Day 328: Indochinese Cultural and Service Center (International Refugee Center of Oregon), Portland, Oregon
📌APIA Every Day (328) - The Indochinese Cultural and Service Center (ICSC) was founded in 1976 by Southeast Asian refugees fleeing political unrest in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Following the Fall of Saigon in 1975, Washington and Oregon were among the first U.S. states to resettle refugees, leading to the organization's emergence in Portland. At its establishment, the ICSC supported immigrants by helping them find employment and adjust to life in the U.S. through various social programs.
In the mid-1970s, local welfare agencies in Portland were overwhelmed by the influx of Asian refugees seeking aid. In response, a group of Vietnamese, Lao, Hmong, and Cambodian immigrants founded the ICSC to offer multilingual assistance to the city’s growing Southeast Asian community. At its establishment, the ICSC was located in the historic Neighborhood House in Lair Hill. This building was originally constructed in 1910 by the National Council of Jewish Women to aid Eastern European immigrants. Continuing this legacy decades later, the ICSC helped newcomers navigate American society and search for jobs.
In 1980, the Southeast Asian Refugee Federation (SEARF) was incorporated, providing immigrants with entrepreneurial training and interpretation services. Eventually, ICSC and SEARF partnered to become the International Refugee Center of Oregon (IRCO). By the 1980s, a new wave of refugees from countries including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Iran were arriving in the U.S. IRCO then expanded its focus beyond Southeast Asia, extending services to immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Eastern Europe.
With this expansion, IRCO broadened its social services, adding employment training and translation assistance, among other resources. In the 1990s, the organization moved from the Neighborhood House to its current location on NE Glisan Street. Soon after in 1994, IRCO’s Pacific Islander and Asian Family Center was founded to offer a range of culturally specific services. In 2024, the Pacific Islander and Asian Family Center celebrated its 30th anniversary with the unveiling of a new mural celebrating the local Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Samoan communities among others.
In 1979 the original location of the ICSC, the Neighborhood House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, IRCO continues to carry the ICSC’s legacy forward, providing support to Portland’s diverse immigrant population for nearly 50 years. The Pacific Islander and Asian Family Center alone has served over 12,000 individuals in the past three decades.
Written by Avneet Dhaliwal
LEARN MORE:
IRCO: IRCO Pacific Islander and Asian Family Center 30th Anniversary Celebration
IRCO: Pacific islander and Asian Family Center
MidCounty Memo: IRCO: the doorway to assimilation in America
Portland Street Art Alliance: IRCO'S PACIFIC ISLANDER & ASIAN FAMILY CENTER
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