After more than half-a-century of service, CPC lands a permanent home in Manhattan
The Chinese-American Planning Council’s new headquarters near its birthplace in Chinatown includes a three-floor community center and 208 affordable senior housing units.
Virginia Kee, co-founder of CPC, cuts the ribbon on the nonprofit’s new CPC One community center Friday (Image courtesy of CPC)
More than 50 years after it first started, the Chinese-American Planning Council has moved into a permanent home on Manhattan’s Lower East Side near its birthplace in Chinatown.
Called CPC One, the 16-story building on Suffolk Street, officially opened yesterday. The facility houses the nonprofit’s main office, a community center on the first three floors, 208 affordable senior housing units and the cultural heritage center of the Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Synagogue, one of New York City’s oldest synagogues, which was destroyed by fire in 2017.
CPC One also will provide a home for more than 50 social service programs across New York City. Wayne Ho, president & CEO of CPC, said the nonprofit had reached a “milestone” with its ability to provide so much new space. “We look forward to welcoming more community members to our new building,” he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday. “CPC One means that we are one team, one organization, and one community.”
Ho was joined by New York City Council Member Gale Brewer, the Gotham Organization, which partnered with CPC on the new building as part of the Broome Street Development project. Representatives from Sen. Kristen Gillibrand's office were also on hand.
Founded in Chinatown in 1965, CPC has operated out of rented office spaces over the years, with its most recent on Elizabeth Street. It also has maintained a permanent community center for its various programs in Flushing, Queens.
CPC focuses on providing social services to the Asian American community and bills itself as the largest provider of its kind in the country The nonprofit started as a daycare and senior center, and eventually grew to provide other comprehensive services, such as affordable housing, food, adult literacy programs and more. The nonprofit has over 35 sites and can be found in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. CPC One
Services that will operate out of CPC One include: early childhood education services, summer youth employment, college readiness and adult English literacy.
"CPC One means we are here to stay. It represents how far we have come as a community, and our promise to continue to serve and empower our community for decades to come," said Virginia Kee, co-founder of CPC.
For information on how to apply for CPC One’s senior housing, read more here.