Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association

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I. MISSION OF HAMAA

The Hmong American Mutual Assistance Association (HAMAA) was incorporated in September, 1990, as a non-profit organization to serve all Hmong-American people in the Twin Cities with the mission to:

1) promote leadership in the Hmong Community;

2) promote educational advancement for Hmong youth and teens;

3) encourage Hmong refugees to be self-sufficient and contributing members of their Community, and;

4) promote and maintain Hmong cultural heritage.

Our Vision and Policy

In our Vision: “The health and well-being of our Hmong family -- parents, children, cousins and grandparents -- is the central strength and perpetual goal for the development of our lives, our Community and our future.”

The source of life is the family. It is unitary, a closed circle, and never to be divided. From it comes the children of our future and within it resides the grandparents who brought us to our new land of America. Our parents struggle mightily every day to provide the nourishment for our growth in terms physical, mental, and spiritual so that we have the opportunity to achieve our dreams individually and together.

HAMAA stands behind our families. We know that there are times in each life that events push down too hard, demands are too great and the unknown too intimidating to continue. We don’t deny these aspects and we wouldn’t remove them even if we could, because they are the source of personal and family development. But we know that some of our people need a bit of assistance with their problems from time to time when they feel overwhelmed.

It is at the moment a parent or youngster stumbles and cannot recover their stride that our counselors, Community family members all, step in to help. We too have struggled with the changes demanded of the new life. We know the difficulties of learning a new language, of comprehending and adapting to the world of the time clock and especially the constant pressures of the challenges to our traditional cultural way of life in the mountains of far away Laos by the ever changing, ever faster western lifestyle of America, the land of wonders.

We are people helping people. We step in at critical moments to explain the differences between the laws and the cultural mores. We help translate from language to language and from younger generation to older. We provide tutoring for young people preparing for school and hands on training for adults who never dreamed of the day they would face a computer. We find jobs, we teach homeowners tips, we check for safety, and we gather on outings for the children to laugh.

We talk with our Hmong Community Leaders and listen to our Grandparents tell us of the old days. We offer the strengths of our hard working Hmong to employers and ask in return their help in providing education and job opportunities. We work with our city, county and state elected officials and agency staffs to design our neighborhood. And we meet with members of our culturally diverse Near Northside Minneapolis and reach out in friendship to build a stronger, more vibrant network of neighborhoods.

And all the time we think of our families. And what will be….