ECI helps you get the right assistance right away. We bring together multiple trusted organizations across Houston that speak your language and understand your culture.
Need help with citizenship, language classes, or government services? We connect you to the right expert you can count on for support.
What makes ECI different: Cross-cultural guidance for your civic journey.
ECI brings together many different cultural communities. Each community keeps its special knowledge about its culture. We help you get the right help fast. We are the trusted place where you get connected to help right away.
We make sure you get help from people who understand your culture and language. It doesn’t matter which organization you call first.
When we send you to another organization, we tell them about you first. You will never get lost between organizations. We work together behind the scenes. This way, you can focus on your goals instead of searching for help.
ECI offers citizenship services, language access, and help with government processes across multiple languages and cultures. You get step-by-step guidance through naturalization processes, seamless connections between culturally competent providers, a strong voice for your community, and ways to participate fully in American life while keeping your cultural identity.
ECI delivers services across Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Pashto, Farsi, Burmese, Dari, Tagalog, Thai, and other languages through our collaborative of specialized organizations. You’ll receive support in your native language with cultural understanding often missed by technical translations.
ECI guides community members through naturalization processes with cultural understanding and expert assistance:
● Citizenship & Immigration Services: Application help, fee waivers, interview preparation
● Language & Education Services: ESL classes, educational programs, youth development
● Civic Engagement & Advocacy: Voter education, community organizing, speaking up for your rights
● Health & Social Services: Healthcare help, mental health services, community support
● Employment & Economic Support: Job placement, tax services, housing help
● Cultural & Community Programs: Cultural education, festivals, arts programs
We provide experienced guides who go with you through complex government processes. You’ll always know what’s next and never feel alone in the process.
We want you to experience belonging, empowerment, and ownership. ECI works to help you feel cultural pride while building American civic identity. We create connections between your heritage community and our broader multicultural collaborative. Our goal is to help you gain confidence in navigating complex government systems and find strength through connecting with others who share similar journeys.
When ECI helps you, we want you to feel:
● Connected as part of a larger multicultural community while keeping your cultural identity
● Empowered and confident knowing someone has carefully reviewed information and guided you through complex processes
● Proud of your cultural heritage while building American civic identity
● Supported by a network that understands both your origin culture and American systems
● Able to participate fully in democratic processes through citizenship and voter education
● Part of something bigger than your individual ethnic community, without losing who you are
When we all work together, our voice is stronger. ECI helps your individual challenges become part of a bigger group voice. When you succeed, you help make things better for all immigrant families. Together, we can change policies and get better support for everyone.
The Empowering Communities Initiative began in 2017-2018 when leaders from Houston’s diverse multicultural communities gathered at the Asian American Justice Center conference and recognized a powerful truth: while each organization served their community with deep cultural expertise, they could create something extraordinary by working together.
What started as informal conversations between community leaders became a way for organizations to work together, where Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, and other language communities discovered they could maintain their cultural identity while building collective strength that no individual organization could achieve alone.
ECI is different because we don’t offer services directly. Our 11 partner organizations provide the services. These organizations know their communities very well and understand your culture, and ECI helps connect you to the right organization that can best help you.
Today, we work across Houston and connect different cultural communities to make everyone stronger. We help coordinate citizenship services, language classes, and community programs. Together, our organizations speak more than 15 languages.
