The Pacific Gateway Center (PGC), formerly known as the Immigrant Center, was founded in 1973 by the Palama Council of Churches in Hawai`i in response to the dramatic increase in Asian and Pacific Island immigrants to the islands. In 1984, St. Elizabeth’s church provided the location for the PGC and incorporated the PGC as an independent organization with its own governing board of directors and private, non-profit (501(c)3) status. The PGC also became a member agency of the Aloha United Way. At present, the PGC employs 50 full-time and part-time employees and offers a wide range of direct and support services to meet the needs of immigrants, refugees, and low-income residents of Hawai`i. Services are provided to approximately 5,000 clients per year. Job training classes now serve over 550 clients annually. The mission of PGC is “to empower Hawai‘i’s low-income residents, immigrants and refugees to achieve self-sufficiency through skill-building and access to opportunities while respecting cultural heritages.” PGC celebrated its 35th anniversary on September 9, 2009.
The PGC has an established 35-year track record of delivering critical need-based services to its target population and as a frontrunner in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of innovative education programs. A key feature for PGC’s success and accomplishments to date are its multilingual and multicultural staff, qualified and experienced in providing bilingual and bicultural assistance in such languages that include, but are not limited to Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Lao, Korean, Ilocano, Tagalog, Samoan, Thai, Indonesian, and Burmese.
By identifying growth sectors and profitable markets, focusing on the diversity of needs for fledgling and established businesses, and helping to eliminate common obstacles faced by entrepreneurs and enterprise growth with requisite training, technical assistance, and access to capital, the PGC enhances the opportunities for job creation throughout the community. Specifically, the PGC has been instrumental in providing more job-creation activities and better education of startup and established entrepreneurs. Likewise, the PGC is well positioned to meet the emerging needs of the local community, as it possesses the necessary skills, abilities, knowledge, and experience to provide the target population with bilingual training and technical assistance services. With the financial support provided by federal and state agencies, PGC staff and consultants have instituted a variety of projects that demonstrate the diversity and depth of the organization’s commitment to provide meaningful employment creation services and self-employment opportunities to its target market:
PGC services encompass four critical components: a) Social Services, b) Employment and Training, c) Economic Development, and d) Community Building. Well versed in enterprise and institutional development, marketing, agribusiness, credit and finance, and information systems, PGC staff and consultants help immigrants, refugees and low-income residents of Hawai`i access socioeconomic opportunities and services by building skills that lead to self-sufficiency while respecting the integrity of diverse cultural heritages.