Hackney Chinese Community Services are pleased to announce the recruitment of Vicky Sung as East and Southeast Outreach Officer. Vicky will be working alongside our centre managers Wing Kong Fung and Jabez Lam, as well as the wonderful Jennie Loh and Yan Ma, and our kitchen team and volunteers.
As you may already know, HCCSA is in the process of transitioning to become a resource centre for East and Southeast Asians (ESEA). The centre will have inter-generational and inter-community activities to provide a safe and secure place for ESEA to organise, create community projects, and support one another.
Before Covid-19, groups of second generation ESEAs shared experiences through meetings, community conversations, in college and universities, and through publications and social media. The advent of Covid-19 has galvanised many of these groups into activity, discussion and provision of Covid-19 related support to the ESEA communities.
In the presence of Covid-19, ESEA communities are disproportionately targeted by Covid-19-related racial abuse and attacks. Since the UK's outbreak of Covid-19, there has been a 300% increase in racist incidents reported to the police, and a 900% increase in online trolling towards ESEA communities. HCCS partnered with the Met, the Council and ESEA communities to produce leaflets in 7 languages to support victims of race crime. These were distributed to local businesses and meeting places. (https://www.hackneychinese.org.uk/post/what-to-do-when-faced-with-a-race-
hate-crime)
Taking on the development role, Vicky will be supporting us in a number of ways, by promoting the East and Southeast Asian community and the launch of the Old Community Bath House ESEA Resource Centre for this community both in Hackney and further afield.
Wing Kong, our centre manager, said, “Vicky’s appointment, to further our support of the ESEA communities, is a very positive step forward. Previously, Vicky worked at China Exchange in a number of roles, meeting the challenges of marketing, venue hire and financial management. She was also a Childline counsellor for the NSPCC. So she now brings a wealth of expertise to our team and we look forward to working with her.”
Vicky said, “I’m delighted to be working on this new and innovative project. I’m looking forward to elevating our reach from the already established Chinese and Vietnamese communities in Hackney and throughout London to the wider East and Southeast Asian and minority group communities. My role is to collaborate with and support this community by means such as community events, projects, information sharing, and resource sharing.”
As a core member of our team, Vicky will be busy liaising with ESEA groups and individuals emerging during the Covid-19 pandemic to seek engagement and collaboration. She will support the development of ESEA voluntary and community organisations to generate greater empowerment, organisation, and support to meet the unmet needs of our community.