Thai Community Development Center

Since its establishment, Thai CDC has addressed the multifaceted needs of Thai immigrants in the Southern California region, who, at an estimated population of 100,000 are considered the largest number of Thais living abroad.Through our broad range of social and human services (i.e., cultural orientation, language assistance, survival skills development, crisis intervention, parent education, family preservation strategies, cross-cultural mediation and dispute resolution), we have assisted newcomers with the cultural and transitional issues that serve as barriers to successful integration in a new culture. Our education and advocacy efforts (i.e., legal clinics, redress and restitution for workers, humane immigration policy advocacy, reinstatement of benefits to welfare recipients) have helped to protect the rights of Thai immigrants, workers, trafficked victims, and welfare recipients. By integrating community economic development strategies (i.e. development of affordable housing, small business development assistance, financial literacy, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, Small Business Incubation (Thai Town Marketplace), promotion of access to the formal financial sector, neighborhood reinvestment and revitalization efforts through the campaign to designate “Thai Town”), Thai CDC has made economic opportunities more accessible to Thai immigrants and increased their potential for economic mobility.