Thursday, June 26, 2008

City of Bellevue

CISC has made it to the City of Bellevue's web site!
As part of its efforts to make local government more accessible and welcoming to our immigrant neighbors, the city has translated several of its web pages into Chinese. There is a wealth of information and resources for Chinese residents, who now comprise about 8% of the city population.

Many of the topics refer people to the Bellevue Mini City Hall in Crossroads Mall where we have cultural navigators stationed to serve the Chinese, Spanish and Russian speaking communities. Keep up the good work!

To access the main page, click here.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Sound Steps

Summer officially started on June 20 (though you really couldn't tell around here) and with it started the Kirkland Senior Center's Sound Steps program.

Started in 2003 to encourage seniors to make a commitment to physical activity and fitness, CISC seniors participate each week by walking around downtown Kirkland and Lake Washington.

With encouragement and support from other seniors, even those who thought they could never walk a mile are happily enjoying the exercise and fresh air each week and getting to know their community a little better.

So if they can do it, you should too! Get up and walk for fitness!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Class of 2021

This week, CISC’s Step Ahead Program graduated its second class of preschoolers with great pomp and circumstance – well, they got certificates, anyway.

Eight students completed the year of bilingual Mandarin/English preschool fully prepared for kindergarten.

Starting in September, many of them spoke no English at all but progressed through the year learning all the skills essential for success in school.

Physical health, well-being and motor development; social and emotional development; approaches toward learning; cognition and general knowledge; and language and communication are the five areas of focus of school readiness for this program.

Parents, caregivers and siblings attended the graduation ceremony where students sang a song in Chinese, performed a skit in English, and impressed family and friends alike with their knowledge and maturity.


Way to go class of 2021!


Monday, June 09, 2008

36th Annual Friendship Dinner

Last Saturday's Friendship Dinner and Auction was a huge success. Held at the Grand Hyatt Seattle, we had nearly 400 guests in attendance for this fun event.

This year's focus was on CISC's early learning programs - parent and caregiver classes and training, a bilingual English/Mandarin pre-K program, and informal play and learn groups all around the county, serving Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Hmong, and South Asian families.
Despite these difficult times, people were very generous, donating over $45,000 to help children succeed in school, and their parents get the skills then need to support them at home. In addition, the live and silent auctions raised significant sums for the ongoing operations of CISC.

The lucky winner of the raffle prize ($1,300 in cash) was Lillian Anderson, owner of Massage Envy. She generously donated her prize back to CISC to support the work we do in the community. Thank you Lillian!

Everyone said the food was excellent (jumbo crab cake starter, salad of spring greens, herb crusted chicken with orzo, and a heavenly espresso crème brûlée with chocolate dipped shortbread for dessert. Yum!

A big thanks to all our corporate sponsors who underwrote this event so that all monies rasied at the event could go directly to CISC programs and activities!