100 West Clary Ave
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Phone: 626.309.0622
Fax: 626.309.0717
Current News

AYC Partners with TVB for Sichuan Earthquake Victims
AYC is partnering with TVB to raise funds for the Sichuan Earthquake victims. We continue to receive donations from the community. Please make checks payable to AYC- Earthquake.

All donations received will be designated for the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund, and will be passed to the five relief organizations, namely the Hong Kong Red Cross, World Vision Hong Kong, Oxfam Hong Kong, United Nations Children’s Fund and the Salvation Army for emergency relief operation related to the Sichuan earthquake.

On behalf of the earthquake victims, thank you for your generous donation!




AYC Receives Achievement Award
Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District
Achievement Award
Winter 2008
Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich presents the Open Space District Achievement Award to the Asian Youth Center. Pictured are Sally Baldwin, outgoing Board of Directors President, May To, Executive Director, Supervisor Antonovich, and Russ Guiney, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.



The Open Space District’s Achievement Award Program recognizes outstanding and innovative District-funded projects. The Asian Youth Center (AYC) demonstrates excellence in meeting the needs of its service community through a broad range of recreational, educational and social service programs provided to youth and their families in the San Gabriel and Antelope Valleys and in the City of Los Angeles.

How It All Began
The Asian Youth Center was established by the Asian Task Force of the United Way in 1989 to fill an identified gap in critical services for Asian immigrant children and families in the San Gabriel Valley. The Asian Youth Project applied for independent nonprofit status and was renamed the Asian Youth Center in 1990. Over the years AYC has grown from a staff of three and an annual operating budget of $160,000 to a staff of 50 and an annual operating budget of $1,700,000.

In 1996 the Asian Youth Center won a $500,000 At-Risk Youth Competitive Grant from the Open Space District to acquire and then develop their headquarters building, a 5,828-square-foot former warehouse at 100 Clary Avenue in the City of San Gabriel. The building was renovated to include a front entry, office space, classrooms, a meeting room, a kitchen, restrooms and an indoor gym/recreational space that sports a half-court basketball court. Renovations were completed in July 1997, and the building was opened to staff, youth and their families in December 1997.

The Open Space District grant provided a cornerstone for continued financial support which helped with some of the building renovation and to fund AYC programming. "Without the first grant from the District, the other donations would not have been granted to us," explained May To, Executive Director of the Asian Youth Center. Major contributors to follow were 99 Ranch Market and the Weingart, Whitecap, Ahmanson and LA 84 Foundations.

Some of the Asian Youth Center Programs
The Asian Youth Center is much more than bricks and mortar. Its impact on the lives of thousands of youth and their families is a direct result of AYC programming and the basis for the Achievement Award.

Friday Night Club is a very popular program for youth ages 14 to 24. Activities include basketball, movies, dance, table games, computer time and field trips. Workshops teach how to build good relationships, respecting the richness of other cultures and practical skills such as resume writing. Occasional guest speakers discuss their professions with club youth who may want to follow the same career paths.

The Friday Night Club also provides youth with an opportunity to perform community service. Whether court-ordered or to earn volunteer school credit, community service opportunities include helping at AYC and activities such as cleaning beaches and local parks. One teenager providing court-ordered service helps answer the phones, greets people, cleans the windows and makes snacks for the younger children. "I just made ten peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. I come as much as I can, sometimes everyday. I like coming here. It gives me something to do; it’s better than doing nothing."

Basketball in the half-court gymnasium gives kids who might not otherwise get a chance for team play a shot at the game. Hong Da Xu, a recent immigrant from China plays on the AYC basketball team. "The coach teaches me to play basketball. It’s fun," he says. He adds that AYC "has a family feel. People here are very nice."

Coach Lex Agacer says of the team, "They can improve their skills here and then make it onto the school team. The confidence they build will also help them in their studies and in whatever comes to them in life." Team member David Nguyen remembers, "I was not that good when I started. I have learned to look forward to basketball practice. For kids who don’t have much in their life, this is something to look forward to."

Teen Leadership Career College Preparation Program (TLCC) provides afterschool activity for high school students, many of whom attend San Gabriel or Gabrielino High Schools. Tutors are available to help with homework and weekly workshops offer college and career preparation skills. TLCC also features monthly field trips to university campuses, museums and other venues. Weekdays, the teens enjoy recreational activities after completing their homework while SAT preparation programs are held Saturday mornings.

Operation Read, a literacy program, targets fifth through twelfth graders trying to improve their reading skills. The program emphasizes phonics, writing activities, reading games and reading aloud. Tutors use a variety of instructional approaches to help every learner succeed, and Operation Read strives to make learning fun as well as educational. After every twenty hours of class participants take a standardized test until they have achieved their desired literacy level.

