Diversity
The first Southeast Asian refugees to arrive in La Crosse came in 1974. It was a Vietnamese family of five. Then in 1975, the first Cambodian family (of three) settled in this area. The first Hmong refugees arrived in June 1976. During the next few years, the number of refugees from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam continued to increase. By 1982, there were approximately 800 Southeast Asian refugees in La Crosse.
To meet the needs of the increasing refugee population, the La Crosse Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association (HMAA) was formed and incorporated as a non-profit, tax exempt agency in December 1982. Today, the Asian population of La Crosse is over 4,000.
Read more about this topic: La Crosse, Wisconsin
Famous quotes containing the word diversity:
“What we have to do ... is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.”
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“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”
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