Oct 20 Speaker - Terrina Wong

Our speaker for October 20 is Terrina Wong, who is currently the Director of Social and Immigration Services and Accredited Representative at Pacific Gateway Center. Mrs. Wong has been acquiring first-hand experiences dealing with social justice issues and global priorities at Pacific Gateway Center and living what she had been teaching as a global educator for 25 years. She is accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice to assist clients in need of legal immigration services as a non-attorney. She serves as Chair of the Language Access Advisory Council of the State’s Office of Language Access. Ms. Wong earned her Master’s Degree in Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Ms. Wong lived and studied in France. Ms. Wong has been awarded Small Business Administration 2014 Home-Based Business Champion, State of Hawaii, for her work with small entrepreneurs and the 2016 Spark of Hope Award of the Interfaith Alliance of Hawaii for inspiring work in the community with the disenfranchised. Terrina’s native language is English and speaks fluent French.

Pacific Gateway Center (PGC) was founded in response to the mass migration of Southeast Asians to Hawaii’s shores following the Vietnam War by the Palama Council of Churches in Hawai‘i that included St. Elizabeth’s Church, Kaumakapili Church, and Aldersgate Church. Immigrants, refugees, and the economically-disadvantaged live under broad conditions of vulnerability, countless being displaced from their home countries due to political instability, war, and civil conflict.  Upon arrival to the United States, risk factors include social and culture exclusion, stereotyping, poverty, lack of job and communication skills, limited education, financial opportunities, housing and food support services, and healthcare. Our programs mitigate these challenges by addressing these risk factors and critical needs of our targeted populations.