Immigrant Social Services, Inc.

Immigrant Social Services (ISS) is dedicated to improving the conditions and promoting the welfare of immigrants and other persons seeking our services living in the Greater Chinatown community of New York City. The history of Immigrant Social Services in Chinatown parallels the expansive growth of the Greater Chinatown area that took place during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Throughout these years, ISS has specialized in providing after-school programs and summer camp to children and families with low income, typically comprised of parents working full time, and programs at its on-site after-school high school academic enrichment program, summer youth employment programs, instruction to youth in drug prevention, sports and fitness programs, and cultural programming for the whole family. With programs like these, ISS has acquired valuable expertise in their consistent response to mitigating such risk factors like lack of structured adult supervision for youth and safe spaces for their healthy social development. ISS also understands and addresses through our programs the stresses many immigrant youth experience due to sometimes overwhelming pressures to assimilate to a new country and culture. Today, ISS measures its maturity and the quality of its accumulated experience by how well it has grown in acquiring knowledge and insight about the cultural values of the various immigrant groups arriving to our communities, specifically from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.