Raleigh, NC – BPSOS-Raleigh has been awarded a $5,000 mini-grant from the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium. The grant will go toward the “Engaging Young Vietnamese Americans in Community Services” project, which will begin in April 2004.

Throughout the past two decades, the needs of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in the Triangle Area have been underserved simply because there was deficient funding to conduct civic-related programs. As a result, the local Vietnamese community has been socially, financially, and politically marginalized. The grant will mobilize Vietnamese American youths in bridging the gap between recent immigrants and civic engagement .The project targets 1,500 Vietnamese American residents of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina; locally referred to as the Triangle Area.

“This 12-month project is to make civic education come alive for North Carolina’s children and youth,” said Leslie Anderson, Grants Program Coordinator of North Carolina Civic Education Consortium.

The “Engaging Young Vietnamese Americans in Community Services” project was selected among 11 proposals submitted to the Consortium. Its main objectives are to document the challenges and prioritize the needs of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in the area and to get more Vietnamese new citizens to vote in elections by launching voter registration drives and candidates’ meetings for elections in this year.

A program of the University of North Carolina’s School of Government, the Civic Education Consortium unites community partners, educators and children and youth to revitalize civic education for young North Carolinians. The Consortium envisions a future in which all North Carolina children and youth become enthusiastic, involved citizens endowed with the knowledge, skills and confidence to participate in democratic life. Their website is www.civics.unc.edu.