As you pass by waves of people on the sidewalk, wandering mindlessly, a vividly colored sign catches your eye. The sign lists various different organizations and amenities, leading you to step inside the building. As you walk closer to the assigned room, you are met with a soft blast of music and the chatter of people at different tables.
The MinKwon Center hosted the Spring Community Fest on the first floor at the Glow Cultural Center on May 27 from 10 am to 2 pm.
“At SCF [Spring Community Fest], we gathered around 10 different partnering organizations to come and provide resources and services to our local community,” Health Outreach Fellow Claire Choi said. “This included free health checkups, an art relaxation table, and health insurance resources.”
The MinKwon Center for Community Action is a nonprofit organization that works with the Asian-Pacific American and immigrant communities to advocate for social and economic justice alongside empowering the Korean American community. Social Services Manager Grace Cui stated that they “offer a variety of services and advocacy work to the local community.”
“We have different programs including YEP (Youth Empowerment Program) and social services (Public benefits and health insurance application, free tax filing service for low to mid-income families, immigration legal service and housing legal services],” Cui said. “We offer voter registration and provide outreach and advocacy to raise awareness within the immigrant community. We also join local non for profit organizations to address issues that relate to immigrants and organize and participate in rallies to continue our fight for our immigrants.”
According to The Poverty Tracker, the COVID-19 pandemic caused 49% of all workers and 57% of low-wage workers in New York City to lose employment income. Even though a substantial number of workers lost their jobs, many still struggled to get access to unemployment benefits.
“Many individuals and families lost their source of income, housing, benefits during the pandemic, and a lot of them have no status to apply for government benefits,” Cui said. “We were able to secure additional fundings to help these families to go through their strugglings through EWF (Excluded Worker Fund) and cash assistance. We actively reached out to more families that might be in need of these services but may not be aware of them yet, through various events and efforts.”
Choi said that the Spring Community Fest can “provide easy access to health resources for our community as well as create stronger connections with our health-oriented organizations for future group events in our local areas.”
“This furthers our cause to serve the community in various departments of securing a stable and healthy livelihood for all folks in our community,” Choi elaborated. “Gathering our partnering organizations emphasizes this cause in a wider span of resources and services.”
Choi shares the process behind how the Spring Community Fest was configured.
“Around March we set the logistics of the event as well as reach out to possible partnering orgs for the fest,” Choi said. “We continue outreach work for the next month, spreading the word about our fest through in-person tabling and social media campaigns. We finalize the group of staff and volunteers participating in the event and continue to communicate with one another about the finishing touches for the event.”
Cui describes the specific steps and actions needed to prepare for the event.
“Regular meetings with all the staff to plan for the event,” Cui said. “Confirm [the] date and time of the event, and book the venue, invite partner orgs and regular follow up with them to confirm details, purchase supplies and snacks and drink, invite volunteers to sign up for the event, tabling and flyering at different locations to get the word out in the community.”
Choi and Cui both expressed their positive experience working with the MinKwon Center alongside being part of the Spring Community Fest. Choi felt that the Spring Community Fest was “a great example of the type of work I will be doing as the Health Outreach Fellow here, so it was a pleasure to be part of planning this year’s fest.”
“It has always been our mission to serve our community, connect with our community and get back to our community,” Cui added. “This event is just one of the many things we offer.”
