Immigrant Social Services

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Immigrant Social Services

Nurturing and empowering the next generation immigrants of Lower East Side/Chinatown, NYC.

12/23/2025

Sew Cool Saturdays is a space where kids from ages 8-13 learn how to sew. Every week, they make a different product. So far, they’ve made: fruit head plushies, felt wallets, and felt holiday cookies!

This forgotten home economics skill is something we believe is important for the next generation to learn. Right now, we’re offering it as a free, donations-based program. Will you contribute to this effort? 🧵🪡🧶

For this year’s year-end campaign, we are collecting microdonations of $5, $10, $25 to help us offset & sustain programs such as Sew Cool Saturdays. Donate today! Link in bio. 💗

12/19/2025

Since the summer, have been hosting bi-weekly tea tastings at Chung Pak for our seniors. Every week, they were able to try a new type of tea: green, black (red), floral, and herbal from China to Taiwan to India. Out of all the teas, our seniors *LOVED* and cannot stop talking about it—they made it from scratch with non-premade spices. We hope to continue this partnership, so our seniors can vocalize their love for chai, again, soon. 😉

📸:

12/12/2025

ISS’ opens tonight with Korea Art Forum’s (KAF) culminating indoor exhibition of the 2025 Shared Dialogue, Shared Space (SDSS) Program. It will feature public art installations, artists Ali Motamedi, Cecilia Lim, Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, Ricardo Miranda Zuniga, and Moses Ros, as they share their work as part of the 2025 SDSS program.

SDSS is an ongoing series of outdoor participatory art events held at accessible community hubs in immigrant neighborhoods around New York City. SDSS offers residents and visitors the unique opportunity to engage directly with artists and work with them to develop projects that address issues of language, identity, migration, conflict, and cultural production – key issues that define the experience of New Yorkers. These works culminate in an indoor exhibition and public art installations across New York City.

Guest curators Jennifer McGregor, curator and arts planner, former Director of Arts at Wave Hill, and Martin Lucas, arts educator and Emeritus Professor in the Integrated Media Arts MFA Program at Hunter College, co-curate the 2025 iteration. They bring fresh perspectives to this dynamic and continuously evolving project.

Immigrant Social Services (ISS) strives to co-create an environment where underserved immigrants and children of immigrants in Chinatown/Lower East Side can thrive and shape their futures. Through our programs and services, we nurture and empower our community’s children, youth, young adults, families, and older adults to restore their agency, while working to transform systems and cultivate opportunities that enable them to flourish.

Storefront for Ideas is a space for inquiry, curiosity, and creativity. It is a space to explore community issues that matter and to co-reimagine the possibilities for Chinatown, now and into the future.

We welcome everyone to join us tonight at the Opening Reception from 6-8PM at 127 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013. See you there! 🖼️

Here is a sneak peek of the installation process~ ☺️

12/04/2025

Having an Afterschool Program that focuses on enrichment, prevention, and emotional safety is important to our mission. As enrollment slows down as our community continues to move out of the Lower East Side & Chinatown, we are launching a fundraising campaign to support ISS’ Scholarship Fund for Chinatown/LES immigrant youth. We hope this fund can enable students to access educational support and enrichment through ISS’ daily afterschool programs. 😇

Every bit counts– A $5, $10 or $25 donation makes a difference. Please give today (link in bio)!

Thank you in advance for your support. 💛🧡💛

12/02/2025

Did you know: at the core of ISS’ mission is to nurture the younger generation of children in the Lower East Side & Chinatown? Coach Nic from ’s Forever Strong Program is an alum from ISS’ Program at PS130M (!!!). He’s been through the afterschool program and worked as a tutor/summer counselor. He uses all the skills learned from working at ISS in his daily work as a Personal Trainer at , a fitness studio he owns and operates. He also applies his patience when teaching our seniors some sick aerobics moves~ 💃🏻🕺🏻👯

Let’s kick off this season of year-end giving by donating to ISS, so we can support the next generation of Nic’s! Support us via link in bio. 💛

12/01/2025

This past Wednesday, November 26, 2025, we concluded our Fall/Winter 8-Week Session with for our seniors at Chung Pak. Over the course of eight weeks, our went from barely being able to keep up with Coach ’s aerobic flow, to keeping up and surpassing him in all the moves during our last class. They were able to improve their memory, mobility, and motivation to show up week after week. We are so proud of them! 🥹 Thank you to Coach for his support, Cantonese music playlist & humor, and the endless amount of patience to get our seniors where they need to be.

