Community Advocacy & Civic Engagement Services:

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HCS serves a large population of older immigrants. We recognize that poverty is especially high for immigrants with limited English proficiency due to language and cultural barriers which can limit their ability to access basic resources. We offer help with community advocacy, case assistance and letter translation as well as provide classes on ESL and computer literacy.

 

HCS provides direct community advocacy ranging from helping an individual obtain a needed service which has been denied (or which is in jeopardy of being denied); to help client against eviction or service cut off, to assist with housing problems,  to help initiate a formal appeals process and so much more.

 

HCS is active in civic engagement advocacy, providing assistance with US citizenship application and  voter registration enrollments. HCS is currently a coalition partner with APA VOICE (Voting and Organizing to Increase Civic Participation) with a goal to increase awareness and civic participation in the APA community. For the upcoming 2020 Census, HCS will also be doing active outreach to ensure a fair and accurate count.

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Success Story:

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Ms. Eng had gas cut off after an inspection which found that she needed to fix a small problem inside the single family house she was living in. Ms. Eng and her family took action and hired a licensed contractor and had the issue fixed. After which, the gas company came to inspect and passed the inspection. Ms. Eng thought her gas would be restored immediately. However, it remained shut down for weeks. Meanwhile it was an especially cold winter and Ms. Eng had no heat or hot water at home. She grew worry with anxiety and exhibited signs of depression. HCS staff provided counseling and then helped to contact the appropriate agencies to correct the problem and coordinated the process for restoring heat at Ms. Eng's house. When the problem was resolved, Ms. Eng was so happy. It lifted a weight off her shoulders. She thanked HCS for our advocacy and was finally able to look forward to preparing for the upcoming Chinese New Year with more peace of mind.

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