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About

Our mission is Advancing Civic Engagement through Education and Philanthropy. 

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Asian Americans must seek greater impact and influence in the land we live and call home. To do this, we have to contribute to the greater good through adding value to our community, its people and their well-being to earn respect, trust and ultimately influence in politics.

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Our goal is not only to advocate the need for engagement, but to actually give direction, provide the way, find the path, and give guidance in projects, opportunities and activities that lead to hands-on training and experience according to one’s own interests, abilities and aspirations.

 

We believe that the future of the world is in the hands of the youngest generation. To promote civic engagement and activism among the youngest people in our community, we seek to develop and grow a new generation of leaders to be ready for success in the modern world, by providing and training students and young leaders with hands-on opportunities, in the form of community projects. The Pathway Foundation trains interns with mission-based objectives to seek and enact real change in their communities, learning important skills such as outreach, management, organization, and planning. This practical experience develops the ability for civic engagement within an up-in-coming generation of leaders.

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Listen to Mr. Conrad Lee explain the essence of Pathway Foundation in the video below:

OUR TEAM.

Conrad Lee

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Conrad Lee, Bellevue City Councilmember and Mayor (2011-2013), has served as an elected member of the Bellevue City Council since 1993, one of the few Chinese-Americans in elected politics. Born in Kunming, Yunnan, in 1939, the son of a personal aide to warlord Long Yun, Conrad lost his father at age 8. He moved with his mother to Hong Kong at age ten and stayed there through high school. He came to the U.S. to attend Seattle Pacific College, then got his degree from University of Michigan in electrical engineering. After working for Boeing and then as a stockbroker, he was first elected to Bellevue City Council in 1993 and has been re-elected seven times, most recently in November 2017 and Deputy Mayor in January, 2010.

Steve Chen

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Steve Chen is a partner of Skyline Investment Fund LP, which manages $200 million in commercial real-estate investments in America. He also co-founded the Pathway Foundation, as well as serves as its director, which promotes civic engagement within the Chinese-American community. Steve started his career as an IT consultant and founded a consulting firm conducting business with China for 15 years before becoming involved in commercial real-estate investment. Steve attained a Master’s Degree of Engineering from Utah State University in 1992 and a Master’s Degree of Science in Economics from Tsinghua University in 1989, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from Tsinghua University in 1986.

Yiping Chan

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Mr. Yi Ping Chan is a principal at Chanden Inc. which is focusing on investment and business advisory services primarily in Greater China and the United States. Y.P. has over 20 years of experience in business turnaround and restructuring, entrepreneurship, venture capital, JV and acquisitions in USA and East Asia. He has management experience in running companies that range from start-ups to a small public company listed on the American Stock Exchange. He obtained both his MBA and MSEE degrees from Columbia University. He was a member of the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, serving as a board member of the Hong Kong chapter in 2002 and 2003. He also served as a development advisor and associate for the Global Chinese Business Initiative at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2001. As an new immigrant coming to New York City in 1980’s, Y.P. has first-hand experience in the struggling at the bottom of the society to achieving the American dream. It took him 23 years from selling Dim Sum in a Chinese restaurant to being a CEO of a public-listed company in the USA.

John Spady

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While John has recently retired from Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants he is still considered the curator of the extensive civic legacy of his father, Richard Spady (namesake of the family owned business.) John is a member of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD.org) and is a lifetime member of the International Association for Public Participation  (US Chapter: IAP2USA.org). Alongside the Honorable Conrad Lee, Councilmember for the City of Bellevue, John created the American Immigration Forums in 2011 — a way for students to study important issues and engage diverse community in dialogue and values discernment on national policy using his foundation’s in-kind resources. John is also president of the Forum Foundation in Seattle — created by his father for research and continued development of the Opinionnaire® Survey system — the foundation’s board seeks to enhance the practical opportunities for improved civic discourse among diverse communities of people. The Foundation helped establish the Countywide Community Forums (of King County) which ran from 2007-2011 and involved thousands of county residents in large scale “symbolic dialogue” on timely issues. John received his undergraduate degree from Seattle Pacific University and his graduate degree from the University of Oregon.

Pathway Foundation is registered as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt advocacy organization and is eligible to receive tax-deductible donations.

PARENT COMMITTEE.

2020-2021 school season

Jennifer Wang, Committee chair

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Hongbing Yang, Vice-Chair

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Tony Zhou, Digital Platform Project

PARTNERS.

Northwest Chinese School

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Northwest Chinese School (NWCS) is a Washington state registered non-profit educational organization founded in 1995. NWCS specializes in teaching Mandarin, Simplified Chinese and Pin-Yin. The school headquarter is in Newport High School, Bellevue, Washington. The branch is in Seattle international district. It has over 1300 students, taking more than 2000 courses and about 100 staff members. NWCS has 50+ Chinese classes ranging from pre-school to high school in the main campus. It also offers a variety of extra-curriculum classes such as Accelerated SAT Verbal and Mathematics, English, computer programming, robot, music and arts. The school offers a weekday full-time summer program, which has gained its reputation through the high academic quality and fun activities. The school hosts highly attended seminars for parents on a wide range of topics during class time on Saturday. With over twenty years of experience and highly qualified teachers, NWCS has combined the merits of both traditional Chinese and modern American teaching methods to create a unique and remarkably successful curriculum. NWCS is accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS).

Chinese Institute of Engineers

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The Chinese Institute of Engineers, or CIE for short, is an organization of Chinese-American engineers situated in the United States.

CIE and another partner of the Pathway Foundation, PATH, work together in several fields:

  • CIE actively recruits Chinese-American engineers and scientists to volunteer for PATH

  • CIE hosts a network event at the PATH Foundation annually to create opportunities and donate volunteer time

  • CIE actively creates summer internships for their volunteers based on the needs of PATH

The Chinese Institute of Engineers also actively works to advance civic engagement with the Pathway Foundation:

  • We are developing civic engagement youth groups under the education programs in CIE

  • We have civic engagement seminars based on the documentary American Creed at the annual Chinese Institute of Engineers convention

  • The Chinese Institute of Engineers is participating in the Pathway Foundation’s Mayoral Internship Road to College and Beyond conference

PATH

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The Pathway Foundation is currently partnered with PATH, through the Chinese Leadership Council!

Members of PATH’s Chinese Leadership Council understand the importance and benefits of philanthropy. They work side-by-side with the development team from the PATH to mobilize resources and raise the profile of the PATH Foundation within the Chinese-American community and among supporters in China, where PATH has deep roots.

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