MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

        Dear Friends,

        Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota has entered the new millennium stronger and more ready than ever to tackle the challenges of the future. Our staff size has grown to 23, and our budget has surpassed the $1 million mark. More importantly, this organizational growth has allowed the agency to increase and improve its services for the Vietnamese community. In the past year, VSS launched a number of new services, including an outreach program to enroll low-income, uninsured Vietnamese workers in the MinnesotaCare health insurance program and a project designed to connect newly arriving Vietnamese families with "mainstream" health, housing and economic services.
Twenty five years after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam and the arrival in Minnesota of the first small group of Vietnamese refugees, the state's Vietnamese population has grown to over 20,000. We are happy to report that Vietnamese-Americans have begun to flourish as a vital part of the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic fabric of Minnesota. They are establishing businesses and securing good jobs in the dynamic industries of Minnesota. Many are pursuing careers in professional fields such as medicine, engineering, and computer technology. Vietnamese are buying homes and establishing families. VSS is proud to have played a role in this progress. We can safely say that the majority of Vietnamese families now living in the metropolitan area have been touched in a tangible way by the outreach and services of VSS.
While the overall story is positive, there are many individuals and families who still need our intervention. Those with the most extreme barriers -- the frail and elderly, individuals who had no opportunity for formal education in Vietnam, and inner city youth -- need a helping hand. In addition, new refugees from Vietnam have begun to arrive in Minnesota. Approximately 20,000 Vietnamese refugees who were recently repatriated to Vietnam from terminated refugee camps in Southeast Asia are being interviewed for admittance to the United States. Over fifteen thousand are expected to come to this country, and many will choose to make Minnesota their home. At the same time, the McCain Amendment has opened the door to all children of the former political prisoners who came to the U.S. in the first part of the 1990's. The need for social adjustment and employment services for these new groups is extensive. VSS has already developed a program to help them integrate into the community as quickly as possible.
While continuing to focus on the needs of newcomers, Vietnamese Social Services is starting to expand outward from the initial phase where survival and immediate resettlement needs took precedence. Now, the agency is beginning more and more to promote the preservation of the unique cultural identity of the Vietnamese and to find ways for the community to share its culture with the larger society. It is doing so with programs of its own, as well as through collaborations with schools and Vietnamese religious and fraternal organizations.
All of our accomplishments, past and future, depend in large part on the support we receive from the good citizens of Minnesota. To each of our financial contributors, to every volunteer, and to our many community partners, we would like to say thank you. Thank you for helping us to help Vietnamese refugees and immigrants feel at home and prosper in Minnesota.

Sincerely,

Yen Van Pham

Executive Director 

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