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October 2021 - ISSUE 3
 

THE BCAP NEWSLETTER

Review what's kept us busy from July to September and what's next!

Naturalization Ceremony

September 17th was National Citizenship Day! We were able to make it to Kalpana Bhattarai's Naturalization Ceremony at the City County Building. Her son was there to help us do her Voter  Registration. 
Her next goal is to sit on driver's seat, and BCAP is already helping her in that direction. We want to see her driving a car in the near future.
Thank you, Feyisola Alabi at Welcoming Pittsburgh Community and Steven G. Rice, Field Office Director of USCIS Pittsburgh Field Office for accommodating us in speaking to the new citizens and for doing the Voter Registration.
BCAP joined a coalition of non-profits hosting voter registration clinics on National Voter Registration Day on September 28, 2021. We hosted the clinic at St. Anne School in Castle Shannon.

Pittsburgh Annual International Business  Reception

We represented BCAP at the Pittsburgh Annual International Reception at the Pittsburgh Shrine Center on September 15th. We registered people to vote and passed out informational resources on the work we do in Pittsburgh. It was a great evening that allowed us to make many new connections!
Staff Shoutouts
Introducing: Kabita Biswa
We are very happy to welcome Kabita to BCAP staff in the role of Administrative Assistant. She will be assisting our community members/families over the phone and in person at our office.
Introducing: Katie Mirt
Katie joined us August 23rd, and comes with a long teaching experience in elementary level and has a Master's in ESL. She has worked with immigrant and refugee kids already, working with Northview Heights Education Hub.
We are very excited to have Katie join our team as team members with different set of skills are going to make work lighter while increasing our capacity to serve our communities better.

 
Summer Intern: Bigyan Regmi
Thank you so much to Bigyan Regmi for his work for us this summer from June 28th to August 6th, as a Summer Learn and Earn intern through the JFCS! Bigyan was a great help to us, handling phone calls, helping people who came in at the front desk, and even recording a robocall message for the Nepali speaking community. He says, "It was not easy! I had to practice for two days to get it right." Hear more from him and his experience on our website here.

Upcoming Events


Our Annual Cultural and Musical Event is coming up October 24th! We ask interested community members to begin putting together their musical or dance performances and let us know what they are preparing. More details to come!

Quarterly Milestones

Staff served 387 visitors at our office location.

 

Attended to 773 phone calls.

Made 19 referrals to other agencies.

Provided direct assistance on 62 occasions.

Made 
299 home visits and phone check-ins for wellness.  

BCAP celebrated Teej, the Women's Festival virtually this year on September 9th via Facebook livestream. Thanks to the help of so many of our community members who put together performances and shared an evening full of dance, food prep demonstration, education, we had a wonderful time. The recording is available on Facebook for viewing. 

Some Glimpses from the BCAP Summer Youth Arts Program

Our Day of Celebration closing ceremony of the BCAP Summer Youth Arts Program was August 5th. The program and ceremony were a huge success. We had ukelele and acting performances and a presentation of the kids' art projects from the summer. Above are a few screenshots from the virtual event!
Asian Pacific Islanders are the fastest-growing demographic in PA and yet historically under-engaged by candidates, political institutions, and our state and local governments! That’s why we're working with a coalition of AAPI-focused organizations to build the first-ever state-level issue and policy platform that reflects the shared values and needs of the AAPI community, from the bottom up! 
But we need to hear from you. You can complete the survey in Nepali too. Fill out the #AAPIPASurvey to let us know what matters to you!

School Supply Distribution in Green Tree

In partnership with NCJW Pittsburgh, our local chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women, we were able to distribute backpacks full of school supplies to families with children in the Green Tree neighborhood.
Thank you to the families for coming out and picking up a backpack for your child, NCJW for the supplies, and our volunteers Deu Tiwari and others in Green Tree.

This year, BCAP provided 150 backpacks with stationery items and personal safety kits through its Back to School Program brought to the community in partnership with NCJW. This was our 6th year in the partnership.

Computer Literacy and Learner's Permit Classes

We began our Learner's Permit Classes combined with Computer Literacy Instructions at Baldwin Borough Public Library August 19th. Free Chromebooks were provided for individuals to learn and practice. The classes at the library are on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9:30-11:00 AM. Classes at BCAP office are on Mondays and Tuesdays starting at 11:30 AM. Registration and participation is ongoing and you can join at any time! Please fill out the form on our website linked here, if you are interested. 

Meet Phul Maya Rai

A Community Member Testimonial 

Phul Rai came to the USA in 2014 and lived in Carrick until 2018 with her husband and 3 other family members. They now live in Brentwood, owning a home, a long time dream for all fellow refugees from Bhutan.

Phul never attended formal school in Bhutan but did go to Adult Literacy Classes when she was in the refugee camp in eastern Nepal. That was where she picked up her ABCs and her numbers.

Fast forward to her life in Pittsburgh, she started attending BCAP’s citizenship classes from 2015. She made it through her Naturalization Interview, in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and was naturalized in June of 2020. 

Working full time Monday through Friday, she managed to attend classes on Saturdays and Sundays regularly which paid off in achieving her goal of becoming a US citizen.

She remembers her tutors: Meena Gurung, Alex Walsh, Dhan Dahal and Nicole Johnson for all the support in her  understanding of English as well as US history, civics and geography in preparing for the citizenship interview at the USCIS.

This is a typical story of most of BCAP’s older adults and many of its senior members.

Phul has registered to vote now and will be voting in this November election for the first time. She now has another goal: to drive a car. And to do that, she is currently taking Learner’s Permit Classes and additional English enrichment classes  at BCAP.

We asked her if she had anything to say. “All I want to say is Thank You BCAP for bringing citizenship classes in the neighborhood I live in. That really made it possible for me to attend the classes without any transportation issues. And now, for these Learner’s Permit Classes that I can walk to, to attend.”

Community Shoutouts

BCAP congratulates Samir Kadariya and his family on his noteworthy accomplishment, qualifying for 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program.

One of our community youth, Rosika Gajmer, qualified to participate in the Miss Nepal North America competition. In our community she is one of the familiar faces who has lent her hand either through her entertainment talents or volunteering. She will not just represent the entire Nepali-Speaking Bhutanese/ American community but also Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. She is also a Top 5 Contestant on Season 2 of Voice of Glory. We are proud of her and wish her luck! 

In the News

Our organization was recently mentioned in Public Source in an article about vaccine rollout in Allegheny County. Read it here!
 



Thank you to all of our donors, volunteers, and funders for their continued support, without you the work is not possible! 

 



 

Partner Highlight: 

 

Home - 412 Food Rescue

We would like to thank 412 Food Rescue for being one of our Agency Partners and Collaborators. Their mission is to prevent food waste and reduce hunger by rescuing surplus food from going to waste and transporting it via a growing network of volunteers to nonprofit partners that serve those who are food insecure. Throughout the past year and a half, they have worked with us to bring us surplus food weekly that we then redistribute to members of our community who are in need. This help has been invaluable for families who have high-risk individuals or don't have the resources to get food with the added financial burdens and complications of the pandemic. We thank them for all that they do and look forward to our continued collaboration!
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Have any feedback for us on this newsletter? 
Please let us know what you think by emailing me, Khara, at ktimsina@bcap.us
Thank you for your time and support! 






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Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh (BCA · 3000 Brownsville Rd Ste C · Pittsburgh, PA 15227-2469 · USA

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