The Gang Intervention Program, funded by the Los Angeles County Probation Department, works with youth ages 12 to 18 in a twelve-week program that offers counseling, homework assistance and recreational activities. Participants are on probation and have been identified as gang members, are at-risk for joining gangs or have exhibited criminal behavior. The program was developed at the Asian Youth Center but AYC’s staff will soon expand the program to high schools and community centers in San Gabriel, Alhambra, Rosemead, Pomona, Arcadia, Glendale and Pasadena.

Home-based Social Services, also funded through the Probation Department, helps about sixty families with 14- to 18-year-old-youth each year with parenting and relationship skills, ensuring that these high-risk/high-need youth successfully complete the terms of their probation. The program case workers help youth develop and follow through with practical plans to attend school regularly, improve grades, complete counseling and community service requirements, develop positive peer relationships and be accountable for their choices and actions. Case workers also empower parents to better supervise and monitor their teens and to communicate more effectively in school and court systems.

After School Program provides first through sixth graders help with homework, art classes, snacks and videos. Joselyn Rodriguez, an eighth grader, explains, "I like AYC because they have really good tutors here. They help you with your homework because at home no one can help you with English. You don’t have to be Asian. You can be any race. They give out snacks to give you energy so you won’t slack off. I’ve been coming here for three years."

When asked what he likes about the Center, sevenyear- old Andy Liang responds, "My tutor gave me a word search. You have to find words in a square." Nine year old Phoenix Gong chimes in, "When I need help with my homework, my tutors help me. They are nice and don’t yell at me and are funny." Emily Hhang also enjoys the program saying, "Once they check your homework, they help you fix it. One of the tutors, Vu, is very funny. He makes jokes." Activities also take participants outside. Nine year old Jennifer Do explains, "We do homework. Sometimes on Friday when it’s not raining or cold, we go to the park. We play."

Success Stories
Duy Truong, now 23, started at AYC when he was a freshman in high school. He recalls that a staff member invited him to the Friday Night Club. "Without that program I could have gotten into trouble. Now I am a Youth Service Specialist for the Los Angeles County Probation Department and I work with at-risk youth and their parents to help them promote healthy relationships with other people." Also, on Fridays, Duy supervises kids that come to AYC for recreation. James Yokoyama, a part-time therapist at AYC who has known Duy for several years explains, "It brings joy to my heart to see some of the kids who used to come here now work here. Kids have a place to come and be silly. The staff can teach them how to act right. We can be a good example for them. I’m really proud of Duy."

Richard Villegas, a full-time personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness and a former Congressional Youth Scholar in high school, now tutors geometry and other higher-level mathematics at AYC. "I started here for what I thought was just going to be a summer job. Kids need a place to keep them out of trouble. Some of their parents are not watching them. I don’t blame the teachers. They have 30 to 35 students in a class. The kids need more attention and more clarity. Here at AYC we have more peer group learning. I try to get the kids to help one another. On weekdays, we do two hours of homework, and then they can do the fun stuff. On Fridays it’s more like recess here."

Chin Diep, an immigrant who left Vietnam at the age of ten, began at AYC in 1993. He now works as a counselor for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. "I came here in eighth grade. I started coming Friday nights to play basketball. They had a theater program. We thought it was boring and silly, but we stuck with it. We didn’t know the intentions behind it. I came here through all four years of high school. In my undergrad work, I worked for AYC’s AIDS program, and I ran the Friday Night Club. I learned a lot about social justice here. When I was in high school there was racial profiling and police profiling going on. I wanted to study cultural anthropology, but the counselors here guided me to get a Master’s Degree in social work. I went into the field because of my interaction with staff. I realized the kids here need a place to go and do something positive. As I got older I saw I had an opportunity to help the kids as I was helped. The first time I went hiking was with this Center. So when I became part of the staff I was able to give the kids the same opportunity. It was cool because a lot of my peers came back and volunteered here to provide transportation and to supervise. Kids I coached are now coaches. It happens naturally. I’m sure it will continue."

Expansion
The Asian Youth Center has two satellite offices. The downtown Los Angeles satellite opened in 1998 and serves youth from kindergarten through middle school. It provides an after school tutoring program as well as field trips to local historical sites. The Lancaster satellite opened in 2007 and offers the Operation Read and Home-based Social Services programs.

Executive Director, May L. To
The staff at the Asian Youth Center provides programs in an extraordinary way and no one is more responsible for this than May L. To. The Hong Kong native signed on as program coordinator with the organization when it first opened in 1989. In 1990, Mrs. To became its first executive director, and under her guiding hand, the Asian Youth Center has flourished to become a leading provider of recreational, social and educational services to both Asian and non-Asian youth and families in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond. Mrs. To explains, "My job allows me to help the next generation reach their greatest potential and to assist them with overcoming the hardships they experienced as new immigrants."
The Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District congratulates the Asian Youth Center for its exceptional contribution to youth and their families.
 
Copyright 2006 Asian Youth Center