LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Asian Community Development Council is celebrating 10 years of serving the valley's Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community.
Vida Lin founded the nonprofit in 2015, after she said she noticed a lack of resources geared toward the AANPHI community.
"I've been here for 30 years in Las Vegas, and when I first moved out to Las Vegas, our community didn't have a place for us to go to get help and support," Lin said.
Lin said it's important to have services that are specific to the AANPHI community, especially when there are language and cultural barriers.
"That is why we wanted to have something that looked like us, can understand our languages and services that we need, and understand our cultures," Lin said.
She said when ACDC was first formed, it began by registering AANPHI community members to vote.
"The only way we can have a voice is to make sure we register our community and make sure we get them to the polls. And that's what we did," Lin said.
She said in 2016, ACDC registered more than 3,000 people to vote. In 2018, she said they registered more than 14,000 people for the midterm elections.
From there, ACDC expanded its services and started helping people navigate healthcare and become U.S. citizens.
"We have done over 1,300 applications to make sure people become citizens," Lin said.
Fast forward to today, the organization has grown tremendously and has multiple offices across the valley and a presence in northern Nevada in Reno.
ACDC hosts food distributions for people in need, college readiness boot camps for local youth, and community events like the Asian Night Market, which showcases local AANPHI-owned businesses.
It has a community health center as well and even goes to the state legislature to advocate on behalf of the valley's AANPHI community residents.
"We keep growing our services because the need in our community is there," Lin said.
As she looks ahead to the next 10 years and beyond, the founder tells me awareness is key.
"The issue now, number 1, is to make sure they know our services exist, and number 2, make sure they understand that we can help them with those. Whatever comes our way, we will make sure we take care of the barrier.
"During the pandemic, when the vaccine was finally available, we set up the pop-up vaccine [clinic] right in the heart of Asiatown," Lin said. "These are the services that we do. When it's needed, we pop them up, get them out to our community, and educate them."
Lin said she wakes up every day energized and excited to see how ACDC can help the valley's AANPHI community in new ways and tackle more problems.
"We connect, we educate, we empower our community," Lin said.
If you need support, click here to see if ACDC's services might be able to help you. You can also call them at (702) 489-8866 or email info@acdcnv.org.
ACDC has an office location at 3235 S. Rainbow Blvd. That's open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. ACDC also has an office at Shanghai Plaza at 4276 Spring Mountain Road, Unit 207, but that location is by appointment only.
If you'd like to get involved with ACDC as a volunteer or donate, click here for more information.
ACDC will mark its 10-year milestone at its annual InspirAsian Gala this February. The evening will feature cultural performances, traditions, and Lunar New Year festivities.
It's happening on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center at 888 W Bonneville Ave. Proceeds help support the HAPI (Healthy Asians & Pacific Islanders) Medical Center, which opened in 2022. Click here to purchase tickets.