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Mission Statement and General Overview

Mission statement 
CMAA Front Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) is a community-based social services agency. CMAA's mission is to serve the needs, promote the interests, and enhance the well-being of Chinese and other immigrants and refugees in the Chicagoland area, and to foster their participation in and assimilation into American society. 

General overview
In the late 1970s a group of ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam founded CMAA to assist other newly arrived Southeast Asian refugees in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Through a number of grassroots efforts, the volunteer community leaders guided their peers in overcoming the many challenges of relocation. Community members who had adapted to American life counseled individuals struggling with culture shock, helped families find housing, referred job seekers to employment opportunities, and translated information for those who had not yet acquired new language skills. These community-minded individuals joined together to start a social service agency.

In 1981, CMAA formalized its activities with government funding and was established as a non-profit organization. Since then, CMAA has evolved into a multi-faceted social service agency supported by the state and local government, foundations, corporations, and private individuals. CMAA's current multilingual staff continues to address the most immediate survival needs of Chinese immigrants and refugees. However, the agency has broadened the vision of its initial founders by expanding the scope of its services and the diversity of the people it assists. Currently, over 28 languages and dialects are spoken at CMAA. Each year, CMAA serves over 13,000 people in the Chicago metropolitan area.

CMAA is qualified to receive tax-deductible contributions under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The daily work of CMAA is dedicated to meeting the needs of people. Our annual report will introduce you to a representation of people whose lives were impacted by CMAA's programs. As always, we thank you for your continuing support in making such stories possible.

To download our most recent annual report, click on the following links: FY2010 - FY2005

To download our most recent audit, click on the following links: FY2008 -  FY2009 -  FY2010 -  FY2011

To download our most recent IRS 990s, click on the following links: FY2008 -  FY2009 -  FY2010 -  FY2011

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