CHINATOWN — Twenty-one years ago, Karen Chiu said Chinatown’s library was constantly packed. Without many other places to hang out after school, kids all headed to the library: “on the floor doing their homework, waiting for computers,” she said.
Chiu wanted to give them another place to work. While on a break from medical school, she and four others co-founded Project: VISION, which provides tutoring and support to Chinatown-area middle and high school students.
“It was just something that was a passion project initially,” said Chiu, now the group’s executive director. “But because we saw how much need there was in the community, then it became an actual serious project.”
Project: VISION has since grown to two locations, 217 W. 23rd St. and 236 W. 22nd Place, with 20 full-time staff members and a team of part-time tutors. Beyond tutoring, Project: VISION helps students apply to college, get involved in volunteer work and more.
This week, to coincide with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the group will launch one of its biggest fundraising events of the year: the We Run Chinatown fitness challenge.
From Friday to May 27, participants — who donate or fundraise as part of the event — will run a 5K or challenge themselves to a 20K. Participants are welcome to run on their own or join one of Project: VISION’s communal activities.
People can also participate by walking or doing other physical activities.
The flexibility of the fitness fundraiser is a legacy of the pandemic, said Sandy Ruan, director of strategic initiatives. The event began in 2022, when organizers knew they had to offer remote options even as they tried to draw participants to the area.
“We really still wanted to keep that tradition of really highlighting Chinatown,” she said.
The run helps fund the group’s efforts throughout the year, Ruan said. Project: VISION is always looking to grow, having expanded from serving 20 students in its first year to 450 now.
Chiu said the group continually has a waitlist, and though she’d love to expand into one large youth center, space is at a premium in Chinatown.
Chiu and Ruan see the organization as personal. They grew up in the Chinatown area and now teach about its history, encouraging students to get involved with their community. Ruan has watched her sisters, cousin, niece and nephews all benefit from the program.
“I wish I knew about Project: VISION when I was growing up because I could definitely benefit from a lot of the services that we currently provide,” she said.
Standley Wu, a senior at Lane Tech College Prep High School, said he’s grown enormously thanks to six years of Project: VISION programs. He stuck with the tutoring sessions in middle school because he wanted to improve his academics before applying to high school. Since then, he’s been involved in all manner of programs.
Through Project: VISION, Wu has volunteered with groups like Feed My Starving Children, the Park District, Cradles to Crayons and Friends of the Parks. He interned at a realty firm and now works with a research group studying the migrant crisis and how Chinatown can help.
Before the March primaries, Wu even attended a community forum where he asked state Rep. Theresa Mah a few questions, sparking his interest in politics.
“Without them, I wouldn’t be here today,” Wu said. “I would have gone on a pretty downward slope if it weren’t for Project: VISION.”
Wu is graduating high school this spring. When he goes to Loyola University Chicago next year, he said he hopes to return to Project: VISION as a part-time tutor.
That’s a journey that Ruan and Chiu watch many of their students make. They see it as an example of concrete impact, proof that the kids they’ve helped see Project: VISION as a group worth giving back to.
“Impact doesn’t happen overnight,” Chiu said. “But after seeing students go through our program, and just seeing how they grow from 11- and 12-year-olds into adults, it’s just really rewarding.”
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