Press Release

For Immediate Release: Contact: October 20, 2004 Sophy Pich or Max Niedzwiecki Tel: 202/667-4690, searac@searac.org

Southeast Asian American Directory and Search Engine Link Resources for Community Development

Washington, DC: Americans with roots in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam number over two million nationwide, and maintain hundreds of grassroots organizations for the betterment of their communities. One hundred and eighty groups are presented in a new publication and search engine: Directory of Southeast Asian American Community-Based Organizations 2004: Mutual Assistance Associations (MAAs) and Religious Organizations Providing Social Services.

The Directory is available in printed and on-line formats at http://www.searac.org/maa, and should be of use to public agencies, decision-makers, funders, and others interested in working with Southeast Asian Americans, some of whose communities continue to face strong economic and educational challenges. The on-line search engine allows users to select by program area, state, and ethnic representation, and will be updated periodically with new entries.

The introduction to the Directory reveals, for the first time, the financial character of the sector composed of grant-eligible Southeast Asian American organization. Annual budgets of organizations in the survey total well over $75 million. Most organizations have budgets of $300,000 or less, and operate programs on a voluntary basis. Most organizations that focus programming on youth, elderly, and interpretation and translation services report they have no specific funding for those programs.

California includes the largest number of surveyed organizations, and the largest number of Southeast Asian Americans. Minnesota and Wisconsin have the second and third highest numbers of surveyed groups. Texas, with the second-largest population of community members, is found to have few grant-eligible community organizations. In all, the Directory includes listings in thirty-two states.

The Directory and search engine have been produced by the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) with support from the Ford Foundation and other supporters. Now celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, SEARAC is a national organization managed primarily by and for Southeast Asian Americans, and focuses on organizational capacity building, advocacy, and action-oriented research.