by Eric Zuerndorfer
CHINATOWN – When Xiao-Wen Mak came to Chinatown from Shanghai a year and a half ago, he spoke only a few basic words of English and struggled to familiarize himself with the area. He needed to find a house, but he didn’t know where to start. He got help from Speakeasy, a telephone service that provides language interpretation and helpful community information over the phone.
“Speakeasy not only helped me find and buy a house, but they also helped me make good decisions,” said Mak, a 42-year-old Chinese immigrant who came to the United States looking for better job opportunities.
Tad Hirsch, a researcher at the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology, and Jeremy Liu, executive director of the Asian Community Development Corporation, formed speakeasy in 2003.
“We wanted to create a system where it’s not just language interpretation,” Liu said. “[Speakeasy’s] multilingual volunteers answer questions and give advice, too.”
Speakeasy was piloted in Chinatown with the trial ending in 2006. Results showed housing was the main issue for immigrants calling the program.
“[Speakeasy] focuses on housing and finding ways to mitigate the foreclosure crisis,” said Michael Chen, comprehensive home ownership program manager at ACDC.
Speakeasy, sponsored by ACDC, provides opportunity for immigrants who are still learning English. Often their inability to communicate inhibits them from playing a more active role in the community, Liu said.
The volunteers at Speakeasy are multilingual guides fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, Toisanese and other Chinese dialects. They are also required to provide a social and cultural connection.
“It really places a heavy burden on our volunteers,” Chen said. “They have to help the callers react to problems that go beyond everyday problems.”
One concern with Speakeasy is that the volunteers do too much. Immigrants might lose the motivation to learn English because they have the help of Speakeasy.
“We hope that they would assimilate by learning the language on their own,” Chen said. “We’re not trying to discourage them, but rather help them while they are learning English and getting used to the community.”
In August 2004, ACDC received a $25,000 Community Connections Award from AT&T Wireless and NPower for further development of the program.