SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHINATOWN CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER | San Francisco – City and County of San…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: SFDPH Media Desk, DPH.Press@sfdph.org

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San Francisco, CA The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) today celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Chinatown Child Development Center (CCDC), a behavioral health clinic in the heart of Chinatown. The center has served the social and emotional needs of children and families throughout Chinatown and the City since 1972.

SFDPH established CCDC to serve children, youth, and their families in San Francisco by providing comprehensive mental health services which are easily accessible and linguistically and culturally appropriate. At CCDC, patients can access mental health services such as individual and group counseling, case management, medication support, psychological evaluations, psychiatry, support groups, and parenting education workshops. The program serves children and families who are residents

of San Francisco who have Medi-Cal, Healthy Kids Healthy Families, or no insurance coverage.

For half of a century, the Chinatown Child Development Center has worked to ensure children and families have access to critical mental health services in a linguistically and culturally competent way, said Mayor London Breed. Whether they are in-person or telehealth services, and thanks to CCDCs committed health care providers and staff members, the wide range of services that they offer are so important to our communitys health and wellness. Congratulations on this momentous celebration and five decades of achievements.

As part of SFDPHs capital improvement program, CCDC will relocate to the Chinatown Public Health Center at 1490 Mason Street after the completion of its seismic upgrades and modernization renovation. The relocation will allow for culturally and linguistically appropriate medical services, mental health services, and dental services to be provided in one building to increase access of comprehensive care for the Chinatown community.

We are excited to celebrate the achievements of our Department of Public Health program, the Chinatown Child Development center and its diversity of behavioral health services, said Director of Health, Dr. Grant Colfax. The Chinatown community is deserving of high-quality healthcare services to youth and families, that play an integral role in safeguarding the mental health of so many.

CCDC fully integrates a comprehensive behavioral health service model for all eligible San Francisco residents with a focus on Asian American communities. These are provided via a multidisciplinary team of health providers who speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog Vietnamese and other languages and dialects when requested.

This is a landmark contribution to Chinatowns network of social services, which comes on the heels of the communitys historic fight to pass Baby Prop C in 2018, said Supervisor Peskin. Our early childhood development and childcare providers are at the core of the Citys work provide culturally competent behavioral and mental health services to our most vulnerable children and the newly reopened Chinatown Child Development Center will ensure a continuum of accessible and affordable services so that no family in Chinatown is left behind. Im proud to celebrate their 50th year of service in community!

CCDC mostly serves youth between the ages of 5 and 17 from the Chinatown neighborhood. Additionally, 95% of patients are Asian American, 56% speak Cantonese, 8% speak Vietnamese, and 6% speak Mandarin.

CCDC works diligently to address the top mental health challenges facing children and families. These include high rates of Attention DeficitHyperactivity Disorders (ADHD), Depressive/ Mood Disorders, Conduct Disorders, Anxiety Disorders and PTSD or Severe Stress Reaction. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that youth between the ages of 10 to 19 years old experience high rates of intentional self-harm and suicide which is the second leading cause of death after accidents amongst this age group in the U.S. The CDC continues to say that this intensifies for Asian American youth between 15 and 24 years old where intentional self-harm and suicide is the leading cause of death. CCDC utilizes specialty mental health practices in self-harm and suicide prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities.

"Celebrating the 50th anniversary of CCDC means so much to our community and to our staff," said CCDC Director, Linda Wu. "Our efforts to uplift the mental health of children, youth and families in San Francisco is near and dear to our hearts. I am honored to work with a team of dedicated clinicians who are advocates to promote culturally appropriate care and help reduce the stigma of getting mental health services for the API community. These last few years have been especially difficult for the community during the COVID-19 pandemic with shelter-in-place, facing discrimination, shame, and stigma from the origin of the virus and I want to remind everyone that help is out there and that you do not need to face the stress alone. We stand stronger together."

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes that drastically increased in California by 107% in 2020. Asian American youth who experienced racism firsthand are 30% more likely to be concerned about their family and 30% more likely to experience depression than their peers. During this time, CCDC drastically increased their outreach to the Asian American community as well as collaborated with primary care providers and school-based services to improve access to mental health services.

CCDC also works hand-in-hand with community members to develop deep trust with patients to address the stigma sometimes associated with accessing mental health services. Through ongoing educational awareness trainings as well as robust language services, CCDC creates a supportive environment to overcome these challenges.

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SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHINATOWN CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER | San Francisco - City and County of San...