One of our primary focuses since 1998 has been community organizing and capacity building. For that purpose we developed Neighborhood Empowerment and Support through Teamwork (NEST), a model for community organizing and capacity building.

Developed in 1998 to help Vietnamese refugees and immigrants cope with the consequences of the 1996 welfare reforms, this three-staged model has been used to develop our network of 11 branches with a total of 17 office locations across the United States.

In the first stage, we assess community needs and resources, set up self-help groups and build basic core competencies for these groups to provide mutual assistance. 

In the second stage, we bring new services to the local community to address identified needs, develop joint initiatives with the self-help groups, and train them to take over certain project activities. 

In the third stage, we facilitate the formation of new partnerships between mainstream agencies and the self-help groups; we also start to replicate the model for a new target population.

Through NEST, we have mentored over 50 faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) and mutual assistance associations (MAAs) across the nation, have awarded sub-grants and secured grants totaling close to $3 million for a dozen of them to serve a total of 5,000 Vietnamese refugees and immigrants.

Typical examples include:

• Vietnamese American Television in Maryland (participation period: 1999-2001): Among the first participants in NEST, this non-profit media organization has achieved sustainability and currently produces a daily half-hour television programming on Direct TV. See Marketwise article. 
• Asian American Service Center in Philadelphia (2003-2005): This faith-based organization (affiliated with a Catholic church) has successfully secured over $100,000 in federal funding to establish emergency services and family enrichment services for Southeast Asians. 
• Charity Group of Good Affinity in Northern Virginia (2005-2008): This faith-based organization (affiliated with a Buddhist temple) has successfully established and sustained a job preparation and placement service in partnership with the SkillSource Centers operated by the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board. More recently, this non-profit established services for seniors and youth. In addition to funds raised for this non-profit, BPSOS has provided 10-months training for one of its key staff in services for seniors and torture survivors. 

NEST’s successes have been widely reported in the mainstream media. In 2000, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, BPSOS Executive Director, was selected by The Washingtonian magazine as “Washingtonian of the Year” for this community organizing and capacity building initiative. 

Continually fine-tuned based on newly identified best practices, NEST is being replicated to multiple areas. In 2009, BPSOS conducted a series of non-profit management seminars in Orange County, hosted by Nguoi Viet Daily, and Houston, Texas, hosted by Saigon Houston Radio. 

In 2010 BPSOS will make similar workshops available to Vietnamese communities in different parts of the US.

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