CISC was started in 1972 by a group of energetic college and high school students. They worked as part time volunteers in a tiny donated space in Chinatown to fulfill a community need. The early focus was on helping non-English speaking elderly in the community. Later, CISC broadened its scope and added adult and youth employment programs, ESL and naturalization classes, family and youth services, domestic violence and crime victim services, and a community technology center.
Over the decades, CISC has continued to respond to community needs. Our reputation in the community and strengths in providing social services to the Chinese immigrant community enabled the agency to expand to support immigrants from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and other parts of Asia. Today, our services include early childhood education, youth development, family support, cultural navigator, senior & disabled adult services, and health care access programs. We provide these services at our four office locations in Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, and Redmond and numerous outreach sites such as community and senior centers.
Our agency’s service philosophy is to use an holistic approach with bilingual/bicultural staff to provide developmentally appropriate services to individuals, families, and groups within our community. The focus is first on stabilizing, then strengthening our community members through strength-based skill building. The ultimate goal is for each client to reach their maximum potential as quickly as possible, and become self-sufficient, contributing members of the community.
