Tucson Chinese Cultural Center in recent years had been gaining ground in creating a health and wellness program for the Asian community.
But progress ground to a halt last February when the Trump administration rescinded a $200,000 National Institutes of Health grant earmarked to grow the program.
The move was part of broader DOGE cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk that also targeted the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. The cuts were targeting projects and research tied to diversity equity and inclusion, or DEI.
The Chinese Cultural Center’s five-year NIH grant was the primary source of the new program’s funding, which left the project in limbo, said Susan Chan, the center’s executive director. The money would have been used to provide physical and mental health services to community members and bring in translators to assist nonnative English speakers applying for insurance, Social Security and Medicare.
“And so now we’re at a standstill where we’re trying to think of how to continue on this mission at Asian Health and Wellness,” she explained earlier this month, one year after the cuts.
Without federal funding, the center had to look into expanding their community-based fundraising including collaborating with Tucson Foodie last May for two Asian night markets that highlighted Asian food, music and local makers.
Chan said the events drew an unexpectedly large crowd, signaling a possible future of community-based fundraising for the center.
“Unfortunately, it was so popular that I couldn’t let people in,” Chan explained. “It was like over 8,000 people in our cultural center and I ended up getting the police and fire marshall calling me because it was too many people.”
Last September, they moved the event to Rillito Park, which also proved to be too small, Chan said.
“It’s really interesting. Even with the economy and inflation, people still want to socialize and party,” Chan said. “I think part of it is COVID and being sort of isolated. A lot of people (now) want to have interaction.”
Next up for the center is its popular Asian Lunar New Year Festival from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. This year’s theme is “Year of the Horse.”
The event features a variety of performances, Lunar New Year gifts for sale, locally-made food and,of course, the ever popular lion dancers.
Admission is $5 for adults, free for kids 12 and younger at the door, 1288 W. River Road. Learn more at tucsonchinese.org.
Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
