Welcome to the seventh week of our campaign highlighting essential workers. Whether working from home or within our neighborhoods, essential workers are supporting a strong recovery for those who are too often overlooked, underrepresented, or underinvested in.  

Our seventh essential worker feature focuses on Susan Zheng, Manager of Individual Residential Alternative (IRA) at the Josephine M. Ho Community Residence for Special Needs. The following snippet is from a Q&A between Christopher Kuo of CPC Leadership Council and Susan Zheng. Susan oversees the IRA program that provides 24-hour care and activities for the six residents with developmental disabilities in a group home. Susan was recognized by City and State as "Local Queens Hero".

Chris Kuo, Leadership Council: What exactly do you and the other staff at the IRA do? 

Susan Zheng, Manager of CPC Individual Residential Alternative: The IRA is a group home for six Chinese women with developmental disabilities. Their ages range from 30 to 65, and they all speak Cantonese. My first task as the manager there was to create a structure for our program, which exists to help them grow. I oversee a team of about 25 staff members who work in shifts throughout the week to provide 24-hour care to the residents. We assess their health, nutrition, and medical needs and keep track of their finances, including their use of benefits like food stamps and SSI. We accompany them to appointments with healthcare professionals and day habilitation service providers, who teach them social skills and keep them engaged in the community. The residents need to see through our daily actions that we really care for them, so we try to build strong relationships with each of them and also work closely with their family members. The families are the ones making decisions about their care, but sometimes they overlook our residents’ rights as individuals. We have to educate them to ensure they understand how their decisions will impact our residents. 

Share Susan's story using #EssentialWorkers and #AlwaysEssential.

Essential Worker Quick Facts

 Black, Latinx, and Asian people make up
more than 70% of the city’s essential workers.

Human services workers are essential workers.

New York City contracts have not set rates that accurately reflect 
human services workers' commitment to essential work.

All of CPC's staff are essential workers. 

Tweets You Can Use To Share #AlwaysEssential Posts:

Help me lift the voices of #EssentialWorkers. Like and share this post to stand in solidarity with human services workers. #AlwaysEssential bit.ly/cpc-always-essential

#EssentialWorkers risk their health and their families’ health to serve others through COVID-19. As New York begins to recover, orgs like @cpc-nyc will be among the ones helping the hardest hit New Yorkers put their lives back together. Support them here: bit.ly/cpc-covid-19-relief-fund #AlwaysEssential

About CPC
The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is the nation's largest Asian American social services organization. Founded in 1965, CPC aims to promote the social and economic empowerment of Chinese American, immigrant, and low-income communities of New York City.

華人策劃協會(華策會)是全美國最大的亞裔美國人及太平洋島民社區服務機構.成立於1965年,華策會專門為紐約市的華裔美國人,移民,和低收入民眾提供金融權力和社區服務.