Organization

Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia


The Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia (CAGP) is a Philadelphia nonprofit that has served Cambodian, refugee and immigrant communities since 1979.[1] It works to improve the lives of Cambodian Americans in the region through direct service, advocacy and cultural education, and its programs reach three generations, from preschool children to elders.[1] Many of the people it serves survived the Cambodian genocide or are descendants of survivors.[2]

History

Cambodian refugees began arriving in the Philadelphia area in 1978 or 1979, and arrivals continued until 1990, peaking around 1985 and 1986.[3] Newcomers did not know where to turn for help with jobs, language, transportation, health care and social services, so community elders founded the association in 1979 as a safe haven.[3] It began with emergency services: translation and interpretation, help finding housing and jobs, and help with benefits such as food stamps. It was also the place where refugees gathered to share stories and to celebrate religious occasions and the New Year.[4] Staff helped clients tell doctors about the mental pain left by war, the killing fields, the loss of family and torture. It has also worked to give Cambodian residents a voice in the city.[3] It received federal tax-exempt status in January 1982.[5]

As families settled and raised children, the association turned more toward young people.[4] In January 2011 it launched the Legacy Project with a mini grant from Khmer Health Advocates of Connecticut, to promote healthy lifestyles through food and time spent across generations.[6] In its second year CAGP worked with the Intergenerational Center at Temple University and other partners to focus on deeper relationships between elders and youth. Elders brought photographs from Cambodia and the refugee camps, young people brought family photographs, and small groups shared the stories behind them in both languages.[6] At the end of March, more than 60 Legacy members took a day trip to Washington, D.C., to meet staff of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the Asian Congressional Caucus on Aging, Health, and the office of U.S. Representative Robert Brady.[6] The project then prepared an exhibition of the Cambodian refugee journey with a local art gallery and the photographer Peter Pin, drawing on photographs and stories from Cambodia, the camps and urban Philadelphia.[6]

A core group of 15 to 20 elders and 15 to 20 youth took part, aged 14 to 79. After the Washington trip was announced, 60 elders and youth joined at least once, 45 of them female and 15 male.[6] CAGP staff said the participants had become ambassadors for its mission, and that the association was changing from a service agency into a facilitator of shared responsibilities across generations.[6] Rorng Sorn was executive director during the Legacy Project and in 2014.[6][4] Sokmala Chy led the association in the fiscal years 2016 to 2018, and Sarun S. Chan, formerly associate director, became executive director in fiscal 2019.[5][6]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the association translated information about the virus and protective measures and spread it quickly through the community, and it hosted vaccination clinics at local Buddhist temples.[7] Its South Philadelphia center has been under renovation since December 2022, and the out-of-school-time and pre-kindergarten programs moved to the John H. Taggart School. Around 2023 the preschool nearly closed over differences with funding requirements; CAGP met with its funders and kept it open.[8]

Southeast Asian Market

The Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park grew out of informal vending, first by one Laotian elder selling from a van and then by Cambodian community members. Over the years vendors faced violence, police shutdowns, confiscated grills and tickets.[7] CAGP, the Vendors Association of FDR Park and FDR Park formed a three-way partnership to establish the market, which opened on April 2, 2023, selling Southeast Asian street food on weekends through the summer.[3][9] CAGP helps with safety and business licensing. The market was presented at the Greater Green Conference to park directors and city officials from across the country.[7] In October 2024 CAGP held a Commerce grant to assess land for a permanent home, and the market aimed to become permanent within three years.[7][10]

Programs

As of 2024, CAGP ran programs from eight locations across Philadelphia.[7] Its main offices are in North Philadelphia's Olney neighborhood, with programs for elders and social work services, and in South Philadelphia's Lower Moyamensing, home of the preschool and after-school program. It also uses Passyunk Hall on South 24th Street.[3][11] It also offers services at Preah Buddha Rangsey Temple and in FDR Park.[8]

Children and youth. The preschool takes Philadelphia children aged three and four regardless of family income, mostly children of parents born outside the United States.[7] The Out of School Time program, one of its longest-running at more than 30 years, runs an after-school program during the school year and a summer camp for kindergarten through eighth grade, and high school engagement initiatives follow.[9][7] In 2014 the Sunday Youth Culture and Language Program taught Cambodian language and history, including phrases children could use with older relatives, together with classical Cambodian dance and hip-hop and breakdancing.[4] The dance class has run since 1979.[3]

Health and social services. Bilingual staff help families with language assistance, immigration, public benefits, housing, health insurance and food stamps, and they counsel parents and children when conflicts arise between generations.[7][2] Programs include Family Support Services case management, a Community Health Initiative and Khmer Safe & Strong, a community safety program.[9] In the past, Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability gave CAGP grants of $30,000 or $100,000 for mental health training, capacity building, recruitment and outreach. By 2023 the association referred people to therapeutic clinics with Cambodian staff.[3] In 2014 it was working toward a health clinic for older Cambodians with Khmer-speaking doctors and nurses, in talks with Einstein and Temple University Hospital.[4] Its annual health fair in October 2024 offered flu and COVID-19 shots.[7]

