ANNANDALE, Va. -- The Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington received grants totaling $50,000 from the Freddie Mac Foundation to significantly expand a domestic violence support and prevention program aimed at helping Korean-American families in the region. Originally, the Foundation committed $30,000 but was so taken with the program that it surprised KCSC during the kick-off event with another $20,000. The program will offer an array of services including workshops, job skills training, counseling, and mentoring to help abused women and their children.

"In the Korean community, domestic violence is not openly discussed or even considered a problem. That's why the Freddie Mac Foundation's funding for this program is cutting-edge and tremendously important. We will now be able to reach out in a culturally appropriate way to help families acknowledge the problem, deal with the issue, and then heal. Ultimately, this program will help protect and strengthen more Korean-American families and our community overall," explained Esther Park, executive director of the Korean Community Service Center.

"We are proud to support the Korean Community Service Center. They are a leader in providing critical services to Korean-American families right here in our community," said Cheryl Clarke, director of giving, Freddie Mac Foundation. "Their work fits with our mission to open doors of hope and opportunity for children and their families. Helping keep children and families safe from abuse is an important way we can help families be successful."

The Washington, D.C. region is home to more than 110,000 Korean-Americans. Founded in , KCSC is the largest community-based, non-profit, serving Korean-American low- to moderate-income families in the Washington, DC region. KCSC provides an array of social services including parenting classes, health care resources, training, and advocacy. KCSC has also recently focused on preventing domestic violence by conducting workshops.

Through the Freddie Mac Foundation's support, the KCSC will now formalize and expand this program, calling it Families in Abuse Increased Rights (FAIR). FAIR will have two components: outreach and direct service. The first component will work to reduce the stigma around the issue by creating and training a group of Korean-American "advocates" who can openly discuss the problem as well as solutions around the community. The second component will provide direct services -- such as job training, counseling, mentoring, parenting classes -- to victims in an effort to protect and stabilize their families and return them to health.

Several factors have contributed to making FAIR a critical program for the region. For one, the growing numbers of Korean-Americans coupled with the stigma surrounding the issue have heightened the need. In addition, recent budget cuts have reduced the number of domestic violence programs in the region. Finally, most programs are not effective at reaching Korean-Americans due to cultural and linguistic differences.

The Freddie Mac Foundation focuses on strengthening families by preventing child abuse and neglect, helping find foster children adoptive homes, and developing youth. In addition to sponsoring its signature programs -- Healthy Families America, Wednesday's Child and J.C. Nalle Community School -- the Foundation supports the community by providing funds for various non-profit organizations serving children and their families.

A local philanthropic leader, Freddie Mac Foundation funding has helped better the lives of more than 1.5 million children, most of them here in the District and surrounding region. Last year alone, Freddie Mac and the Foundation donated nearly $32 million nationwide, nearly $20 million of which was invested to strengthen the Washington metropolitan area community.

Korean Community Service Center of Greater Washington is a 501(c)3 community-based organization dedicated to support, assist and empower Korean- American low- and moderate-income families and individual through social services, education, advocacy, and development of resources.

Created by Freddie Mac in , the Freddie Mac Foundation is dedicated to opening the doors to hope and opportunity to children and their families. As one of the largest corporate funders in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Freddie Mac and the Freddie Mac Foundation have invested more than $161 million in nonprofit organizations serving children and families. (www.freddiemacfoundation.org)

Source: Freddie Mac Foundation