hour crisis hotline, emergency shelter, and non-residential support to abused women, children, and men of all ethnicities throughout Santa Clara County.

Whether you are donating individually, are part of a community group, or are organizing a company toy drive, we would love your support. To donate, please contact Melissa Luke at (408) 975-2730 x226 or dvdevelopment@aaci.org. Thank you for helping our clients have a happy holiday season!

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AACI Welcomes Pancho Chang, Chief Operating Officer

AACI is pleased to welcome our new Chief Operating Officer, Pancho Chang. Prior to joining AACI, Pancho ran a community health center in Boston’s Chinatown. Under his leadership, the health center tripled its patients, visits, and staff. He oversaw the health center’s integration of primary care with mental health services, and incorporated new services for adolescent, elderly and Southeast Asian populations. Such growth taught him to “rely on the wisdom of diverse groups” and to “manage from the middle.”

Pancho feels that AACI stands for strong, affordable, culturally competent services, advocacy, and education for Asians in Santa Clara County. We are glad to have him on board!

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AACI Staff Members Receive Asian Hero Awards

AACI is proud to announce that two of our staff members, Sarita Kohli and Jill Kuendig, received the Asian American Hero Award from County Supervisor Liz Kniss. Sarita Kohli is AACI’s Director of Mental Health and Community Programs, and currently serves on the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Jill Kuendig is a Mental Health Intern at AACI, and has spent many years helping a grassroots mental health advocacy organization, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

The Asian American Hero Award is an annual award given by County Supervisor Liz Kniss as a way of recognizing outstanding role models in leadership, health and human services, as well as arts and education. The award pays tribute to individuals who have made a significant impact in the community and bridged differences among communities.

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World AIDS Day 2011

The AACI HIV/AIDS Program marked World AIDS Day, December 1st, with a series of activities and events advancing this year’s World AIDS Day Campaign theme: Getting to Zero. The Getting to Zero campaign champions working toward a world with zero AIDS-related deaths, zero new HIV infections, and zero discrimination by 2015.

To kick off World AIDS Day, AACI staff member Omar Nuñez was featured as a special guest on a Spanish language radio station and several television news programs to discuss the importance of cross-cultural collaboration, testing, and the need to end stigma around HIV/AIDS. The AACI HIV/AIDS Program conducted outreach and HIV rapid testing in locations throughout the county, including the Mexican Consulate, Evergreen Valley College, and San Jose State University.

The CST Clinician will perform administrative and programmatic responsibilities for the CST Department providing culturally and linguistically competent services to a diverse Santa Clara County population.

Duties include:

• Mental health screenings/intakes
• Maintain confidentiality of records relating to clients’ treatment.
• Prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports.
• Collaborate with other staff members to perform clinical assessments and develop treatment plans.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of counseling programs and clients’ progress in resolving identified problems and moving towards defined objectives.
• Psychothereapy
• Forensic evaluations for immigration proceedings
• Disability evaluations
• Participation in research projects
• Participation in presentations to service providers and professional organizations
• Consultation/supervision of clinical and non-clinical staff

Qualifications

• California licensed
• Experience/expertise in evaluation and treatment of severe trauma
• Background in working with refugees/asylum-seekers and torture survivors
• Bilingual skills
• Excellent writing and speaking skills.

For consideration, please mail or fax cover letter and resume to:

Human Resources
Asian Americans for Community Involvement
2400 Moorpark Ave., Suite 300
San Jose, CA. 95128
Fax: (408) 975-2745 No phone calls please.
Email: hr@aaci.org

Due to the large volume of resumes received, we are unable to acknowledge receipt of all applications. Candidates who meet specific qualifications will be contacted during the course of this search.

Please join us for a one hour lunch to learn more about how you can help us improve the health, mental health, and well-being of individuals, families, and the Asian community.

When:
Thursday, April 26, 2012
12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
(Registration begins at 11:30 a.m.)

Where:
Villa Ragusa
35 South 2nd St.
Campbell, CA 95008

There is no cost to attend!

For sponsorship opportunities and more information, please contact Kim Meininger at kim.meininger@aaci.org or 408-975-2730 x107.

MSW or counseling related field. Required completion of at least 40 hrs Domestic Violence Advocacy training, 12 hours Mental Health First Aid course and at least 600 hours of practicum in domestic violence field.

For consideration, please mail or fax cover letter and resume to:

Human Resources, Job DV1
Asian Americans for Community Involvement
2400 Moorpark Ave., Suite 300
San Jose, CA. 95128
Fax: (408) 975-2745 No phone calls please.
Email: hr@aaci.org

Due to the large volume of resumes received, we are unable to acknowledge receipt of all applications. Candidates who meet specific qualifications will be contacted during the course of this search.

AACI will be hosting a community presentation regarding land use, affordable housing, and public transit. Please come hear from community leaders at Urban Habitat, Public Advocates, the Non-Profit Housing Association, and our special guest, Congressman Mike Honda.

RSVP at events@aaci.org

or

RSVP online Here.

To donate your vehicle, please click here.

Find out more about Asian Women’s Home here.

The busy fall season is upon us and the holidays are just around the corner! In addition to the generous gift AACI recently received from Gilead Sciences, we continued to stay active in the community as we hosted author and torture survivor Marina Nemat’s presentation at San Jose State University and participated in the 14th Annual Walk to End Domestic Violence.


As a reminder, AACI has tours available every second Tuesday of the month, so come learn more about our staff and services. Contact Claudia Han at Claudia.Han@aaci.org for more information. In the meantime, please enjoy this edition of our monthly newsletter!

