Nancy Yang, RSM US LLP senior manager in North Carolina, shares her experience as a child of immigrants and how the RSM US Foundation’s Community Impact Fund amplified her efforts of supporting local immigrant and refugee children and their families.
My name is Nancy Yang and I’m a senior manager at RSM US LLP in Charlotte, North Carolina. I also serve as the local lead for InspirAsian, RSM’s employee network group focused on providing support and guidance for Asian professionals. I’ve been with RSM for a decade and love the work I do, and the people I get to team alongside. Upon learning about the RSM US Foundation’s Community Impact Fund, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to apply for a grant and make a positive impact on the lives of immigrant and refugee children and their families. This seemed like a natural fit because I am also the child of parents who immigrated to the U.S. from China when I was just 5 years old. My own life experiences afforded me a profound understanding of the challenges faced by immigrant and geographically displaced families.
My search led me to OurBridge for Kids, a Charlotte-based nonprofit committed to the education, acculturation and wellbeing of refugee and immigrant families through out-of-school programs and comprehensive, culturally responsive support programs. In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system alone, students come from 175 countries and speak more than 200 languages. One in three children speak a language other than English at home, and 26,000 are currently learning to speak English. Nationwide, the need for this type of support is great as our refugee and immigrant populations continue to swell.
I was excited to volunteer and subsequently joined the organization’s board as treasurer, applying my professional skills and expertise to help vulnerable children to adjust to their new environments and the complex cultural challenges so many of them face in their new homeland.
As with my own experience, learning English is critical, but so is learning popular customs and traditions. Many people struggle with the concept of assimilation, and what that means. While my family was excited about the opportunity to chase after our dreams in America, we also remained proud of our Asian heritage. When we arrived in the U.S., my family received a lot of support from our community, and particularly through a program sponsored by our church that allowed us to spend holidays with a host family. We experienced so much love and acceptance from interacting with our American friends and neighbors.
The warm welcome extended by that family and others still inspires me to this day. I know that the kids in programs like OurBridge tend to be more confident expressing themselves, and do better academically, which is proven by test and survey results. Their parents and families reap the benefits of belonging to the OurBridge community as well.
While there are many nonprofit organizations serving children, there are not many that focus solely on immigrant and refugee populations. It’s hard to fully express the satisfaction I get out of making an impact in my local community. I am grateful for the RSM US Foundation’s Community Impact Fund which has allowed me the opportunity to give back to a cause that I am so passionate about.
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