Vietnamese Friendship Association

Come join the community on Friday, January 20th, 2012, from 6:00-8:00 pm. Organized by a group of Vietnamese youth in southeast Seattle, this event is free and welcomes everyone!

Michelle Dinh, one of your Youth Council Leaders, shares the story of her involvement with the community.

Our Community: The Need to Provide a Better Education for Vietnamese students
By James Hong
Issue #2

originally printed in the Nguoi Viet Tay Bac newspaper–December 13, 2011

James Hong, Director of Youth and Community Empowerment at the Vietnamese Friendship Association

Students in Seattle have to take many state tests throughout the year. The purpose of these tests is to measure how successful our students are in school, and how successful they might be in the future. The achievements of Vietnamese students are very surprising.

As a whole, Asian students do well in school. However, Vietnamese students continue to fall behind Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students. For example, in 2010 only 47% of Vietnamese students in grade 10 in Seattle passed the Washington State Math Exam, far behind Chinese (69%), Korean (86%), Japanese (75%), and White (68%) students.

Why are Vietnamese students performing so poorly compared to other Asian groups? No one knows for sure. But the Vietnamese Friendship Association launched a Community Research (CARE) Project in 2009 to learn about these issues. Read More…

For some of us, navigating the US legal system can be fun. For many of our community members who face barriers such as language and transportation, however, the system can be very challenging. This is why VFA and the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington (VABAW) teamed up to deliver a workshop for staff of the King County Courthouse. 30 prosecutors, paralegals, and other staff attended the one-hour workshop, where VFA Executive Director Vu Le and VABAW board President Ty Ho presented on the Vietnamese community and the best ways to work with Vietnamese clients and witnesses.

“Nodding of the head does not necessarily mean understanding or agreement,” said Ty, “it may just be a sign that the client heard you. Also, lack of eye contact should not be construed as lack of credibility.”

“We are not a hugging culture,” said Vu in his segment on Do’s and Don’ts. “Avoid hugging and other forms of physical contact, especially with the opposite sex. Handshakes are OK.”

“To show extra respect, especially with elders,” he added, “use both hands when you shake.”

The King County Courthouse staff, who received Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits for attending, were very attentive and asked thoughtful questions. We’re looking forward to more collaborations with VABAW.