The Asian Pacific Development Center is a non-profit organization assisting Asian immigrants in the

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, metropolitan area. Founded in 1980 to provide outpatient

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

therapy and counseling, it expanded its offerings a few years later to include acclimation assistance including classes in

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

, job placement, and youth activities. The center provides interpreters and translation services in courts, hospitals, and businesses as well. Services are available in 35 different languages.

History

The Asian Pacific Development Center was founded in October 1980. Large numbers of Asian refugees had emigrated to Colorado following the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, and a significant number were showing signs of

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

and depression. The center was formed by leaders of the city's

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

and

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

communities, including "social workers, attorneys, psychologists and psychiatrists living in Denver", and services were provided by these professionals. In the 21st century, the center's clientele expanded as additional groups of refugees landed in Colorado, including immigrants from

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

(estimated at 25,000 in the Denver area in 2000) and

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

(estimated at 3,500 in 2008). The center initially offered mental health therapy and counseling on an outpatient basis. After

Sumiko Hennessy Sumiko Tanaka Hennessy (born November 8, 1937) is an American social worker, trauma therapist, academic, and activist for the Asian-American community in Denver, Colorado. Born in Yokohama, Japan, she was a founding board member and later executiv ...

, a Japanese-born professor of

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

, became executive director in 1984, the center's services were expanded to help "overcome the Asian discomfort with mental health assistance". Classes in

, employment counseling, and youth activities were introduced at this time.

Services

The center offers services geared to youth, teens, and adults/seniors. After-school programs for youth include

life skills Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social no ...

workshops, tutoring, mentoring, and leadership training. Teens are assisted with placement in summer internships in corporate environments. The adults and seniors component reflects the center's initial founding as a mental health clinic, providing "psychological and psychiatric evaluation, medication therapy, individual and family therapy, day treatment, counseling for domestic abuse perpetrators, and alcohol-abuse education and therapy". Employment counseling and job placement are also provided. The center responds to community needs as they arise. In 1985, staff addressed the problem faced by

mail-order bride A mail-order bride is a woman who lists herself in catalogs and is selected by a man for marriage. In the twentieth century, the trend primarily involved women living in developing countries seeking men from more developed nations. Men who list t ...

s in the Asian American community. Asian girls and women, primarily from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, had been photographed in suggestive poses and advertised in American men's magazines. The women, hoping to marry good husbands, were often abused by the men who chose them. The Asian Pacific Development Center sought to ameliorate the problem by opening support groups and counseling services for the maltreated wives, and furnished referrals to

women's shelter A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

s. In 2017, the center sought to assist immigrant and refugee artists in Aurora to establish businesses, offering "free mentoring, marketing and portfolio workshops". In 2018, the center opened a small garden adjacent to its facility to service new immigrants who had been used to farming and a more active lifestyle in their native lands and now felt "depressed and isolated". In 2018, the center was awarded a $980,000 grant in conjunction with the Denver District Attorney's office to provide services to victims of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

Staff

As of 1998, the center had a staff of 73 assisting approximately 2,500 clients in the Denver metropolitan area. Counselors communicate with clients in 21 languages, while interpreters expand that reach to 35 languages. The interpreters are also available to translate on behalf of clients in courts, hospitals, and businesses. Japanese-American professor

served as executive director of the center from 1984 to 2000.

Location

After a series of moves, the center entered its current home at 1537 Alton St. in

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

in 2013.

Awards

In 1998 the center received the Community Health Leadership Award from the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

; the $100,000 cash prize was used to fund relocation to a larger facility.

References

Sources

*{{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ER_kf0pWJZUC&pg=PA255, title=Women of Consequence: The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame, first=Jeanne, last=Varnell, publisher=Big Earth Publishing, year=1999, isbn=1555662145 Asian-American culture in Colorado Mental health organizations based in Colorado 1980 establishments in Colorado