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About Asian American Civic Association (AACA)

Location:

87 Tyler Street, Boston, MA 02111, US

Mission Statement

The primary mission of the Asian American Civic Association is to provide limited-English speaking and economically-disadvantaged Asian adults and youth with programs and services to develop the survival, literacy and employment skills needed to gain durable economic independence. Providing the right tools to these linguistic minorities will strengthen their ability to undertake their responsibilities in the larger community. This will in turn enable them to realize their potentials as contributing family members, productive workers and participating citizens.

Description

The Asian American Civic Association (A.A.C.A.), formerly known as the Chinese American Civic Association, has been active in Boston's Asian community over 40 years. The past three decades have seen vast growth in the Asian community and AACA has also grown in order to meet the community's changing needs. AACA was born in 1967 as an organization to meet the social and cultural needs of first and second generation Chinese Americans. In the early 1970's, it became the major social planning and cultural advocacy agency in Chinatown, out of which evolved the South Cove Community Health Center and the Chinese Golden Age Center, as well as AACA's present existing programs. In 1979, AACA increased its commitment to include refugees froim Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In 1982, the agency expanded to include prevocational skills training for immigrants and refugees. In 1984, AACA also expanded its services to include vocational training. In 1988, the agency inaugurated workplace education programs for newcomers in the workforce. In 1991, an External Diploma Program was offered as alternative remedial high school education.