PROPOSAL NARRATIVE. We work to achieve this through developing political awareness and

CHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION

PROPOSAL NARRATIVE

A. Organizational Mission and Background

fhe Chine~e Progressive Assoc1at10n

tCPAJ is

a grassroots community organizauon established in 1 ~y:·- to :3erve and organize the Chinese community The CPA was formed by young and oldtimer act.h-ists ,,.ho became active through issues such as access to quality education, tenants' rights and land Ji:velopment issues. and normalization of diplomatic relations with China. The CPA's membership a.nd leadership cons1st.s pnmarily of Chinese imnugrant workers. but also includes immigrant professionals. merchants, retirees, and students, and American-born youth. A strength of the CPA historica-lly has been its ability to unite community members across generational lines.

The principle goal of the CPA is to unite with and work for the interests of the Chinese ;;:ommun1ty 1n Greater Boscon We work

to

achieve this through developing political awareness and orpnizational strl.Ictures for the empowerment of ordinary community members. Through iL<> thirteen-year history, the CPA has been widely acknowledged as the leading grassroots organization in ~ht;J Cllint;;se ;;:ommunity providing an <'!.venue for Chinese immigrants to organize for change.

CURFI~'T

PRJlGRAiv!S

,

Current programs of the CPA include a Workers Center for immigrant workers to learn about 'tnd ur~anize for tlleir rigl1L<; an Adult Education Program of English and citizenship classes. a Clli1l~51? 3lflgJ.ng group. YMH registratw.n activiti~s. drop-in services and referrals, and collaboration with other community organizations and agencies to develop a Chinatown Community Center. The

CPA also participat.<;s in a newly-developed educational coalition to promote language rights known as Massachusetts English Plus.

l)Irrent pnorities of the

CPA

are its Workers Center program, focused on unemployed and workpla~;:e rights and the current unemployment crisis facing the community, and educational ;~cth-ities to encourage the enfranchisement of the community through voter registration.

PREVIOUS ACCOMPLISH:NIENTS:

Highlights of CPA accomplishments include:

-forming the very first grassroots. multi-issue, progressive organization in Boston Chinatown. -assisting tenants of 90 Warrenton Street in a five-year anti-eviction campaign until comparahle affordable housing was obtained,

-helping to achieve justice for a 1985 community victim of police brutality through co-chairing the Committee to Support Long Guang Huang,

-helpmg 1ffiffi1grant garment workers organize to secure the first bilingual i·etraining programs in ~Jew England, workers' decision-making power over programs, health coverage, and successful job placement for P & Land Beverly Rose, and Andy's Sportswear workers,

a.t t.he Boston DET office and commitments to translate literature into five languages statewide.

PtWULATION SERVED AND R.ESPONSIV"'E:N1SS

TO COMMUNITY .N"EEDS

:

Ths Chin~~~ Progressive Association and its programs focus on serving the interests and

n<;eds of the Greater Boston Chinese community. with a particular focus on immigrant workers .

. China~o\\rn is home to approximately

5

.

000

Chinese residents. and the political. economic.

50~ial. and t::uitura1 t;:enter for over 20.000 Chinese throughout the Boston area. including areru: such

a:E-the South End. Allston/Brighton. Quincy, and Malden. Most are immigrant workers kept on the low rung of the ladder by continuing racial discrimination and economic stratification. a lack of union protect.it)n or educational opporLUnities. and the disabling impact of the language barrier.

The CP • .i.. cteYeloped

its

Workers Center program in response to the critical position of

Boston-area Chinese immigrant women workers--particularly middleaged and senior women: About 7Y'l~

were concentrated in garment work when that industry began its decline in the late 1970s. The apparel indu~try slowdown and shifting state economy translate into an unemployment rate for

Chinatown workmg women which doubles that of women workers citywide. Since the 1980s. an

M ' ',

increa~in g number of Chinese women have left the garment industry. New jobs often remain in mature. seasonal. or marginal industries. Information about wo.rkpface rights is generally unavailabl~ in lh~ native language. Benefits and protection of "organized labor" is rarely available.

