THE CHINATOWN COMMUNITY EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

The Chinatown Community Educational Partnership (CCEP) was co-founded by the Asian American Civic Association and Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center in 2000 with funding from the Massachusetts Department of Education/Adult and Community Learning Services.

CCEP's mission is to create a comprehensive educational network connecting Chinatown community businesses and other organizations to maximize and expand resources for the people with whom we work. Participants include adult basic education providers, human/social service organizations, higher education institutions, churches, advocacy agencies and other community members.

When we talk about the "Chinatown community," we believe it is more than the geographical area of Boston's Chinatown. It includes the places where our students and clients live and work, including Quincy, Malden and other cities in the greater Boston area as well as most neighborhoods of Boston.

The reason for this collaboration is simple---many of us are probably serving the same people. For example, a Chinese immigrant adult studying English at AACA or BCNC may also have a child in day care at Red Oak or Acorn. He or she may get health care at the South Cove Community Health Center and attend Sunday services at the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church. CCEP believes that education should be a key part of community life along with housing, health care and employment, youth services, etc.

We are working with other organizations serving the community, especially though our web site www.ccepboston.net. If you would like to find a class for a prospective student, click on Services/Find a Class and follow the links to the kind of class you are looking for.

CCEP has developed a Strategic Plan for 2006-2009. There are three primary goals:

• Improve the coordination of educational services for immigrant adults in Chinatown. Through funding provided by English for New Bostonians, we began two high intermediate ESOL classes in September, 2006 for people who work during the day and who want to improve their English so they can continue to study in college, job training or to advance in their jobs. To learn more about these classes, contact Richard Goldberg at the Asian American Civic association.
• Share and implement best practices among Chinatown's ESOL/ABE/Job Training providers. We hold quarterly sharing sessions open to all teachers of adults in the community.
• To expand linkages between CCEP and Boston's workforce development system (employers, One Stop Career Centers and training providers). In October, 2006, staff from JobNet presented a workshop in Chinatown on "What is a Career center?" Community members also attended a series of job readiness workshops (presented in Cantonese) at Boston Career Link. In fall, 2007, a bilingual staff member from AACA will be stationed at the Quincy Career Center two days per week. In September, AACA will begin ESOL and GED classes at New England medical center under a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Education/Adult and Community Learning Services.

To learn more about CCEP and how you can get involved, contact:

• Fred Bennett 617-635-5129 ext. 1029; fred.bennett@bcnc.net
• Richard Goldberg 617-426-9492 ext. 223; richard@aaca-boston.org