Chinese Service Center of San Diego

Address: 8775 Aero Drive, Ste.138
San Diego, CA 92123
858.505.9906

A Non-profit 501(c)(3) Charitable Organization .

Background
The “Chinese Service Center”, formerly known as the “Chinese Social Service Center”, was incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and officially began serving the Chinese community in 2003. The name was officially changed in 2005 to reflect the broader services provided and performed at the center.

In San Diego County, the Chinese population is 30,750 (2000 US census), which represents about 7-8% of the population within San Diego County. Although the Chinese population percentage is small, the majority of San Diego’s governmental agencies do not serve the Chinese population. Because of San Diego’s proximity to Mexico, most agencies serve the English and Spanish speaking public. Thus, governmental agencies do not provide Chinese bilingual written material or Chinese bilingual staff. The lack of Chinese bilingual staffing at the various governmental agencies stresses the significance of the Chinese Service Center’s direct assistance and services to the Chinese community.

Several non-governmental “social services” organizations in San Diego County also execute parallel services. However, only very few non-governmental social service centers are staffed with Chinese speaking personnel. The Cantonese and Mandarin dialects are the most predominantly used Chinese dialects spoken in San Diego County. The Chinese Service Center’s staff speaks several Chinese dialects: Cantonese, Hakka, Toishan, Taiwanese and Mandarin. The bilingual staff attracts many clients into a Center that fully appreciates and understands their problems and issues.

The Center began serving the Chinese community primarily by word of mouth. Currently, the Center is still serving the Community by word of mouth, but the majority of the Center’s clients assisted are walk-in, call-in, and referral based.

The Center provides the following services: ESL classes through community college Health Sanitation Classes for the Couunty of San Diego Health Department Health Seminars, Nutrition, Breast Cancer Awareness Health Screening, e.g. Hepatitis, Bone Marrow Chinese School Classes (Cantonese & Mandarin) Bilingual translation and interpretation, referral services, form assistance, government agencies referral, basic consumer education, food handling and sanitation classes, seminars of current medical interest

Beyond these services, the Center expects to broaden their services and activities and help develop the Center as an “active center,” where people of all ages can come and use our facility.

The Chinese Service Center’s mission is to provide services for the benefit of all ages and families of the San Diego Chinese community. We give personal attention to our clients which enable them to thrive in the San Diego community. The Center aims to provide developmental programs and training towards employable skills so that clients can gain self-confidence, self-respect and make meaningful contributions to their own independence and livelihood.

We work with a simple goal - to work towards a better future for the San Diego Chinese Community and bring much needed services to those in need.

The primary goals of the service center are:

• To provide essential programs for immigrants, with guidance and resources to facilitate their assimilation into their new environments.
• To provide vital programs for the elderly which coordinate informal support and recreational activities
• To offer crucial bilingual educational curriculums for children that focus on their total development, enrich their appreciation and understanding of their bicultural upbringing.

To accomplish these goals, the Chinese Service Center, conducts English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, under the guidelines outlined by the San Diego Community College District. Eventually, the Chinese Service Center will also develop other programs like house cleaning programs, restaurant cooking classes and training.

History
The “Chinese Service Center” was founded by Sally Wong-Avery. She started as a case worker for the San Diego Chinese Center (SDCC).

Opened since 1974, she later became its Executive Director in 1983, and she served in that position for four and half years. After attaining her law degree, she went into private practice, but sensed the need for Chinese social services in the San Diego Chinese community was still unfulfilled. She especially empathized with the newly arrived immigrants, as she was an immigrant herself. Ms. Wong-Avery continued providing social services under her “Chinese Professional Services” company for 15 years.

In 2003, Ms. Wong created the “Chinese Social Service Center” as a non-profit organization. Even to this day, Ms. Wong-Avery has always operated her services on a non-fee basis, accepting whatever donations the clients wanted to give. She has dedicated herself in providing these services to the Chinese community for over 30 years.