Chinatown Service Center: Health Services for the Chinese Community

The Chinatown Service Center was established in the 1970's to provide social services to a fast growing population of "American Born Chinese" (the ABCs) and the immigrant community. The opening of the center reflected a radical shift in the Chinese community and its willingness to embrace America under a new lens afforded by the civil rights movement. The Center also provided a different kind of support to a community that had historically created its own informal safety net via family associations by asking the United States government and its institutions to work for them, not against them. Our conversations with its current CEO, Lawrence J. Lue, provide a fascinating history of the center's development, philosophy and the struggles it still has ahead in bridging the gap between its services and mainstream society.

The Roots of the Chinatown Service Center
"Lawrence Lue discusses the origins of Chinese community needs for social service in Los Angeles in the 1970's."

A Bridge to Mainstream Society
"Modern-day roles of Chinese Americans."

Linguistic Isolation
"Lawrence Lue describes the isolation created by language barriers."