ACC Explores Its History Ahead of 50th Anniversary

Next year marks ACC’s 50th anniversary. In preparation for this, ACC is hosting a series of monthly talks and activities documenting the rich history of ACC Senior Services.

In June 2021, May O. Lee, Gloria Imagire, and yours truly organized the ACC History Project workgroup to start the task of collecting historical documents and interviewing people. Other members of the workgroup include Frances Lee, Peggy Saika, Hach Yasumura, Donna Yee, and Jean Shiomoto.

ACC was founded in 1972. Many people today are not aware of the involved process that brought the different community stakeholders to the table. The story begins in the late 1960s when members of the Sacramento Asian community felt a dire need to address the social and economic inequities facing minorities. Asians had no political power. This gave rise to Asian Community Services (ACS) and Japanese Community Center (JCC) in the early 1970s that eventually evolved into ACC.

The full story of ACC’s founding will be told in a three-part series starting on Monday, July 26. Hosted on Zoom, the first session will start with a tribute to the late Chewy Ito, ACC’s Founding President. Moderators May O. Lee and Jean Shiomoto and invited guests will reflect on Chewy’s life and his contributions to ACC, followed by an overview of the ACC History Project, which will continue into next year.

“People want to know how ACC became what it is today,” says May O. Lee. “Where did its vision and drive come from? How did all this get translated into ACC’s major projects and the creation of so many other community organizations like Health for All, Asian Resources Inc, and Tanoshimi Kai?”

In addition to how ACC was founded, the ACC History Project will look at how other programs came to fruition, including transportation, social services, lifelong learning, and Meals on Wheels by ACC. Every decade of ACC’s history will be covered in the next 12 months.

To attend these presentations, sign up at accsv.org/online. If you would like to join the ACC History Project workgroup, contact Ted Fong at tfong@accsv.org.