Zhou Community Development Outreach

Immigrant and Refugee Support

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

Growing up with poor Chinese immigrant parents and being forced to work from age twelve to make ends meet, I know firsthand that life can be incredibly challenging for low-income Chinese immigrants. From forced sex trafficking in illegal massage parlors to hate crimes like the devastating shooting in Monterey Park to large corporations taking over small Chinese businesses, leaving owners unable to keep up with rising rent as with Redcar's recent purchase of the Dynasty Center in Chinatown, this inequality and targeting of the Chinese people in Los Angeles has been a problem since the 1800s and is even more prevalent in today's society. Many victims of this inequality and targeting don't have the resources to grow or keep their businesses. They do not have tech knowledge or understand how to file taxes properly, and they do not have culturally appropriate interview skills to secure better lives for their families. They do not have the mentor my parents so badly needed. - Endy Zhou

This is a pilot program intended to give underprivileged and low-income Chinese immigrants the entrepreneurial training that Endy's parents never had. This will start as a year-long revolving series, providing the community with access to the knowledge he has been fortunate enough to garner over many years of hard work and trial and error. He will also be calling upon the help/knowledge of colleagues to provide a wider range of perspectives and information for this underserved community. The online portion of the program will feature open Zoom seminars and panels, town hall Q&A sessions, social media and general media campaigns, and an open website. The live portion will include the creation and grassroots distribution of pamphlets, select one-on-one mentorship, and live events and panels to foster unity and continue to educate and empower. Some material covered will include business help and advice, interview training, basic tax advice, entrepreneurial help, and more. To accommodate the language barrier, we will be making my programs and events available in both Mandarin and English. Most importantly, we want to provide these individuals with the safe space, resources, and support that my parents never had. We will be sourcing those in need of help through social media campaigns, grassroots, and through organizations such as APAIT, the LGBT center, Pineapple Support, the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, The Chinatown Service Center, the CDSS, and more.

Chinese people make up the third largest immigrant group in the United States. Along with New York and San Fransisco, Los Angeles has over 43% of this population, with an estimated 270,000+ Chinese immigrants calling this county home. These are our neighbors, our colleagues, our classmates, and, sadly, our homeless, impoverished, and racially targeted. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." The goal of Infinite Potential Community Outreach is to teach as many people to fish as possible - to give our Chinese brothers and sisters a chance at a better life for themselves and their families through education and mentorship. We hope to continue this program in perpetuity. We will start with an initial goal of helping 300 people in the year. Each year we would like to increase this number by 10% until we can provide these services to all Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles.

We will define success by the number of people being helped by our new services and their overall satisfaction and success with the tools we have given them. We will also follow up with each person with a survey in English and Mandarin about their general satisfaction with the help they received and what we could be doing better. We will also keep our doors open to them all year for further help via email or mail and follow up with them to see how they are doing.