Thank you for visiting the Culture to Culture Foundation website. We are a nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated to promoting mental health and emotional wellness within the San Francisco Bay Area's growing Asian-American community.

It is a sad fact that many in the Asian-American community are desperately in need of emotional support, but do not seek it out. Due to isolation, language barriers, lack of bilingual and bicultural mental health professionals, cultural stigma, limited resources and other factors, many in the Asian-American community do not seek professional help until either very late or in crisis. Research has shown that Asian-American women have the highest suicide rate among women over the age of 65 and the second highest between the ages of 15 and 24 in the United States. Language barriers and social stigma often make early diagnosis and intervention difficult. Therefore, the suicide rate is relatively high but the service utilization

rate is rather low which simply reflects a huge gap between those unserved and underserved populations in  the Asian American community.

Since 2001, Culture to Culture Foundation has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap and provide better access to culturally competent mental health services among the area's Asian-American population. This website serves as a gateway to our educational programs, cultural activities and community events that have reached over 5,000 Asian-Americans of all ages and income levels in the Bay Area in the last 5 years of services.

An old Chinese proverb states that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Whether you or someone you know is in need of help, or you wish to know how you can help others, we invite you to take that first step.

Culture to Culture Foundation's CEO and Chairman, Chia Chia Chien, was recently honored as a 2008 Purpose Prize Fellow.  The Purpose Prize is part of the Encore Careers campaign, which aims to engage millions of baby boomers in "encore" careers, which combine social impact, personal meaning and continued income in the second half of one's life to solve society's most pressing issues.  The 2008 Purpose Prize--the nation's only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of their life--is a six-year, $17 million program for people over 60 who are taking on society's biggest challenges.  From more than 1,000 nominees, six $100,000 winners, nine $10,000 winners, and fifty Purpose Prize Fellows were honored as leaders in the movement to invent new ways to solve society's most challenging problems--from poverty to pollution, recidivism to racial reconciliation, and health care to homelessness. To learn more about the Purpose Prize Award, please read its full press release.