美 國 芝 城 中 華 會 館
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Chicago
(Chinese Community Center)
250 West 22nd Place, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA. Phone: 312.225.6198 - Fax: 312.225.1155
email: ccbachicago@comcast.net
2015 SERVICES GUIDE
(I) EDUCATION:
1. Chinese Language School – This is a nonprofit Chinese language schools started in 1907. Our mission is to deliver quality education to help students learning Chinese language. Our students can achieve successful communication, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, sentence structures, cultural knowledge, conversational and intercultural communication skills. School boards seek donations from local businesses, institutions, and individuals serving both the Chinese community and mainstream American society. All teachers are proficient and experienced. The course based on each student's goal and level. We'll keep the lessons interesting and easy to learn. The lessons are fun and practical. The teacher designed different types of exercises to teach students speak Mandarin or Cantonese as much as possible. Grammar exercises, presentations and writing practices help to improve students' Chinese level in full aspects. With the use of Chinese movies, popular Chinese songs to help our student have the chance to know the culture and learn from it. Our school now has about 200 children in 13 classes, held in three classrooms every weekend at different hours.
2. Food Sanitation Classes – The class provide the Chinese speaking chefs an opportunity to earn Food Sanitation Certification. We work with Harold Washington College and offer food sanitation classes at Chinese Community Center in both Cantonese and Mandarin. The students will register, attend the class, and take the certification examination in Chinese language here, without going to Harold Washington College in downtown Chicago. Every year, hundreds of Chinese speaking chefs certified successfully at our center. These chefs help promote the Chinese food culture and enhance their employment opportunities in our community.
3. Community Connection Program – partnership with Comcast Cable TV Company to promote computer literacy. We offer to senior computer literacy classes. We teach them basic computer skills to surf the internet to read online newspapers, books and use email for communications. We offer special one-on-one classes for seniors in need. All teachers for the computer literacy classes are volunteers. The computers and associated equipments used in the classes are from donations. The seniors appreciate the most is the one-on-one teaching approach, that they can learn effectively and they truly enjoy the online experience.
4. Driver’s License Written Test Class in Chinese – We offer the Rules of the Road class in Chinese to students who do not understand English well. This is to prepare them to take the Chinese version of the Driver’s License Written Test.
5. Mandarin Classes for Seniors – Chinese, especially the older immigrants who speaks their own dialects, many of them speak Fujian Dialect or Cantonese, can hardly understand each other. Mandarin is the official spoken language of China. In order to promote communication among them, we offer Mandarin class to the people of all ages especial senior who speak only their dialects like Cantonese. The course gives the students easy-to-read vowel symbols that, when combined with consonants, make pronunciation easy. Students can learn how to use hundreds Mandarin of words and phrases in everyday conversation. Our approach is different in that we stress practical communication skills over rote memorization. Lessons are organized around themes and useful phrases centered around daily subjects such as family, food and school so that students can quickly begin speaking. Our school is open to everyone. Native mandarin speaking teachers combine discussion-based classroom instruction with experiential activities to engage students and empower them to readily use the language being taught. Our students come from all over the city and Chicago suburbs.
6. English Classes for Seniors
7. Dancing Classes for Seniors
(II) SOCIAL/COMMUNITY SERVICES:
1. Free Clinic – Chinese Community Center Free Clinic is a volunteer-based and non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality free health care to uninsured people of all ages living in our community. The Clinic relies on support from individuals, donation, corporations, foundations, community service organizations and religious groups who generously donate their time, talent and resources to the Clinic and the patients it serves. The clinic is a volunteer, free medical clinic staffed by licensed medical professionals that includes internal medicine and family practice physicians, nurse practitioners, behavioral health counselors, and many specialty physicians. In addition, volunteers also provide translation, administrative and information technology services, in addition to the medical services. Chinese community free clinic provide a broad range of primary and specialty care, health promotion and case management services. All examinations and medications are free. The Clinic is committed to seeking ways to improve and expand the quality of the primary medical care, educational support and pharmaceuticals it provides free of charge to eligible patients. The service runs every Sunday 11:00am to 2:00pm except for holidays.
