Save Cantonese

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“A) Vision and Mission StatementSave Cantonese is an international movement that sustains and celebrates Cantonese language and culture. Through grassroots advocacy, we protect and promote local language programs, while strengthening connections across the global Cantonese diaspora. We ensure that present and future generations benefit from a vibrant, thriving Cantonese- speaking and learning community. B) Strategic AimsB.1) Protect and strengthen educational and research infrastructure for Cantonese as a language.B.2) Affirm the value of Cantonese culture and identity in societies around the world.B.3) Build a movement of Cantonese diasporic and language-learning communities to take collective action. C) Strategic Aim #1: Protecting Cantonese ProgramsThe Save Cantonese organization is committed to sustaining and celebrating Cantonese language and culture by supporting Cantonese programs at schools and universities and ensuring access in everyday society. 80+ Million people around the globe speak Cantonese, yet there are only 33 colleges and universities worldwide that offer Cantonese language classes (5 are based in Hong Kong). In the US, Cantonese is only offered in 44 of 251 Chinese heritage language schools, and rarely exists in K-12 language immersion or public schools. Cantonese language education programs are small in number and routinely vulnerable to budget cuts or outright cancellation. Our mission is to build a grassroots movement and long-term infrastructure for Cantonese language and cultural education through community-based campaigns that advocate for local Cantonese programs and their teaching workforce. Save Cantoneses advocacy work leverages community resources to protect and strengthen Cantonese programs through efforts at institutions such as these:C.1) Stanford University: Endowed Teaching of the Cantonese Language and CultureWhen Stanford University planned to end the sole lecturer position for Cantonese language classes, thereby eliminating the program, we mobilized to restore two classes. When it was announced that Stanford would hire a part-time hourly worker to teach these classes, we raised an $1,000,000 to endow Cantonese classes at Stanford. The endowed gift from a Cantonese Entrepreneur and Founder of SJ Distributors is a permanent solution that protects the course offering of Cantonese classes at Stanford in perpetuity. At Stanford University, the academic dean agreed to restore two Cantonese courses to be taught by a part-time hourly instructor. We then facilitated a major gift of $1,000,000 to fund an endowed program that allowed the University to deliver a permanent full-time Cantonese lectureship for future generations of students in perpetuity. Recently, we were thrilled to learn that a new three-quarter Cantonese reading/writing sequence will fulfill the universitys language requirement, a victory for students of Cantonese on campus. At Stanford University, we also facilitated a $10,000 donation to support the 2023 Stanford Cantonese Summer Fellowship. The fellowship recipients, both PhD students in Linguistics, were funded to study the Cantonese diaspora in San Francisco and Singapore. Our long-term vision is to leverage philanthropic giving and endowed funds to make Stanford a center for Cantonese research and scholarship. Current Objective: Raise an additional $1,500,000 to endow a Cantonese language program with a benefits-eligible lecturer/program manager.C.2) City College of San Francisco: Establishment of a Cantonese Language Certification ProgramSave Cantonese at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and our community partners were successful in making CCSF the very first US community college to offer a Cantonese language certificate. CCSF will offer not one, but two new Cantonese certifications to better serve the residents of San Francisco. Note that these CCSF classes are delivered in a hybrid format, enabling any global student to attend. Note that these CCSF classes are delivered”