At the same tlme. immigrant male workers are experiencing an unemployment crisis. with the Y1a..:>~achu~etts restaurant industry at its lowest point since the recession of the early 80s. The resta.urant. workforce, previously growing at a rate of 3.000 per year. has shrunk by 900 in the past yea.r 'While Chinese make up only about 3'f~ of lhe Boston-area population. the Department of Employm.Gnt and Tram1ng s Boston Opportunity Job Center estimates that Chinese immigrants make up appro:!imately l(i percent of unemployment insurance claimants. These figures fail to count the many immigrants who worked "under the table."

In response to these conditions. the CPA will continue its priority over the next few years on 1ts Workers Center program, conducting ongoing education about workplace and unemployed rights and organizing immigrant workers to secure those rights.

Another longer-term issue facing the Chinese community is the threat of the English Only movem~nt and other anti-immigrant legislation. The threat of English Only and anti-immigrant leg15lat1on promises to intensify the anti-immigrant political atmosphere of the state and threaten the civil righQ: and liberties of the immigrant communities in all aspects of life. At the heart of these issues is the problem of political disenfranchisement. The CPA

is

developing community-wide ~dl.lt.;:J.dt)flal programslo promote politi\:al awareness. to conduct voter registration drives. and to build

,,

B. O.rgani.za.tional Capacity

One of the important. characteristics of the CPA is its roots in the community and the makeup of its staff <~nd board as a reflection of the membership and population served. This has been a source of

5trength for the organiZations community outreach and responsiveness.

A key :::trength of the CPA has always been its ability to bring people together across generationa-l

lines

immigrant and American-born. old and young, oldtimer and newcomer. This has a.llo'\l.~ect e<1Ch sector to contribute and newer generations to learn from the experience of those who came t;efore,

At

the same time. this has also presented many challenges. particularly in terms of differing language and organizational skills for example, Steering Committee meetings a.re held in

Chinese, with some English translation on the side. Staff meetings are generally bilingual. or in a mixture of English and Chinese. Most recordkeeping is done in English. but some is done bilingually

and

some

in Chinese. depending on the skills of the responsible personnel.

BOARD COMPOSITION

:

The CPA's board is its Steering Committee. which has 9 regularly elected members and two honorary lifetime members. Chinese immigrants make up 89~4 of the regular Steering Co!llmittee positions .. and both of the two honorary positions are filled by immigrant oldtimers. Further characteristics of the Steering Committee follow:

~women l.5). men (6)

~ lownnoderate income (7), moderate income (4)

+ 1 S-30 years (1 ). 30-45 years (5). 45-60 years (2), 60-80 years (3) +immigrant (10), American born (1)

• bil.i11gual/biliterate (7), bilingual only (1), Chinese monolingual (3)

The Workers Center program for immigrant workers has its own membership-elected Steering

CommiLtee. which is responsible for day-to-day leadership of the Workers Center program It is

composed

o

f

7

immigmnt women workers.

all

in

the

lo,Yimoderate income sector, all

but

one limited

English-speaki11g. with the majority in the 45-60 years old category. Two representatives sit on the CPA Steenng Committee.

STAfFCO:V

fPOSITION

:

The CPA currently employs four staffpeople. These include:

-a

fulltune Program Coordinator

who

administers the Adult Education Program and other serv1ces

-a parttime Office Manager who does bookkeeping, translation, and office duties

-a part.time Workers Center Administrative Director who fundraises for and administers the Workers Center program

-a fulltime Workers Center Organizer position, shared by two people, who conduct community and \\'Orkplace outreach, leadership development work, organizing and advocacy.

.A!l

four

~t.'1ffpeople

are Chinese

""~on1en,

Two are

lmn1lgrant

and

tl.'ro

are

~Almerlca11-born.

One

is biiinguai and biliterate. one is conversationally bilingual but does not read/write Chinese. one is

part.i.~lly bilingual but Chinese-dominant. and one is partially bilingual but English-dominant.

