Helping Link is only open to appointments currently, due to the current status of COVID in Washington state. Classes are online. Please do not come to the office if you do not have an appointment. To make an appointment, please call 206-568-5160 or email via info@helpinglink.org. Please leave your name, phone number. Please say it slowly and repeat your phone number twice.
About Us
Since its founding in 1993, Helping Link has been committed to solving the needs of the Vietnamese community in Seattle by providing them with educational programs and resources in language, technology, and citizenship. We believe in supporting our intergenerational families, nurturing our communities, and fostering cultural resilience. Like a bridge that connects multiple points, Helping Link aims to unite and connect the Vietnamese community while also empowering members to celebrate their histories, cultures, and traditions.
Our Mission
To empower Vietnamese Americans’ social adjustment, family stability, and self-sufficiency while nurturing community service and youth leaders.
Our Logo
Temple
Used by overseas Vietnamese to represent the native land, Vietnam. It is also the embodiment of our legacies, culture, history, and literature.
Space Needle
Represents freedom, as well as the overseas Vietnamese who have successfully established a new life. More importantly, it is a symbol of a new culture and society.
Boat People
Symbolizes the struggle that the Vietnamese people have to overcome in their search for freedom.
The Bridge
Links those who arrived earlier with the newcomers. It also represents a bridge between tradition and modernity and between the Vietnamese culture left behind and the American culture of today. The numerous joints exemplify the difficulties that Vietnamese immigrants face in adjusting to the new life.
Helping Link/Một Dấu Nối
The brilliant color of the background, the color of the morning sun, symbolizes hope for a glowing future. It is also the goal of Helping Link/Một Dấu Nối, to assist newcomers from Vietnam overcome language and social barriers, and in particular, to help Vietnamese youths adjust to their new surroundings and excel in their aspiration for a brighter future.
Brief Timeline
Founding
The seed of Helping Link began to take root. Initial planning stages were discussed and laid out on a living room coffee table. Soon after, Information and Referral Services started at the Rainier Vista Garden Community Center, a Seattle Housing Authority site, linking Vietnamese immigrants and refugees and their families to social services.
1993Establishing a space
Helping Link officially opened its new office doors on Jackson Street! We offered bilingual computer classes and open lab hours to bridge the generational and technological divide experienced by our clients.
2001Going National
We completed the first draft for the Bilingual Handbook of Basic Computer Skills. This handbook garnered enough attention to reach over 10,000 Vietnamese across the U.S., while the Seattle Public Library and Washington D.C.’s Library of Congress have preserved copies for circulation.
200425-Year Anniversary
Helping Link celebrated 25 years of enabling Vietnamese-Americans to give back to their community. Past clients have become current volunteers, ready and willing to take leadership roles in the development and progress of our community and contribute to the larger Seattle society!
2018
What we do
Helping Link/Một Dấu Nối offers free support services and community programs to the Vietnamese community living in the Greater Seattle area. From citizenship classes to technology lessons, our services assist our clients in their transition to the U.S by improving their language proficiency and enhancing their chances for employment. Additionally, we also offer opportunities for cultural engagement through Vietnamese language-learning lessons and cultural events. Due to COVID-19, our services are currently being done virtually.
Some of our services include:
- Citizenship Classes
- Conversational E.S.L Classes
- Community Computer Lab
- iPad Classes
- Information/Referral services
- Cultural celebrations
- Vietnamese as a Second-Language classes*
- Translation services*
*These services require a small fee
Who we are
Executive Director, Minh-Duc Nguyen, leads Helping Link’s all-volunteer workforce that hails from all over the greater Seattle area. Similarly, our clients come from neighborhoods throughout King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. From young to old, Vietnamese to non-Vietnamese, our community is made up of everyone sharing their unique life experiences and perspectives with one another, allowing us to collectively build a space that is rich and diverse.
Leadership
We have an obligation to grow and develop leaders in the Vietnamese community. Strong leaders will enable the Vietnamese community to pass on their values to the next generation.
Diversity
A vibrant Vietnamese community adds to the diversity of the Greater Seattle area.
Participation
We believe in an open dialogue between student and instructor. We believe in the student’s best interest of the student’s motivation for learning.
Commitment
We commit to enhancing cultural enrichment, creating opportunities, and advocating the needs of Vietnamese families.
Questions?
Contact us at
info@helpinglink.org
