Bhutanese American Organisation of Philadelphia

The Bhutanese American Organisation of Philadelphia (BAOP) is a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese-American community of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The organisation was founded in February 2013 by resettled Lhotshampa refugees in South Philadelphia and received IRS tax-exempt determination in June 2014 under EIN 46-2310921.^[1] It operates from 2526 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148, near the Mifflin Square neighbourhood that anchors the city's Bhutanese community.^[2]

The Bhutanese-American population of Philadelphia is small relative to Pennsylvania's main hubs in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh — a cluster of roughly 1,000 people centred on Mifflin Square in South Philadelphia and a smaller secondary presence in the Northeast — but BAOP has been documented in independent press, in peer-reviewed health research, and in nonprofit databases as the city's principal Bhutanese-Nepali civic organisation.^[3] Its work has focused on English-language instruction, citizenship preparation, healthcare navigation in partnership with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and youth and cultural programmes.

Founding and incorporation

BAOP was founded in February 2013 to serve the newly resettled Bhutanese community in Philadelphia, which had begun arriving in the city from 2008 onwards through the US Refugee Admissions Programme.^[2] The IRS granted 501(c)(3) determination in June 2014, classifying the entity under NTEE code P80 (Human Services — Multipurpose). BAOP's most recent publicly available Form 990 covers fiscal year 2016, which reported total revenue of US$265,252 and total assets of US$114,552.^[1] Subsequent filings have not appeared in ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer.

Leadership

Leela N. Kuikel, a co-founder of BAOP and former branch manager of a multinational corporation before he became a refugee, has served as the organisation's executive director and program manager since its founding.^[2] Kuikel was identified by name in PolicyLab's project documentation as the lead BAOP partner on the Health Focal Points programme alongside community health worker Parangkush Subedi.^[3] A full current board roster has not been published by the organisation.

Programmes and activities

BAOP's mission is to empower the Bhutanese community through employment, education, cultural integration and citizenship. Documented programmes include:

• English-language and ESL classes. BAOP runs adult ESL programmes for community members who arrived with limited English; Metro Philadelphia reported in August 2017 that most adults in the community, particularly those over forty, had little or no English at the time of resettlement.^[2]
• Health Focal Points. A community-health-worker programme developed in partnership with PolicyLab at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Penn Center for Community Health Workers, and the Center for Public Health Initiatives. Led on the academic side by Katherine Yun, MD, MHS, the programme trains Nepali-speaking community health workers to help refugees navigate the US healthcare system. It has been funded by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and reaches approximately 2,000 Bhutanese refugees in Philadelphia.^[3]
• Citizenship and civic integration. The organisation supports community members through naturalisation, voter registration and civic participation.
• Youth and cultural programmes. BAOP hosted the 7th Association of Bhutanese in America national convention in Philadelphia in July 2014 and has been involved in the Magic Garden multi-generational community garden project at Mifflin Square Park profiled by The Philadelphia Citizen in May 2018.

Partnerships

BAOP works in partnership with SEAMAAC, Inc., a Southeast Asian and Asian community-services agency founded in 1984. SEAMAAC's CEO Thoai Nguyen has stated that the two organisations have collaborated since 2013, with SEAMAAC providing infrastructure to expand its existing services to the Bhutanese community through BAOP's cultural and linguistic capacity.^[2] The healthcare-navigation collaboration with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Penn Center for Community Health Workers has been the organisation's most prominent academic partnership.^[3]

BAOP has also been documented as a partner in peer-reviewed research on Bhutanese refugee health, including a 2016 study on help-seeking behaviour and healthcare navigation published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.^[4]

See also

• Bhutanese-American organisations directory
• Association of Bhutanese in America
• Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh
• Bhutanese Community in Harrisburg
• Bhutanese refugee resettlement in the United States

References

1. "Bhutanese American Organisation Philadelphia (EIN 46-2310921)." ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
2. Hightower, Phaedra. "Bhutanese refugees find home in Philly." Metro Philadelphia, 30 August 2017.
3. "Building a Healthcare Navigation Program with the Bhutanese Refugees of Philadelphia." PolicyLab at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
4. Yun, K. et al. "Help-Seeking Behavior and Health Care Navigation by Bhutanese Refugees." Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2016.
5. "The Magic Garden: Asian-American students create a multi-generational garden in Philadelphia." The Philadelphia Citizen, 8 May 2018.