BOARD

AND

STAFF

ROLES

·

The CPA Steering Committee, elected by the membership, is responsible for the overall

leadership and finances of the organization, and supervises the staff. The Program Coordinator

attends biW?ekly CPA Steering Committee meetings regularly, and the Administrative Director makes

regular reports on the Workers Center program.

The Workers Center Steering Committee. elected by the CPA Workers Center members. is

responsible for pol.icy and planmrdd_n~ of the Workers Center program. and implements plans together with the Worters Center st..1.ff and Yolunteer members. The Administrative Director and Organizer attend biweekly Workers Center Steering Committee meetings .regularly.

The organization has no Executive Director or paid overall administrator. The Administrative

Director (whose current duties are to administer the Workers Center program) chairs staff meetings

,'l,nd pHform5 ~ome ov~rall fundraising and administrative work on .a volunteer basis. Some, of these

~ks have also been carried out by the Program Coordinator.

Each st..1.ffperson has a short written job description. but the organization does not have written procedures and responsibilities for administrative and fiscal management. (See job

descriptions ill .Atta.chmentsJ

C. Organizational Development Needs

The maio!· internal needs of the CPA center around fiscal management. The organization

needs to tram personnel in fiscal management and accounting methods. budgetary planning, and

develop clearer roles and responsibilities of staff and Steering Committee members regarding these issues, An important step ·,vould be the maintenance of paid administrative personnel. For example, accounting responsibilities and preparation of financial statements and reports shifts between two

st.~ffpeople, while bookkeeping is done by a third staffmembe.r. At times, this has led to important tasks following between the cracks, such as proper filing of tax forms or correct withholding payments. As a result. the organization has been forced to pay substantial late payment/filing penalties to the IRS or Department of Revenue. These funds could have been better spent on the organ.izat1on·s programs and activities. Bookkeeping. preparation of financial statements. and

b11dgeting are not well-coordinated or systematized, making it difficult for the Steering Committee to

keep on top of the organization's finances, since each staffpe.rson's accounting/budgetting methods differ. These methods have been discussed by the staff with the Treasurer. but we believe that the organiZation could gain from training and technical assistance.

_-\secondary need of the CPA

is

the development of a longterm fundraising and staffing plan: i.e .. a Yision of how large a staff the organize requires for its activities and programs and how the

I

:l

organization can maintain longterm financial stability. Since 1988. the organization has begun to retain paid staff. expand programs and activities. and therefore to rely increasingly on outside grants

w

complete its budget. we believe that the CPA needs to gradually work its way back to self-;.utfiqency, A strength m this regard is the CPA's roots as a grassroots. completely volunteer

organization Because of the strength of our volunteer base and self-generated fundraising. we are

confident that even in the worst-case scenario the CPA could maintain itself without outside funding

anu probably retain one part-time staffperson. Given these strengths. we believe that goals should be

E,i;lt •1IH!

a.

pian developed to increase self-sufficiency without drastic cutbacks in programming.

Thirdly tl1ere is an ongoing need for clearer division of labor among and between board and 5t.;.'\.ff members, and written personnel policies. but we believe these issues are within the capacity of th~ organization to resolve. For example. we need to be more detailed in clarifying who will carry out a~:;:t1Yltii~s

cteddect

upon at Steeri.n g Committee meetings. and who will be overall responsible if

problems occur. There is sometimes a tendency to over-rely on staffpeople to carry the balL although

generally the CPA's Steering Committee is "a working board." There is also some overlap between the

work of the CPA Steering Committee and that of the Workers Center Steering Committee. In the past fev;-months, we have worked on th.ese issues through holdin,g more joint meetings. _

These internal needs were determined through observation of problems an9 subsequent

discussion between staff. Steering Committee members. and other CPA members .

.D

.

Project Goals

and Objectives GOALS AND A:N"TI CIP A TED BEf.i"EFITS.