2. Health Fair – Health fairs provide an opportunity for the seniors to improve their health awareness and self-care practices. Encouraging healthy lifestyle and preventive health care have the potential to reduce medical costs. Each year, Chinese Community Center clinic and a group of medical students from Northwestern University sponsor a health fair event. We are offering on-site free health screenings for local residents of all ages. Experienced doctors, nurses and medical students perform blood pressure screenings, cholesterol and blood sugar screenings, dental care, acupuncture and chiropractic.
3. Flu-Shots – As flu season approached every year, Chinese Community Center will work with the City of Chicago, Department of Public Health Immunization Program, to give free flu-shots to citizens of all ages.
4. Human Service Outpost – City of Chicago’s department of Human Service has an outpost in the Center’s building to help the seniors and families who need public aid, medical care, food stamps, public housing, or social security benefits.
5. Consultation Services – The Association provides free consultation and translation services as needed to local Chinese who do not fully understand English; for instance, in helping them to receive unemployment benefit or to communicate with the utilities companies.
6. Confucius Center – The Confucius Center is a library housing Chinese books, newspapers and magazines. The seniors can read up-to-date Chinese publications and daily newspapers. We have also installed Direct TV with Chinese channels in activity room where seniors can enjoy their favorite programs in their own language.
7. ID/Driver License Renewal Services – Four times each year the Secretary of State sends its Mobile Service Team to our facility to offer local residents state ID card and driver license renewal services. We provide the applicants free Chinese/English translation service.
(III) SENIOR SERVICES: 1. Longevity Senior Center of CCBA – The Center has many free services include free Chinese TV channels, computer games, birthday parties, senior exercise class, singing and dancing groups, etc. From time to time, it also provides free health checkup, government benefit checkup, and educational/ informational talks of various topics.
2. Golden Diners Program, Volunteer Home Delivery Meals and Take Home Dinner– Funded by the City of Chicago, Department of Family Support Services/IDOA, Chinese Community Center provide well-balanced meals for elderly people Monday through Saturday. Many older adults do not want to eat alone. The Golden Diners Program offers them (adults over 60 years of age) a way to get a healthy, hot, nutritious and authentic Chinese meal each day and enjoy the company of friends. Our menus are developed to meet the demands of the Chinese older adult populations, with nutritional concerns and cost considerations to them. We submit a seasonal cycle menu to the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services for approval. These menus strictly follow the meal pattern developed by Illinois Department on Aging and conform to the current Dietary Guidelines for American. The Volunteer Home Delivery Meals Program is to deliver the lunches to the doors of those elderly who have difficulties in movement and have trouble cooking.
Starting 2009, we also provide “Take Home Dinner” for the seniors. In addition to enjoying a meal with friends and neighbors, seniors can participate in the many activities scheduled at the sites. For instance, health education sessions, exercise classes, and outings are offered by our center.
3. RTA Senior Ride Free Smart Card application – In January of 2008, the Illinois Legislature passed a new law that allows seniors 65 and older living in the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) area--Cook, DuPage, Mc Henry, and Will counties--to ride free on fixed routes. This includes The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra and Pace. Chinese Community Center helps the seniors to do the applications RTA Senior Ride Free Smart Cards at our community center. Qualified seniors aged 65 and over are free to apply. Chinese seniors can do their applications in their own language.
(IV) YOUTH PROGRAM:
1. Volunteer Services – An after school hours volunteer program for high school students to earn the needed community service hours.
2. Weekend Free Movies – Working with major organizations in the community to sponsor free weekend youth activities.
(V) CULTURAL EVENTS, FESTIVITIES AND CELEBRATIONS – Chinatown Special Events:
1. Double Ten Parade – The Double Ten Parades are usually held on the first weekend of October by us to celebrate the founding day of the Republic of China, the first democratic republic in Asia, found by Dr. Sun Yat Sen on October 10, 1911.
(VI) SERVICES OF CHINESE CEMETERY: Chinese Community Center offers low budget services (grave lots and headstones engraved in Chinese) to meet the local Chinese’s needs for their resting places at Mount Auburn Memorial Park. It also provides convenience for the living to visit and pay respect to the deceased. The grave lots can be purchased in advance for themselves.
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