FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        

Contact:            Mary Fuller             

                        Director of Communications and Development    

                        Asian Community Development Corporation

                        617-482-2380 x 203

                        maryfuller@asiancdc.org 

Asian CDC’s New Director:

Familiar Face Sets New Pace for Growing Organization

In the past four months, the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) has experienced a methodical, yet exciting, transformation which leaves the organization with twice the staff and programming capacity, brand new offices, and prospects for one of the most sizable CDC real-estate projects in the country.  Punctuating this series of advancements the Board of Directors voted last week to hire as ACDC’s new Executive Director Jeremy Liu- the organization’s former Director of Community Programs who steered the organization through this transitional growth period. “Jeremy has shown that he has the knowledge, ability, and strength of character to provide solid leadership for ACDC as we build our organization and meet our community development goals.  In his six years of service to ACDC, Jeremy has demonstrated his commitment and dedication to the growth and preservation of Chinatown and the Asian community,” said Caroline Chang, ACDC’s Board President

Despite this change in leadership, says Liu, the core mission of ACDC will not stray as the organization plans for the future.  “We will continue to work on several affordable housing development opportunities, re-launch a bigger and better Comprehensive Homeownership Program, and provide key leadership in critical planning and development challenges facing us all.  We are committed to ensuring that there continues to be truly community-based planning and development in Chinatown, while simultaneously bringing our resources and capacity to bear on the challenges facing Asian American communities throughout the Greater Boston region.” 

ACDC is currently engaging in a community process around the Chinatown Gateway/South Bay area and Liu anticipates that ACDC will take on significant work in the next three years in preparation for a comprehensive, strategic, and participatory planning process to create the Chinatown Community Plan 2010.

Liu, who served as the Interim Director for the past four months, brings the expertise and positive community relationships to ensure that ACDC continues to provide the quality service and powerful advocacy to Greater Boston’s Asian population.  Having worked as a community organizer and urban planner for ACDC over the last six years, Liu is well positioned to lead ACDC forward as it engages and works closely with residents, community members and organizations.  "We are excited to appoint Jeremy because he not only has a good working relationship with many local community organizations and leaders, but also because he represents the development of leadership from within ACDC and from within the community, which is something we are and will continue to be committed to," notes Paul Lee, Chair of the Executive Director Search Committee.

Over the past twelve years he has worked for and with communities of color, seniors, and youth, to creatively confront issues of social and environmental equity, affordable housing, and community empowerment.  His work at ACDC has been creative and far-reaching.  As Director of Community Programs, Jeremy worked closely with the Hudson Street for Chinatown Coalition towards envisioning, advocating for, and achieving a Community Vision for Parcel 24, the Big Dig parcel which ACDC hopes to develop into mixed-use, mixed-income housing in accordance with HSC’s vision.  Together with Tad Hirsch of MIT’s Media Lab, Liu developed Speakeasy, a cellular telephone network that conveniently connects immigrants with low English speaking proficiency to volunteer translators to improve their access to essential services when and where they need them most.  Liu co-created, with Mike Blockstein, A Chinatown Banquet, a multimedia digital art and activism project that functions as a community planning, youth leadership development, and organizing/outreach tool. It is a “living document” of the community that describes the complex facets of the Chinatown neighborhood as a way of substantiating the interests of the community as expressed in the Chinatown Community Plan.  Liu will now oversee a staff to ensure that these Community Programs continue to flourish and positively impact the Chinatown neighborhood and beyond. 

Of his new appointment Liu notes, “I am so proud to lead the organization that has been and continues to be the most creative, entrepreneurial, and responsive in the Asian community.” 

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