For Immediate Release
For More Information Contact:
October 19, 2009
Helen Kim or
Yotin Srivanjarean
770.936.0969 ext. 44 or 25
________________________________________________________________________
The Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS) is expanding its Afterschool
and Summer Programs targeting Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and Low Income
youths. The expansion is through the help of the Georgia Department of Education.
Georgia has experienced an exponential growth of immigrant and refugee populations
over the past ten years, making it a new growth state for immigrant and refugee youth.
LEP student enrollment has increased by 252% between 1995 and 2006 in Georgia, and
those percentages will continue to increase.
Interestingly, more than half of all LEP youth nationwide are not immigrants but US-born
citizens. "This statistic is not surprising to CPACS because we understand many Asian-
American and other immigrant and refugee youths are raised by parents that may speak a
language other than English in the home, which make it tougher for these kids to get help
with homework. So ultimately, we need to stress that this is not an 'immigrant' challenge
but one that many American-born students face," said Mr. Yotin Srivanjarean, Program
Director for Youth at CPACS.
Research has found that LEP students, as well as economically disadvantaged students,
lag behind all children in math and reading / English. "Counter to the 'model-minority'
myth, the truth is that many Asian-American youth are LEP, and those students are not
meeting the adequate yearly progress reports in Georgia," said Mr. Srivanjarean. CPACS
intends to tackle this problem through its Youth Leadership, Empowerment and
Development (LEAD) Program, which aims to close the educational gap and provide
services to all racial/ ethnic and economically disadvantaged youth K-12 in math and
English.
"CPACS recognized this as a serious issue over 17 years ago when we developed our
youth program," notes Chaiwon Kim. "LEAD is a huge expansion of our youth program
and will enable us to help hundreds of additional students."
The LEAD program will have an after-school program which starts October 2009 and
ends September 31st, 2010, as well as a summer program which starts in May 2010. Both
after-school and summer programs will provide several services, including:
• A homework and academic tutorial sessions
• Education to reduce and prevent substance abuse and youth violence
• Professional development training and real-life work experience designed to
encourage youth to complete school
• Leadership development, focusing on training our youth to be responsible citizens
and advocates for themselves and their families
• Recreational and cultural enrichment programs and outings
• Parent training and support, including providing in-language education to parents
about the school system, their rights and responsibilities.
Both after-school and summer programs are free to eligible students and open to students
attending Dekalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Cobb County schools. Please contact Yotin
Srivanjarean at 770-936-0969 ext. 25 or
yotin@cpacs.org for more information or to
apply for our program.
The Center for Pan Asian Community Services is the first, largest and longest-standing service-providing
agency focused on Asian Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the Southeast. CPACS, now in its 29th year, is a
private non-profit organization whose mission is to create and deliver linguistically and culturally competent
health, social, legal and other services to immigrants, refugees, and racial-ethnic minorities at low to no-
cost. CPACS is also nationally recognized as the leader for API research and policy work in the Southeast,
and serves as a central referral and network source for national groups and local grass-roots organizations.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program is offered through the Georgia Department of
Education. The purpose of Georgia's Title IV, Part B, 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program is
to provide federal funds to establish or expand community learning centers that operate during out-of-school
hours and that have three specific purposes:
• To provide opportunities for academic enrichment and tutorial services
• To offer students a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities to reinforce and
complement the regular academic program; and
• To offer families of 21st CCLC students opportunities for literacy and related educational
development.
