Alliance for Cultural and Educational Support

ACES Project is managed by: Tibetan Alliance of Chicago (TAC).

As one of Chicago’s smaller and newer immigrant/refugee communities, we are grateful to our anonymous donor for coming to TAC and supplying the seed money to develop this new program. The donor will continue to donate a specific amount annually depending on the progress of the program. We are seeking further funding.

ACES programming will be divided into three sub-programs, 1) College Scholarship, 2) Math, English & Science Tutoring Program and 3) Cultural Program (Tibetan history).

The focus of this program will be on TAC’s member students (first grade through college) and their parents, who face many cultural, linguistic and financial challenges navigating the American education system.

The majority of TAC parents have limited education and English skills and are in low income/low skilled service jobs (hotels, taxi drivers, babysitters) or are in low ladder office positions. Due to family reunification (some as recently as 2007), many of TAC’s young members have been uprooted from their familiar surroundings of third world refugee settlement camps in India and Nepal, and thrust into this unfamiliar fast-paced, industrialized country—the U.S.A. (Chicago).

The goals and benefits of ACES are to offer TAC’s member kids and youth assistance and provide them an educational foundation and support system for them to excel and reach their academic potential, boost their confidence and self-esteem, strengthen their knowledge of Tibet and its history and foster a sense of community belonging. And for our college students a chance for a $1,000 scholarship per semester (taking some of the financial burden off their parents) and to foster a philosophy of giving back to their community.

The ACES tutoring Program started August 2, 2008.

Tutoring session: Two hours every Saturday at 11 to 1 PM, classes are divided into three categories A) Grade 1 to 5, B) Grade 6 to 8, C) Grade 9 to 12.

Tutors: Our first preference is Tibetan college students and adult TAC community members, but we also seek culturally sensitive non-Tibetan tutors who have a solid background in Math, Science and/or English. Also needed are tutors to prepare our high school seniors for the SAT and ACT.

Scholarship: Applications were handed out in August for the first $1,000.00 scholarship to be granted to one full-time Tibetan college student per semester starting this semester, September 2008. There will be some qualifications and some prerequisites for the interested students.

All expenses for the ACES Project programming are strictly donation-based. Please consider making a donation toward this beneficial project to help TAC’s member children and young people succeed in their educational goals, to become productive citizens of the U.S., while maintaining an intimate connection to their Tibetan cultural heritage and identity and to their families and community.

If you would like to make a donation, please make your checks out to: “Tibetan Alliance of Chicago” and in the memo put “Name of Program 08-09” (i.e. Scholarship 08-09 or Cultural 08-09 or Tutoring 08-09). Please mail your kind donations to:

Tibetan Alliance of Chicago
950 W. Carmen St.
Chicago, IL 60640

If you have any questions about tutoring or want more information please contact Mr. Choephel Baro la or Mr. Lhagyal la, and they will explain all the details.