Vietnamese Immigrants Give $1 Million to College

Here is a wonderful example of how immigrants come here, work hard, become Americans and give back to their community. The immigrants (mostly Hispanic) who are here now and are being complained about constantly will eventually get to this point too. DP

Donation by developer, restaurateur bolsters Little Saigon's growing sense of philanthropy.
By Mai Tran, Times Staff Writer
latimes.com : A pair of immigrant businessmen announced Monday that they would give $1 million to a community college campus near Orange County's Little Saigon, a gift experts say underscores the growing level of philanthropy in the Vietnamese community.

The campus, near Westminster City Hall and a statue that honors American and South Vietnamese soldiers, will be named for benefactors restaurateur Chieu Le and developer Frank Jao.

Some observers see the donation to Coastline Community College as a sign of a maturing in Orange County's Vietnamese community, which was formed by refuges in the 1970s at the end of the Vietnam War.

The Vietnamese have a record of helping in emergencies, such as Hurricane Katrina and last year's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. But individual acts of philanthropy on such a large scale are still considered relatively rare, said Thu-huong Nguyen-vo, an assistant professor at UCLA's Department of Asian American Studies.

"We haven't had a long time to accumulate enough wealth in the United States in order to do a lot of philanthropic work," said Nguyen-vo. "We're not a rich community, but cumulatively, it has been huge."

The Le-Jao Center will open next month. The donation will help fund a variety of programs, from biotechnology to English-as-a-second-language courses. The $11-million facility, financed and operated by Coastline, will include 21 classrooms, three computer labs and a science lab.

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