Vietnamese American Initiative For Development Inc

Programs: Child care - founded in 2005, au co preschool is the first and only vietnamese bilingual and bicultural preschool program in massachusetts. Au co is a massachusetts department of early education and care certified program that costs significantly less than most childcare programs in massachusetts. Most children are supported with tuition support from the government or our scholarship program. Run by six, experienced bilingual and bicultural daycare providers, au co prepares our students to enroll in kindergarten in the boston public schools with an approach to education that supports physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Spanish and portuguese language support also available. Our classrooms have a student: teacher ratio of 5:1. As of 2017, 90% of students graduate prepared to start kindergarten and 99% of parents express satisfaction with the school.

real estate development - as a community development corporation, vietaid's primary goal is to contribute to the positive development and support of our community. One way we have worked to achieve this goal is by building affordable housing developments and deed restricting them in perpetuity to create stability among housing offerings in the community. Vietaid has developed four significant, mixed-use affordable housing projects, all of which are located within a half-mile radius of public transportation in dorchester. Vietaid has hired trinity management, llc, a company that specializes in managing affordable housing in an urban setting, to manage our portfolio of 123 affordable rental units that provide affordable and quality housing to over 123 families and individuals. We help applicants navigate low-income housing tax credits (lihtc) and the massachusetts rental voucher programs (mvrp). As a massachusetts homeownership collaborative approved counseling agency, vietaid supports families through the process of renting a home or acquiring affordable housing, including understanding tenant and landlord's rights and responsibilities and navigating the contract between the housing agent, landlord, and tenant. Vietaid's first-time homebuyer training teaches about basic home purchasing, financing application procedures, building credit, mortgage qualification, financial literacy, and homeownership. We have assisted over 400 families through housing counseling programs and certified approximately 633 limited english proficient individuals in our ten-hour workshops. Vietaid helps low-income families improve their income as well as accumulate and expand family wealth by educating 250-300 prospective homebuyers/homeowners on the home-buying process and homeownership, assisting 40-50 graduates in purchasing their first homes, and assisting 100 homeowners to access resources to retrofit or repair their homes. In 2016, 281 households were served through pre-purchase, first-time homebuyer counseling. Classes are offered in vietnamese.

youth center - vietaid youth programs provide academic and enrichment activities for first through eighth graders and leadership development, college access/career exploration and employment opportunities for high school youth. Vietaid scholarly program for youth (vspy) is both an after school and summer program providing academic support, enrichment activities and community engagement opportunities for 1st-8th graders and leadership, volunteer and employment opportunities for high school aged youth. Our mission is to provide affordable, high-quality out-of-school time programming for local underserved youth-especially those from boston's vietnamese american community-that fosters a sense of belonging and independence while encouraging them to pursue their dreams through a combination of experiential learning, family involvement, educational support and community engagement within a safe and caring environment. In 2016, 97% of the students in vspy said they planned to go to college. As of 2018, we are currently serving 91 students in our summer program. Vietaid leadership alliance (vala) is a youth leadership program for high school students focusing on leadership development and community engagement. Youth engage with a social justice education curriculum about their identities, family and community histories, issues of oppression and social movements. Then youth apply their knowledge in a community project that engages with the larger community. In 2016, 100% of our high school seniors graduated from high school and were accepted to 4 year colleges.