Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 19, 2005 

CONTACT:
Hung Nguyen (877) 592-4140

NCVA RECEIVES $20,000 GRANT FROM VERB PROJECT

Washington, D.C. – The National Congress of Vietnamese Americans (NCVA) has been awarded a $20,000 grant under the Values, Empowerment, Resources, and Betterment (VERB) Project administered by the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC).

“SEARAC is excited to be working with NCVA to promote leadership among Vietnamese Americans in the metro DC area. It’s amazing what the communities have achieved in their first thirty years in the U.S., and there is still so much untapped potential,” Max Niedzwiecki, SEARAC Executive Director.

A cornerstone of NCVA’s sustainability is its tradition of providing leadership training to members of the Vietnamese American community. This training ensures that the critical shortage of culturally-aware and adept leaders are present within the community as viable resources who enable the Vietnamese American community to define itself as it matures in mainstream America.

VERB Project funding will enable NCVA to hire part-time staff and consultants to improve NCVA programs, conduct a development inventory and create a development plan. Additionally, funding enables NCVA to increase its capacity-building abilities by providing workshops on writing effective fundraising proposals to its members, to provide advance professional training to its experienced volunteer staff and to strengthen the Vietnamese American community by providing opportunities for participants of its leadership program to plan and coordinate community actions.

“VERB funding enables NCVA to ensure it has the resources necessary to provide technical expertise and leadership training to Vietnamese Americans. NCVA can bring together leaders and organizations with diverse backgrounds to work on mutually beneficial efforts,” Nguyen Ngoc Bich, NCVA Board Chair.

Hung Nguyen, NCVA President/CEO, states, “It is our hope to show by example that we can work together successfully for a common cause.”

NCVA looks forward to providing a summary report of the successful and measurable outcomes at the end of the grant period.

-30-

Founded in 1986, the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community advocacy organization working to advance the cause of Vietnamese Americans in a plural but united America –  e pluribus unum – by participating actively and fully as civic minded citizens engaged in the areas of education, culture and civil liberties.  (www.ncvaonline.org)