If you want to support us and keep this program going, donate to us this . Link in bio. 🥰💛❤️

11/25/2025

We’re open this weekend on Saturday and Sunday from 12-5PM. We heard Paul will be back in the building. 👀 Come and meet him + you’ll smile from ear-to-ear! See you at 127 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013 this weekend~ 🙃

11/20/2025

Paul and a few of his fans~ The exhibition is open today through Sunday from 12-5PM at the - 127 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013. Stop by and you’ll become a fan, too. 😜

11/15/2025

Hey… what are your plans this weekend? Stop by Still Life: Drawings by Paul Leung. We’re open tomorrw from 12-5PM + Thursdays through Sundays from 12-5PM until the first week of December. Come visit us to check out Paul’s work. 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ 📸:

11/06/2025

STILL LIFE: Drawings by Paul Leung is on view at the ISS Storefront at 127 Walker Street, New York, NY 10013 starting this Saturday, November 8 through Sunday, December 7. Each week, the exhibition is open on Thursdays through Sundays from 12-5PM. The Opening Reception is this Saturday, November 8—RSVP via link in bio. We held a Press Conference this morning with Ken Leung, who curated the exhibition, Paul Leung, the artist himself, Beatrice Chen, our Executive Director, and Assemblyman Ron Kim.

Thank you Assemblyman Ron Kim for coming to share your commitment towards older adults & seniors in our community. He represents Flushing, Queens and is on various State’s Committees: Education; Health; Social Services; Housing and is the Chair, Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development.

11/04/2025

We’re taking a tiny break from our Banquet posts to shed light on a new Exhibition at our ! 💖

Still Life: Drawings by Paul Leung 梁紹堅

Chinatown have endured many challenges—from COVID to anti-Asian violence to the closing of longtime businesses, including 127 Walker Street, where our Storefront is currently located.

During COVID, Paul Leung rediscovered his passion for drawing after the loss of his wife. This forgotten gift was guided by a retired art professor at a local senior center.

Still Life honors Paul’s resilience—and the enduring spirit of a community weathering loss and transformation.

The Exhibition is on view from November 8 – December 7, 2025.

HOURS OF VIEWING:
Thursday–Sunday, 12–5PM
Free and Open to the Public
ISS Storefront for Ideas - 127 Walker Street, NY, NY 10013
Curated by Ken Leung.

Join us in celebrating Paul’s work at Still Life’s Opening Reception on Saturday, November 8 from 2–5PM.

RSVP here: https://tinyurl.com/4nxap2ub

** Still Life at ISS Storefront for Ideas is supported in part by the NYS AAPI Equity Budget and by the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA), in partnership with the City Council.

10/31/2025

Our first honoree last Thursday was Chui Man Lai, a Lower East Side and Chinatown Champion for close to 30 years. Did we mention, she is an ISS Alum? 😉

She is currently the Manager of Community Affairs at the New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital and the co-founder of New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital Chinese Community Partnership for Health (CCPH).

She first joined the former New York Downtown Hospital in 2001 and, in 2009, was appointed Assistant Vice President for Patient Services, Community Outreach, and Provider Relations. Following the hospital’s merger with New York-Presbyterian, Lai assumed her current role overseeing community affairs. Inspired by her own family’s experiences navigating the healthcare system, she has long championed language access and culturally responsive care for Chinese-speaking patients.

Today, Lai continues to strengthen the hospital’s connections with the Chinese and broader Lower Manhattan communities, advancing its mission to provide high-quality, compassionate care for all.

Congratulations to Chui Man. Her whole Kiwanis Club of Chinatown came to support and witness this moment. 💛

Address

Chinatown, NY
10013

Website

http://www.issnyc.org/

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