According to a study conducted by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, in a wealthy county such as Orange County in Southern California, there are 11% of Asians living below the poverty level as of 2003. The percentage is as high as 18% in some cities such as Westminster where a large Vietnamese immigrant population reside.

According to the same study, nearly 25% of Asian adults in Orange County and 38% of non-citizen Asians do not have health insurance. 10% of Asian seniors are living under the poverty level compared to 6% for all ethnic groups in the entire county.

29% of Asian households are linguistically isolated because they do not have a single person that can speak English. This makes them difficult to access city services such as police and health faciliities. In addition, nearly 180,000, or one-third, of Asians in Orange County are limited English proficient. This limits their job opportunities outside of their ethnic communities.

Asian Community Development was established with the mission to give back to the community from which we benefit by assisting the disadvantaged thru scholarships, career job fairs, and training programs. It was created by the Board members of the Asian Business Association of Orange County in 2004 and was granted 501(c)(3) status in 2005. ACD operates independently as a charitable organization.

*For detailed reports on Asian American demographics in California and its major counties, download The Diverse Face of Asians and Pacific Islanders reports (February 2005) from the Asian Pacific American Legal Center website.