The CPA's goals for the organizational development project are: 1) to develop the organization's

fiscal management and accounting capacity, and 2) to improve longterm financial stability.

An investment 111 improving these areas would prevent future organizational or fiscal crises and enable the organization to better focus on its main goals of serving and organizing the

community. Since the CPA has retained paid staff for only two and a half years (of its 13-year history). multiplying its annual budget and beginning to receive outside grants, this is a particularly critH::al period for the organization to adjust to its growing pains, lear1;1 new skills. and professionalize

its operations

Through the organizational development project. we propose to train individual community illembers who are in staff or board positions in the necessary fiscal management and planning skills. ;.o that they ~;an t:;:Qntribute these skills for many years to come. Broader benefits to the community ·

would cQme from stabilization of CPA's administration by freeing up resources for direct service and organizing ~·ork.. Specific reallocation of resources is difficult to determine at this time, as we are still

in ~he proc~ss of raising our FY91 budget, but if possib-le we would like to retain a parttime staff person

to do droo-1n service and translation. Even without the hiring of additional staff. however. we believe

that more consistent responsibility and training in fiscal management will allow existing Steering Committee members, staff. and volunteers to better plan and implement activities.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

AND EVALUATION

:

Objectives for the grant year are proposed as follows:

1) Train two st...1-ffpeople in fiscal planning. management. and accounting skills.

2) InvolY~ key Steering Committee members in fiscal planning and management wor1~shops. 3) Develop and implement an accounting system and corresponding financial st...1.tements

4) Train two staffp~:ople in appropriate non-profit tax and payroll procedures.

SJ Secure technical assistance to propose clear staff and board roles/responsibilities for fundra.ising and fiscal management,

5 l De,·elop a long-range fundraising and staffing plan.

?-leasurable results of reaching these objectives would be the successful development a11d implementation

of

a.ccountmg systems, proper filing

of

tax forms and financial statements. smooth

operation

n.f

fiscal management procedures (with no need for crisis intervention), a written

statement

of

roles/ responsibilities of board and st...1.ff members. and the measurable participation of

ti:y staff and lJOard members in training sessions.

Skills and capacity gaineq thr.~)ugh this project will be retain.ed through the involvefl?,ent of both staff and hoard members in training sessions, through development of written policy statements

and implementation of clear accounting and fiscal management systems/methods

in

which

subseqtieut slaff. board members, and volunteers can be trained. The need to retain the proposed

adnunrstrative staff1ng leYel ,,,rill be evaluated dunng the course of the project.

E

.

Project

ActiYities

l) Tral11

staff

in fiscal planning. management, a.nd accounting skills.

We

propose monthly or

bt-monthly tnunlng sessions InYolYing the Adm.inistratiYe Director and Office Manager. An initial

joint assessment with technical assistance providers of the particular needs and status of the CPA's

financial systems would first be necessary.

2) Involve kev Steering Committee members in fiscal planning and management workshops.

We

propose one to two workshops on fiscal planning and management methods inYolYing Steenng

Committee members during the grant year. These workshops would best follow an initial period of

staff training.

3) Develop and implement an accounting system and corresponding financial statements. We

propose to re-organw: our bookkeeping methods, preparation of financial statements. and budgetting

to be more coordinated. The CPA owns a Macintosh computer and staff should be trained to do

accounting on the computer.

4) Train tv.-o sta.ffpeonle in appropriate non-profit tax and pavroll procedures. We have been

li;>~l.rnln.~ :h~;s~ through trial and error. but would like a more thorough orientation from a

r • •

5J

SPcure technical assistance to vropo~e clear staff and hoard roles/responsibilities for

fundmising and fiscal management. We propose that a small team of one or two Steering Committee

m~m/Jers <ind thi;i two administrative sta.ff examine models from similar organizations and develop a proposal for the Steering Committee.

We

anticipate that this process would take about two sess10ns.

6l Develop a long-range fundraising and staffing plan. We propose that a similar small team of bo3.rd a.nd 3ta.ff members meet to develop a proposal after a Steering Committee discussion of