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HomeMy Public PortalAboutIntegration of the growing Chinese American community in Watertown - CAAWCity of Watertown, MA  ARPA Project Proposal Submitted by: Qibin Ye Submitted on: May 22, 2023 Request Number: ARPA-6 Project Name: Integration of the growing Chinese American community in Watertown Proposal Type: Organization Chinese American Association of Watertown (CAAW) Recommended Project Manager: Qibin Ye Project Summary: Most of nearby towns/cies have their own Chinese American Associaon to help integraon and understanding of the culture. As Watertown ishaving an increasing populaon of Chinese Americans, it is becoming more and more important for us to have our own associaon to bridge theculture gap. With this funding, we have the detailed plan to set up this associaon, and have the funding to operate and organize some acvies which are open to all Watertown residents. Those proposed acvies includes: 1, iniate a reoccurring Chinese reading and wring class; 2, host the mid-autumn and Lunar New Year fesval in our city; 3, sponsor a dragon boat team under the name of Watertown; 4, reach out to residents in needof help. This proposal is for a long term goal. We would like to host more events in the future and make this into part of the culture of Watertown. Andthis funding will be very helpful to get this journey going for the first few years unl Dec 2026. Amount of ARPA Funds Requested: $13,000 Minimum Funds Needed: $10,000 Matching funds available? No Other funds available? Yes Donation and sponsorship from local business 1,000 Highly Likely Project Narrative: I have a detailed narrative to upload Information the Committee would like to receive is: 1. Applicant name Chinese American Association of Watertown (CAAW) 2. Contact person (if applicant is an organization) Qibin Ye 3. Contact email address Ye.ace85@gmail.com 4. Contact phone number 4013390972 5. Project name Integration of the growing Chinese American community in Watertown 6. Amount of ARPA funds requested to run the project $13000 7. Matching funds available for the project from other sources: a. Source of funds b. Amount c. Are funds guaranteed or if not, likelihood 8. Other sources of funds that could be used for the project other than ARPA funds: a. Source of funds Donation and sponsorship from local business b. Amount $1000 c. Are funds guaranteed or if not, likelihood Most like we can get some donation and sponsors from local business. For example, if we can have our own Watertown Co-op dragon boat team next year, we can ask local restaurants to sponsor the meals for the dragon boat paddlers and supporting stuff (30+ ppl) on the race day. And can ask some local business’ sponsor for the team T-shirts. Another example is Asian new year celebration. It’s likely that we can get some donation and/or sponsors for the event as well. 9. Minimum funds needed to make the project worth doing $10000 10. Recommended project manager (i.e. City department, non-profit entity. Note that if a non-profit entity is proposed as project manager, they should submit the proposal.) Qibin Ye, Wanlu Qu and Jingxuan Zhao 11. A narrative description of the project. This can vary from a simple description of an idea being recommended by a resident, to a proposal being submitted by a department or other entity. If possible it should include: a. A detailed budget b. A timeline for the project: encumbrance of funds by December 31, 2024, how soon can it start, key milestones, how long will it take to execute, and expenditures of funds complete by December 31, 2026 c. Any resources required in addition to the ARPA funding d. Metrics for success of the project e. Outputs / outcomes f. What will be the overall benefit (financial or otherwise) to Watertown residents g. How the project meets the City’s ARPA proposal criteria (to be published on the city webpage) Most of nearby towns/cities have their own Chinese American Association to help integration and understanding of the culture. As Watertown is having an increasing population of Chinese Americans, it is becoming more and more important for us to have our own association to bridge the culture gap. Especially, due to COVID, the hatred or hostility against Asian especially Chinese has increased significantly. As a growing community in Watertown, the goal of this proposal is to form a non-profit organization works to increase the understanding of Chinese culture in the community and create opportunities for Chinese community to get more involved with our town. First item in the agenda is to set up the non-profit organization. We have a few residents from our city has been actively involved to initiate this. We have designed the association logo and had an informal gathering in April this year. And we are in the progress to set up this association as non-profit organization. Estimated cost for this would be a total amount of $3500. With this, we target to register this association this year in 2023. Second item in the agenda is to initiate a reoccurring Chinese reading and writing class open to public starting this year. We can book the room in Watertown Free Public Library. It could be monthly event first, pending on the popularity, could possible increase to bi-weekly or even weekly. We can recruit some Watertown residents to volunteer for this event. Possible material cost is estimated around $250 a year. This can be started from this year, and we propose a budget of total $1000 to cover the first 4 years (including 2023) until Dec. 2026. This could be a start of Watertown’s non-profit after school program to kids or adults to learn Chinese if there are a lot of interest from the residents, as a few near by city/town have done so, such as Newton and Lexington. Third item in the agenda is to host the mid-autumn and Lunar New Year festival in our city this year and every year in the future. Both dates are important in Asian culture. And many Asian countries celebrates this together. So this would be a good time for all people from all culture background to come together for the celebration. The celebration of Mid-Autumn day would be a good outdoor event for the beautiful New England fall season. And Lunar new year would be a good time for a winter group activity. We could recruit some Watertown residents to volunteer for these events too. Possible material cost is estimated around $500 a year, it can also start from this year, and we propose a budget of $2000 to cover the first 4 years (including 2023) until Dec. 2026. The fourth item in the agenda is to sponsor a dragon boat team under the name of Watertown and train the race day paddlers and some back-up paddlers. Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated in many countries on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. The tradition began about 2,000 years ago when Yuan drowned himself as an act of protest. Boston was the first North American city to hold a Dragon Boat Festival, and it is the largest such event in New England. Luckily, Boston has a famous annual dragon boat race every year on Charles River since 1979. It is the largest water festival of its kind in this area. And has over 70 teams racing from various organizations and communities. As a major city along the Charles River, it would be great if we could have a team to participate the event. For this race, each boat has 20 paddlers to row the 500-meter course. We plan to have a co-op team from the city, females and males, and also recruit some interested paddlers from teachers in Watertown schools, Fire department, police department, city staff members and etc. The organizer of the Boston Dragon Boat Festival sets up tent area for each teams. So we plan to ask for sponsor from local restaurants to provide meals for paddlers, supporting staff and provide snacks and beverage for all Watertown residents, friends and family who would like to stop by and support. The cost to sponsor a race in 2023 is $1500 for a community team. And we would estimate a similar cost in the future as well. The target of this agenda is to have our own dragon boat team starting from 2024, and we propose a budget of $4500 to sponsor the first 3 years until Dec 2026. Last but not the least, as an community organization, we plan to reach out to as many residents as possible, especially the Chinese American in Watertown. We would provide community help to those in difficult time or have difficulty communicating, commuting or achieving certain tasks. And this would be mostly volunteer based, with a budget of $500 to buy daily essential for elders or people with disabilities who live by themselves. It can also start from this year, and we propose a budget of $2000 cover the first 4 years (including 2023) until Dec 2026. All in all, this is a start of new journey for the Chinese American community in Watertown. As current social environment has more and more tension, it would help to mitigate the difference and help to bring the people from different culture closer. And important to mention that, all of the activities are open to all Watertown residents, not just limited Asians. This proposal is for a long term goal. We would like to host more events in the future and make this into part of the culture of Watertown. And this funding will be very helpful to let this journey start going for the first few years until Dec 2026.