Sincerely,
Michele Lew
President and CEO
Asian Americans for Community Involvement

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AACI Staff Walk to End Domestic Violence

On Friday, October 14th, AACI staff members participated in the 14th Annual Walk to End Domestic Violence that took place at San Jose City Hall. With purple being the color of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the AACI staff all sported purple shirts, instead of AACI’s signature blue, in support of the cause. Staff teams also created banners carried during the walk.

A wife and husband, who also brought their four children along to participate in the walk, were so inspired by our group of staff (pictured above) that they decided to make a donation to Asian Women’s Home on the spot. Asian Women’s Home, the domestic violence program of AACI, provides quality care to meet the unique needs of domestic violence victims, including emergency shelter, legal and social services advocacy, and a 24-hour hotline. You can learn more about the program at www.sjawh.com.

For immediate questions or help, please call our domestic violence hotline at 408-975-2739.

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Event Honoring Author Marina Nemat

The AACI Center for Survivors of Torture (CST), in partnership with the Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco, South Bay First Thursdays (SBFT), San Jose State University’s Iranian Studies Program, Women’s Resource Center, and MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center hosted a special event to honor acclaimed author Marina Nemat. The event was hosted at San Jose State University on Friday, October 21, where over 80 different community members attended. The Associated Student Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities from San Jose State University, Yan Yin Choy, opened the event with a statement about the importance of community development through collaborative efforts by organizations and members. President and CEO of AACI, Michele Lew, provided opening remarks about AACI and its development through the decades through collaborative relationships with various community groups. Sarita Kohli, the Director of Mental Health and Community Programs, followed Michele Lew with important information on CST, such as the number of clients served and the programs that are available for the clients. She also recounted some of the client successes that stemmed from AACI’s services.

Marina Nemat, a torture survivor from Iran who immigrated to Canada in 1991, shared her courageous story as a young prisoner in Evin Prison after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Ms. Nemat collaborated with AACI and other community organizations to help bring light to an important issue affecting many torture survivors resettling in Santa Clara County. Today, CST at AACI serves clients from over 60 countries. The event brought together various community members to learn from Marina Nemat’s story to show how one can overcome and grow from trauma. The event enlightened community members and leaders on the importance of recovery for torture victims and of services provided by treatment centers. Ms. Nemat’s evoking story shocked many about the power and resilience an individual can have, with the help of others. This event inspired many of the attendees to learn more about the issue of torture and participate with CST and AACI to help enhance our programs and services.

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Gilead’s Gift to AACI

AACI is honored to receive a $10,000 grant from Gilead Sciences to provide counseling, testing, and referrals. This gift will ensure that HIV/AIDS underserved populations will continue to receive quality health care and support, as AACI is one of only two non-clinical, alternative testing sites in the county.

Gilead Sciences is an international research-based biopharmaceutical company that has developed medicines such as Hepatitis B vaccines and continues to improve the lives of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Funding from Gilead Sciences is aimed at better understanding and alleviating common obstacles to health quality. For more information about AACI’s HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program, visit hiv.aaci.org.

Find out more here.

Details and trailer for the films can be found here.

This online survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and will ask questions regarding your health knowledge and beliefs, gambling behavior, and some demographic questions. Information from this survey will allow the PG Alliance to increase awareness about responsible gaming practices and problem gambling resources.

To take the online survey in your preferred language, please select the
appropriate link below:

For English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pgasurveyenglish
For Chinese: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pgasurveychinese
For Spanish: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pgasurveyspanish
For Tagalog: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pgasurveytagalog
For Vietnamese: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pgasurveyvietnamese

In this edition of our newsletter, we’ve chosen to spotlight a few recent contributions of AACI’s staff and volunteers who help create a healthy and empowered Asian community. We also have quite a few activities planned in the coming weeks, so be sure to check out our events listing!

Sincerely,
Michele Lew
President and CEO
Asian Americans for Community Involvement

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AACI Staff Get Published

AACI staff members Dr. Jorge Wong and Kao Saechao were invited by chief editor, Dr. Miguel Gallardo, to contribute a book chapter on the cultural competent services AACI provides. The new book, Culturally Adaptive Counseling Skills, addresses diverse ethnic minority groups and their mental health needs. The chapter focuses on current mental health trends with clinical adaptations of the Culturally Adaptive Counseling Skills model. Of the many cases they considered, Jorge and Kao decided to highlight a 1.5 generation family and child case highlighting a largely misunderstood generation of Southeast Asians. Members of the 1.5 generation simultaneously struggle with conflicting culture of origin values along with those of the new host culture. These salient conflicts highlight the importance of having culturally adaptive and respectful services provided by well trained clinical staff.

Kao Saechao stated, “Writing this book chapter has been a tremendous growth experience personally and professionally. It has helped me realize the importance of culturally competent agencies such as AACI and the work each one of us does every day to help members of our community. I hope this book chapter increases my fellow and future clinicians’ understanding of the 1.5 generation and their clinical needs.”

The book can be purchased here.

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Volunteer Spotlight: AACI English Instructors Recognized by the Santa Clara County Refugee Immigrant Forum

Over the past year, Wren Clark and Martin Gorfinkel have volunteered their time to provide English classes to the AACI Center for Survivors of Torture (CST) clients. In September, they were recognized for their volunteer contributions with a certificate from the Santa Clara County Refugee and Immigrant Forum, and also received a certificate of appreciation from CST staff.

Since July 2010, Wren and Martin have provided twice weekly English classes for CST’s vulnerable refugee population. The classes have focused not only on learning English, but also developing vocabulary and skills required for navigating life in a new country. Their students often praise Wren and Martin for their warm, approachable demeanor, and respect for different cultures.