A company’s Articles of Association (AoA) are the foundation for a business’ framework and governance. Like a constitution, they must adhere to legal stipulations under Chinese Company Law.
CCBA acts as an umbrella organization for sixty member organizations representing a cross section of New York’s Chinatown. These include professional and trade associations, civic and religious groups, and cultural and women’s organizations.
Membership
Many Chinese immigrants joined associations of family names, locations or professions to help them succeed in their new homes. These groups often lobbied government and business representatives on behalf of their members. Associations’ lists and rosters can be useful in family history research.
The Chinese Management Association of America (IACMR) supports the pursuit of excellence and socially responsible scholarship in the field of management. Members of IACMR engage in the development and dissemination of innovative theories, creative methodologies, and cross-disciplinary analysis of individual, group and organizational phenomena.
The CCBA is the oldest family-based organization in Chinatown and still wields a great deal of political power. For example, it pushed to ban marijuana dispensaries from Chinatown and fought for improved crosswalks to protect senior citizens. It also raises money for charity and leads disaster response efforts, such as after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Its membership is comprised of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and career paths, including professionals, students, retirees, and their offspring.
Activities
CCBA supports a wide variety of community and cultural activities and programs, such as Chinese cultural festivals, social gatherings for members to celebrate special occasions and holidays, student academic competitions, and learning materials to promote Chinese language and culture. Moreover, CCBA works closely with mainstream organizations on community services and emergency crisis management.
The Association of Chinese Schools in the United States (ACS) provides a platform for Chinese language and culture schools nationwide to share common interests, exchange views and information, help school activities, improve the quality of teaching, and promote Chinese learning into the mainstream American education system.
Founded by Mingchu Huynh, the Northeast Philadelphia Chinese Association is an organization that supports at-risk new Americans to gain access to essential social and supportive services, including health care, food stamps, legal assistance, and housing. The goal is to help them sustain their lives with dignity, independence and self-respect. Moreover, it also encourages the community to participate in decision-making processes that affect their living standards.
Purposes
CCBA aims to strengthen ties within the Chinese community and with mainstream society. It supports the educational needs of students and professionals in Chinese culture, language and history by organizing seminars and conferences and facilitating exchange programs in these fields.
It does grassroots level research and work to promote the voices of low-wage workers and communities of color. This is known as community-based participatory research.
The China Association is the umbrella organization of 60 organizations representing a cross-section of New York City’s Chinese community: professional and trade associations; civic, cultural, religious and women’s groups; district (or “town”) associations; and family associations. This collection contains annual reports, correspondence, detailed chronological indexes and newspaper cuttings. It is available to researchers in the Special Collections Reading Room at SOAS.
Goals
The purpose of the Association is to build relationships among students with an interest in Chinese culture. It also serves as a cultural-learning instrument for the university and local community.
Members of NACA take on projects to promote business, economics, trade, culture, and education exchanges between the United States and China. They also work to advocate K-16 Chinese language education, and host educational and cultural activities in the local community.
Many of these members have strong leadership skills and excellent teamwork abilities which are important to their professional success. Additionally, they have gained a deep appreciation for the diverse and rich heritage of China.
CCBA has a long history of helping people of all backgrounds and nationalities achieve their goals and aspirations. For example, it helped organized laid-off workers to secure severance pay and job training opportunities, fought for bilingual ballots in Boston neighborhoods, and raised funds for the construction of a new library in Chinatown.