nwasianweekly.com
July 29, 2006

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion

Minh-Duc Nguyen holds a copy of a bilingual basic computer literacy manual that was published the Vietnamese social-service agency she runs, Helping Link. She stands inside the agency’s computer lab.

By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly

A woman on the other side of the world inspired Minh-Duc Nguyen to start Helping Link, a social-service agency dedicated to helping immigrants and refugees in the Vietnamese community.

During a return trip to her native Vietnam in 1993, Nguyen met an old friend of her mother’s. The woman lived an impoverished life; to support herself and her family, she searched for discarded paper, plastic wrap, string — whatever she could resell. “In her destitute poverty, she also found a way to salvage her dignity, initiative and ability to support herself,” remembers Nguyen.

“I came back to Seattle with a burning vision to help all the new members of our community recapture their dignity, initiative and ability to support themselves as Vietnamese Americans.”

Quickly, a group of volunteers, both young and old, came together to make the vision a reality. Thirteen years later, its core programs include English as a Second Language classes, homework tutoring, youth leadership, citizenship classes and a referral service for a variety of needs, including mental health, domestic violence, substance abuse and housing.

“Helping Link,” Nguyen said, “was born out of the need our newest arrivals had for a bridge between the new and old, especially (at a time) when fewer and fewer government resources are available.”

She herself had once been a refugee. Nguyen and her family came to the United States in 1975, having been sponsored by an American family in Redmond. That’s where they resettled and where she went to school. But it wasn’t until she started classes at the University of Washington that she started feeling connected to the Vietnamese community.

Until then, Nguyen said, she had had “little opportunity to interact with the Vietnamese community or be involved with my own cultural heritage outside my immediate family.”

If it were around back then, Helping Link would have been able to provide her with a network of Vietnamese mentors and professionals from whom she could learn.

Ever humble, Nguyen wants to make sure people know that she was not the only founder of Helping Link. Others who deserve credit, she said, include Chi Hong, Hung Nguyen, Tien Mai, John (Dung Tri) Le, Nam Bach, Loc Nguyen, Duy Nguyen, Thien Ha Nguyen, Thien Nga Nguyen, Kim Thoa Vu, Thuy Phuong Nguyen and Quang Quoi Tran.

Learn more about the executive director of Helping Link in this question-and-answer session with Minh-Duc Nguyen.

Q: What are the challenges of providing social services to the Vietnamese community?

A: Vietnamese individuals and families do not have a history of having social-service programs or agencies such as those that exist in the U.S. For centuries, our own families and our temples or churches were our main support for help and assistance. The idea of going to a stranger or an agency is completely foreign to us, and in many ways antithetical to our culture. It’s what Americans call “airing your dirty laundry.”

The other challenge is that Vietnamese who have lived for any time under the communist regime are used to a government that pays for and controls everything, but at the same time they seriously distrust the motives of such programs.

Lastly, for these very same reasons, the necessity of fund-raising to support social-service programs, other than those of temples or churches, is also not generally in our frame of reference.

Q: Helping Link has struggled financially for a number of years. How are you staying afloat?

A: Our history has been one of volunteer commitment, and it continues to be the heart of our strength. Through the years, our funding has generally supported one to two staff members for administrative functions, with volunteers contributing literally hundreds of hours annually in direct services — as teachers, board members, technical specialists, etcetera. We have also received hundreds of dollars worth of in-kind contributions — office equipment and supplies, program materials and donated services.

In the past, we also qualified for grants serving new refugees, but organizations like Helping Link, which services primarily immigrant Vietnamese clientele, are no longer eligible for such government support. So, like most social-service agencies, we must increasingly rely on foundation and corporate grants, for which we must compete with other programs. Earlier this year, we began teaching Vietnamese as a Second Language to adults and published a bilingual basic computer literacy manual. Both have helped generate program income.

Perhaps the single most important source of support, and the most difficult to generate, is individual contributions and donations. I was so proud to read in the Northwest Asian Weekly (in the July 8, 2006, issue) of the very generous gift by the two Lee families to the Seattle Art Museum. It was wonderful to read of our Asian community members giving back financially. This example of local philanthropy — giving back financially to the community in which we live, where our children and grandchildren live ­— is a powerful message for all of us.

Q: What is your vision for Helping Link in the next five years?

A: Helping Link has always intended to respond to the needs of our Vietnamese community. When I think of the next five years and vision, it is not really in terms of Helping Link, per se, but rather for our community. I would hope that we as a community are able to meet what I think will be the growing needs of our elders as they age, perhaps still isolated by language challenges and contemporary culture, needing more care and attention as their children still need to work into their 60s and even beyond.

I’m also concerned about our youth, those as young as junior high school students as well as college-age students and young adults. My experience has been that so many of them experience identity issues more intensely than typical for these developmental years, even in spite of the academic success many achieve. Others need mentors, tutors and “their place,” where they’re safe and assured of their culture and life experiences being understood, whether or not they’re fluent in Vietnamese.

Q: What kind of assistance would you like to have that you’re not receiving now?

A: Like most not-for-profit organizations, we are always recruiting active board members who are experienced serving in such a capacity, who can bring professional skills (e.g., financial operations, marketing, fund-raising, grant writing, public relations) and have time to participate on a working board of directors.

Frankly, like most other not-for-profit social-service agencies, especially those serving refugee and immigrant communities, we need to build a base of regular donors willing to give financially. More specifically, those donors need to come from within the Vietnamese community. I think it’s realistic to say that any not-for-profit agency faces a very uncertain future without the financial support of individual donors. Even the foundation and corporate grants for which we apply ask about the financial support we receive from our own community; it’s reasonable that they would want to support projects in which the communities themselves invest.

Philanthropy is more than just what the “rich” or “wealthy” give; it’s what we all give. Even those donors on a limited income are philanthropists. It’s an equal opportunity activity! Literally, money talks. By investing in the services our community needs, we make sure our community gets what it needs. Everyone can make a difference, but it really is up to each and every one of us.

Q: Who do you look up to?

A: I admire Jimmy Carter for his commitment to Habitat for Humanity — for all that he has given and all the countless families he has helped through his dedication. To me, he seems to be a man of character, who strives to live by his principles.

Q: What do you do in your spare time?

A: I try to spend as much time as possible with my family, including my elderly father. I enjoy the outdoors, walks and hikes, being on the water, getting together with friends for outings and musical and cultural performances.

Q: Favorite quote?

A: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

Q: Name one thing about you that people are surprised to find out.

A: I like to play tennis.

For more information about Helping Link, call 206-568-5160 or visit www.cityofseattle.net/helpinglink.

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