WESTLAKE : Thai Group Strives for Greater Cohesion

Thai Americans have found a niche in the city’s restaurant business, but a new organization seeks to nourish the Thai community by other means and expand awareness beyond that of culinary fascination.

The Thai Community Development Center seeks to highlight the needs of Thai immigrants and channel more resources to the community, said center director Chanchanit Hirunpidok.

“As an Asian American community we’ve had to deal with the invisibility factor,” Hirunpidok said.

The Thai community in Los Angeles is clustered in East Hollywood and portions of Koreatown and Westlake. The 1990 census counted 9,270 people of Thai descent in Los Angeles, but that figure is too low by other estimates.

Hirunpidok said people familiar with the community believe that the Thai population in all of Southern California is about 100,000. Immigrants who eschew interaction with mainstream society or who lack proper documentation are unlikely to be counted, she said.

Thais who immigrated to the United States in the 1960s tended to be students or professionals, but more recent Thai immigrants are more likely to be unskilled laborers with minimal education, Hirunpidok said.

As a result, many Thais fall into low-wage jobs in the so-called ethnic enclave economy of Thai-owned garment factories, stores, markets and restaurants.

The popularity of Thai restaurants is a source of pride and income for many Thai Americans, but food is just one aspect of Thai life and culture; receiving exposure in the mainstream media for food alone is not balanced coverage, Hirunpidok said.

The new organization will offer help or referrals on a wide range of issues common to recent-immigrant communities--documentation and legal problems, language instruction, job training, health care and cultural adaptation.

That’s a lot on one plate, but the dearth of social service organizations in the Thai community means that Hirunpidok, 26, and her three-person staff have to pave the way and hope others will follow.

The Thai American community in Los Angeles has “no history of activism or organizing,” Hirunpidok said.

“We need to start organizing around real issues, not just cultural events and food festivals,” she said.

In the past, many Thai immigrants have been more oriented toward Thailand than to their adopted home, filled with thoughts of returning once they earn a degree or a substantial amount of money.

The ambivalence of some Thais toward establishing emotional and economic roots here has slowed the development of local community organizations, Hirunpidok said. In addition, cultural factors hinder community activism.

“Many Thais don’t understand the value of community work,” Hirunpidok said. “Thailand is still at a stage of development in which people aren’t used to thinking institutionally.”

Using a patchwork of funding sources and support from established groups such as the Asian American Drug Abuse Program and the Little Tokyo Service Center, the Thai Community Development Center is sharing office space with the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates at 2430 W. 3rd St.

Information: (213) 738-9050.