FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2013
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For more information, contact:
Michael Byun, Executive Director
 (330) 535-3263
Grant to Asian Services in Action supports early learning program for refugee families
AKRON, Ohio (March 6, 2013) – Asian Services in Action Inc. has received a $12,500 grant to fund the READY Program, an early childhood learning and development program for children in refugee families.
ASIA received this award from the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Fund of Akron Community Foundation to prepare young children for success in school. Akron Community Foundation President and CEO John T. Petures Jr. announced the grant after it was approved by the foundation’s board on Feb. 22, 2013.
Michael Byun, executive director of ASIA, said the funds would be used to continue the READY (Readiness through Expanded Acculturation Development of Immigrant/Refugee Youth) Program, which began as an eight-week summer pilot project in 2009 and now serves families year-round. The READY program will serve 40 families from the Nepalese, Mon, Burmese and Karen communities, which are considered high-need emerging populations in Summit County.
“Parents in the READY Program now can participate in community resources and group meetings, serving a dual function of helping clients learn child care education and basic English language instruction,” Byun said.
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About Asian Services In Action, Inc.
ASIA was founded in 1995 by four immigrant women who recognized a unique need for under-served Asian Americans in Northeast Ohio. The mission of ASIA is to empower Asian Americans in Northeastern Ohio to access quality information and services that are both culturally and linguistically appropriate. Informally, ASIA is considered by many to be the new “settlement house” for the Asian community. Its services touch the lives of more than 10,000 people each year. Visit www.asiaohio.org to learn more. Follow ASIA on Facebook and Twitter!
About Akron Community Foundation
Celebrating 57 years of building community philanthropy, Akron Community Foundation embraces and enhances the work of charitable people who make a permanent commitment to the good of the community. In 1955, a $1 million bequest from the estate of Edwin Shaw established the community foundation. Today, it is a philanthropic endowment of more than $140 million with a growing family of more than 400 funds established by charitable people and organizations from all walks of life. The community foundation welcomes gifts of all kinds, including cash, bequests, stock, real estate, life insurance and retirement assets, just to name a few. To date, the community foundation’s funds have awarded nearly $105 million in grants to qualified nonprofit organizations. For more information about Akron Community Foundation or to learn more about creating your own fund, call 330-376-8522.