Cultural heritage. The Cambodian American Cultural Conservancy holds the Cambodian Cultural Immersion Program, the archival project "Cambodian American Refugee 1979," the Legacy Project for engaged elders, and CARE in Nature (Cambodian American Refugee Elders in Nature), a program of nature walks and healing activities announced in 2024.[9][7] A Heritage Program invites elders and young people to talk and share their culture, including cooking Cambodian dishes together.[3]

Amara Philly. The association's civic and digital media department works on digital literacy and access for Cambodian and Southeast Asian immigrants and on raising their voice through audio, video and print.[12] It offers a Khmer computer class, a Lao technology class and the Khmer Cyber Class, held at the North Office and at Preah Buddha Rangsey Temple on 6th Street.[9][12] Its digital literacy students visited Longwood Gardens and the Baltimore Aquarium in 2023.[12]

Community

CAGP puts the Khmer community first but welcomes people of every background to its programs and events.[3][2] The Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop has called it one of the oldest Asian American nonprofits in Philadelphia.[8] Pennsylvania has the fourth-largest Cambodian population in the United States. A Temple University Intergenerational Center report put the Census count for the Philadelphia region at about 11,000 Cambodian Americans. In 2014 Rorng Sorn put the Census count for the city at about 9,000. Both put local estimates closer to 20,000.[6][4] He named Olney and Logan as the city's second-largest Cambodian area.[4]

Families have stayed across generations. Chantha Chum's family found a safe haven at the association, and she later followed her father onto its board.[4] Sarun Chan took part in one of its high school programs as a teenager.[7] Board members are volunteers who are not paid and often pay costs themselves. The board oversees budgets, grants and networking, and it hires the executive director, who hires the staff.[3] On April 4, 2026, CAGP held its 47th Annual Cambodian New Year Celebration, a formal gala at the Hilton City Avenue with cultural performances, live Cambodian music and dinner, and ticket sales supported its programs.[13]

Finances

Contributions provide almost all of CAGP's revenue, from about 88 to nearly 100 percent in each fiscal year from 2015 to 2024. Revenue grew from $415,943 in the fiscal year ending June 2015 to $1,440,185 in fiscal 2023. In the fiscal year ending June 2024 it reported revenue of $1,383,708 and net assets of $1,180,546.[5]

Board and staff (2026)

Board and staff listed on the association's website in 2026.[1]

Board of directors
  • Panharee Thang, president and board chair
  • Nary Oum Eachus, vice president
  • Somrith Som, treasurer
  • Soky Chhe, secretary
  • Bunrath Math, board member
  • Nak Chhoeung, board member
  • Ted Vanderlaan, board member
  • Rorng Sorn, board member
  • Chaiya Vong, board member
Staff
  • Sarun S. Chan, executive director
  • Samantha Kim, director of operations and finance
  • Bryant Wong, Out of School Time director
  • Kayla Sok, community impact manager
  • Patrick McNally, grants manager
  • Viraksomethea Yeng, case manager
  • Catzie Vilayphonh, digital community programs coordinator
  • Chakravuth Bunsak, meetings, workshop and event planner
  • Jessica Saludades, Out of School Time coordinator
  • Timothy Edwards, Out of School Time coordinator
  • Kamryn Sacksith, Out of School Time supervisor
  • Rachele Mosley, Out of School Time supervisor
  • Sophia Phen, administrative support
  • Omar Mahfouf, facility maintenance

Federal filings list other officers in earlier years. In fiscal 2021 and 2022, Nak Chhoeung was president, Bunrath Math vice president, Panharee Thang secretary and Pothyda King treasurer. In fiscal 2024, Panharee Thang was president, Nary Uom Eachus vice president, Rex Yin secretary and Somrith Som treasurer.[5] Bunrath Math joined the board in 2003 and was its vice president in 2023.[3]

Press

  • Philadelphia Neighborhoods, "South Philadelphia: Looking Back While Striving Forward: 44 Years of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia" (May 4, 2023)[3]
  • Philadelphia Neighborhoods, "Building the Future: Sarun Chan's Vision for Philadelphia's Cambodian Community" (October 22, 2024)[7]
  • WHYY, "Olney: Cambodian Association adapts to changing needs" (April 7, 2014)[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, About CAGP
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Global Philadelphia, Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Philadelphia Neighborhoods, South Philadelphia: Looking Back While Striving Forward: 44 Years of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia (May 4, 2023)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 WHYY, Olney: Cambodian Association adapts to changing needs (April 7, 2014)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Temple University Intergenerational Center, Strengthening Intergenerational Bonds in Immigrant and Refugee Communities (PDF)
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 Philadelphia Neighborhoods, Building the Future: Sarun Chan's vision for Philadelphia's Cambodian community (October 22, 2024)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop, Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia has fostered community for more than four decades (March 17, 2024)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Programs and services
  10. ↑ Philadelphia Neighborhoods, From Refugee Camps to City Streets: The Cambodian Legacy in Philadelphia (December 20, 2024)
  11. ↑ Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, home page
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Amara Philly
  13. ↑ Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Events

Sources

Retrieved from "https://dev.khmerconnection.com/w/index.php?title=Cambodian_Association_of_Greater_Philadelphia&oldid=7758"
This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:15.