By Kai Curry
Northwest Asian Weekly
From a card table on the sidewalk to a nonprofit organization assisting 15,000 immigrants and their families every year, Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC) marks 50 years of service this year. While they have expanded over the decades in response to societal trends, CISC’s core mission of creating opportunities for immigrant community members to succeed has never altered.
With passion and expertise, they continue to respond to the needs of multi-generational families in multiple languages, for the betterment of King County at large.
“I was working in Seattle at the Pioneer Square Neighborhood Health Station…and I saw there were many new Chinese immigrants who did not know where to go for check-ups for their illnesses,” recalled John Loo, a CISC founder who now lives in Hong Kong. “And then, there were those who did not know English. They needed others to help them to read letters and fill in forms in order to apply for welfare. Some did not even know they could have welfare. Therefore, we printed flyers announcing 人人服務社, and started in a small capacity, with only volunteers.”
“For CISC to serve the communities for 50 years is beyond my wildest expectations,” said Liana Fong, one of those first volunteers in 1972, who saluted the “deep dedication and vision” it has taken “to grow CISC to reach this significant milestone.” As Fong, who now lives in New York shared, a group of high school and college students recognized a need for an organization “rooted in the community.”
“At the start, I would counsel old uncles and aunties, and could understand 台山話, or even speak it a little,” Loo remembered. “Over time, I was glad to be able to walk the streets in Chinatown, to greet everybody, and know their names.” He added, “It is a great joy to see that CISC can grow so big…the 50th anniversary is certainly a moment to be cherished, a triumph.”
Mary Hsu, president of CISC’s Board of Directors for the past 22 years, described the “serve the people” mentality of the 1960s and 1970s. “When John Loo initiated among our student group the idea of forming a service organization in Seattle Chinatown, some of us immediately responded with enthusiasm and active involvement,” saidd Fong. At first, CISC’s focus was senior citizens. As their caseload grew, CISC adopted the holistic approach they use today.
“When a grandparent comes in and says, ‘I need access to Medicare. Help me understand my options so I can make an informed decision,’ we’ll have a conversation with them and then we’ll also ask questions to understand their family and their experiences,” explained Michael Itti, CISC’s executive director. “They might say…‘My grandchild is about to enter preschool,’ and we’ll say, ‘We have a preschool program at Yesler Community Center.”
CISC’s “no wrong door policy” has led them to be a trusted organization in King County. “Anybody that comes through our doors, we try to help them out,” said Itti. “If we know of a partner organization, we’ll make a referral…We don’t want to turn anybody away and say sorry, you came to the wrong place.”
CISC responds to community needs as it happens. During the pandemic, seniors experienced debilitating solitude due to lockdowns. On the eastside, CISC formed a program for Russian, and now Ukrainian, seniors to gather. In partnership with the City of Bellevue and Amazon, they were able to expand to two days per week and offer iPads to participants.
“Seniors, when they can’t speak the language…feel isolated and lonely and they love getting together and hanging out and talking to other people,” said CISC’s Program and Clinical Director Hueiling Chan.
Chan and Hsu are “lifers” (Chan has been at CISC for 33 years), yet this type of professional is hard to come by. CISC expects that one of its biggest issues for the next 50 years will be recruitment and retention. The niche they seek—someone with rigorous credentials who is bicultural and bilingual—is a challenge, as is cost of living.
“Our goal is to provide living wages for all of our team members who are providing such vital services,” Itti said. “They are so passionate about serving our community, but we want to make sure that they are able to thrive themselves…the heart and soul of our agency are the people that are serving the community.”
The Northwest Asian Weekly asked Itti, Hsu, and Chan what impresses them most at CISC.
“What I get is inspiration from the staff. We have such dedicated and loyal staff who really care…You run into a lot of agencies where people are just bureaucrats and here, the staff goes out of their way because they feel that connection, they are part of the community they serve,” said Hsu.
For Chan, it’s “the difference we can make, the impact on people’s lives. It could be very small, or it could be something really huge.”
“I like to know that I’m helping other people,” said Itti, whose presence is ubiquitous around King County, as CISC has grown from helping individuals to helping the entire community, with efforts to increase voting and census participation, or stop anti-Asian hate. Itti cited “trailblazers” who inspired him, such as Ruth Wu and Uncle Bob.
“I’ve been really influenced by our community leaders…and I want to try to do my best to support the community as well.”
During the course of discussion of 50 years of community endeavor, stories come up. It could be a story about CISC’s cultivation of self-advocacy in the Asian community where people are not used to speaking up, or weren’t able to, as they often come from countries where civic engagement is banned.
“I was so proud when we were able to have a group of parents invited to the Seattle Public School Board retreat to share their experience,” Chan shared.
“These were parents who, a few years ago, refused to go to parent-teacher conferences,” and yet with CISC’s support, now “they were brave enough to say ‘Okay, I’m going to testify.’”
It might be a young girl, now in college, who returns to CISC to give back, continuing the legacy of the first volunteers.
“It’s really rewarding because they have become the best champions of all the services,” said Chan. For Itti, it’s the pleasure of walking the hallways and seeing staff and community members interacting. It’s hearing the rumble of kids’ feet as they arrive for CISC’s after-school activities. “We’re so grateful for the community who have been with us for decades,” Itti said. “Thinking about the impact we’ve made over the last couple of years with the pandemic, even vital services, we’re grateful to have this agency here. If you look at any decade, there’s always been ways that we’ve responded to community needs…It’s incredible to see the journey that we’ve been on.”
For information on CISC’s 50th anniversary gala, go to
cisc-seattle.ejoinme.org/50thGala.
Kai can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.