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Asian Counseling and Referral Service
How do you come together and share a resource?
New Life is a mental health day activity program at the Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) and mostly serves low income, limited English speaking API (Asian and Pacific Island) immigrants, refugees as well as American citizens. Together, these members speak a total of at least15 different Asian Pacific languages and dialects. Examples include Cambodian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Mien, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese.
How would your group use the award money?
ACRS’s New Life would use the award money to purchase digital cameras with built-in recording functions and related accessories such as camera cases, memory cards and a tripod. The cameras would be used by our artistic talents in the art group and to diversify the art techniques and perspectives taught in the activity room. While full-color prints and DVDs are expensive, the group plans to make usage of full-color prints for collage projects and to construct strong digital imagery artworks. The hope is to introduce the art of photography and relay these skills to the members so they can independently create and capture an artistic moment through their very own eyes. The self-empowerment and self-direction obtained through the cameras would assist the members in moving closer to full recovery, effect change among their peers, and bring light to their surroundings.