“When City College of San Francisco planned to eliminate all Cantonese language classes in response to budget cuts, we mobilized to restore Cantonese certificate program makes the Cantonese classes eligible for more state funding, as well as enables administrative changes to two classes. We worked with Board of Trustees Member Alan Wong to pass the Resolution Supporting the Establishment of Higher Education Cantonese Programs and Articulation Agreements which received a unanimous vote of support. A community effort to work with deans, professors, and San Francisco citizens resulted in the creation of a Cantonese language certificate program.At CCSF, future students can now benefit from a strong and sustainable Cantonese language certification program. After student-led protests against City College putting Cantonese on the chopping block, two Cantonese courses were reinstituted in Fall 2021. The Cantonese certificate program makes the Cantonese classes eligible for more state funding, as well as enables administrative changes to prioritize Cantonese. As a result of the CCSF campaigns efforts, CCSF expanded its Cantonese offerings to three sections of Cantonese for the first time in over a decade, with nearly full enrollment at a time of declining overall student population growth!C.3) San Francisco Unified School District: Restoration of Cantonese Bilingual Teaching When Cantonese bilingual teachers in the SF Unified School District were unfairly dismissed from their positions, we quickly mobilized in support of their right to a fair re-hiring process. The Cantonese teachers positions were restored thanks to our grassroots advocacy.We advocate for the inclusion of K-12 Cantonese in Chinese language bilingual teacher accreditation programs to ensure that existing programs can employ a trained teaching workforce across the nation. The threat is that there are a small number of Cantonese language immersion and/or bilingual K-12 school programs that rely on a dwindling teaching workforce that will likely disappear without help from Save Cantonese. In the San Francisco Unified School District, there are ~20 Cantonese bilingual teachers (~70% percent of the national workforce) who are expected to retire in the next 5 years, threatening the largest Cantonese K-12 program in the country. New teachers are needed. For instance, there is only one program that certifies bilingual Cantonese teachers in California. This is despite the fact that Cantonese is one of the most in-demand bilingual programs in the state. The lack of Cantonese teacher training is an existential, impending threat to Cantonese K-12 education in the United States. Our K-12 Initiatives Team is working with respected leaders in Cantonese K-12 certification, academic staff, and educational policy analysts to establish a global Cantonese Chinese Bilingual Certification program.Our K-12 initiatives team is focused on developing and strengthening teaching infrastructure for Cantonese language curriculum in the San Francisco Unified School District. Structural changes like these ensure that Cantonese classes do not diminish and then disappear. Instead, they can continue to be offered for future generations. Our K-12 Initiatives team made active partnerships with the California Association of Bilingual Educators and Hong Kong University (HKU) in our shared pursuit of expanding K-12 Cantonese education and empowering Cantonese teachers throughout the Bay Area.Summary of Strategic Aim #1: Protect and strengthen educational and research infrastructure for Cantonese as a language.Our vision is a pluralistic world where many languages are taught and used throughout society and where all are treated as having equal linguistic and cultural value. We aim to address the upstream and structural drivers that threaten language preservation efforts so that current and future generations can benefit from a vibrant Cantonese-speaking and learning community. Note that in Chinatowns across th”

“We believe Cantonese is part of a vibrant and diverse society. With an estimated 80+ Million speakers today, it is a living language with an ancient history. Speaking Cantonese empowers individuals to access their heritage and culture. It also allows contemporary scholars to understand past and present, and empowers communities worldwide to communicate and thrive. Save Cantonese highlights music, film and pop culture in the Cantonese-speaking world. We seek a future where many linguistic traditions coexist, and Cantonese is part of our multilingual planet. Here are some highlights of recent initiatives: Initiative #1: We worked in partnership with Q-Wave to organize NYC CantoQueer Dim Sum Events creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ Cantonese speakers and learners to practice Cantonese at Dim Sum restaurants in NYC Chinatown. NYC CantoQueer events welcome queer-identified folks at all levels of proficiencyfrom beginners to native speakers! Our website team compiled key stories in the international English media about Cantonese, both its role in the world, and the efforts to safeguard and pass the language on to future generations. This collection, spanning from 2020 to 2023, forms the core of an Archive for the Future a record of the courage and dedication of people around the world, working to protect the Cantonese language in diverse, local, and meaningful ways. Initiative #2: We produced the Save Cantonese Zine project: a collection of illustrated personal stories about Cantonese language and culture that features 13 different writers ages 11-74, spanning 7 states, and 2 countries abroad, with beautiful original artwork. E) Strategic Aim #3. Building Our MovementSave Cantonese was launched in 2020 in response to budget cuts that eliminated funding for the only salaried, benefits- eligible Cantonese lecturer position at Stanford University. Students, alumni, and concerned community members mobilized to Save Cantonese at Stanford. We launched an online petition which drew 4.000+ supporter signatures in ~6 Weeks as well as garnering coverage from global media (television, social media, blogs, newspaper, etc.).In 2021, our movement expanded to include the campaign at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) with a goal of restoring Cantonese language classes that were cancelled after CCSF budget cuts nearly eliminated the program. In 2022, we began campaigns with the San Francisco Unified School District to support bilingual Cantonese-English teachers, which has blossomed into a broader K-12 campaign. We are actively developing and expanding our base of volunteers to communities in New York City, Berkeley, Boston, and other US cities. Today, we use our social media platforms to spread awareness and build a base of followers who share our love of Cantonese language and culture. Our TikTok account was successfully launched, quickly reaching 1000+ followers and 200K+ views. Our Instagram account now boasts 3,000+ followers, with supporters in the US, UK, China, Australia, Malaysia, Italy and other countries around the world. Our social media content highlights stories of everyday volunteers, Chinatown experiences, Hong Kong pop music, and famous Hong Kong and Cantonese American icons.ConclusionOur work is 100% volunteer-driven without any paid staff. Save Cantonese is made possible because of the incredible creativity, hard work, and passion of amazing Team Canto volunteers. We rely on community support to keep our fire burning.”