The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is a New York-based organization that describes itself as the largest Asian-American social services agency in the United States. Founded in 1965, the organization operates more than 50 programs from 35 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. CPC provides education, workforce development, family services, and senior care to primarily low-income Asian American and immigrant communities. CPC presents itself as a nonpartisan social services agency, but it has engaged in political advocacy and has been publicly criticized by the political left for controversial labor practices in its home care programs. ¹

The group has also been criticized by right-leaning sources for hosting events designed to educate immigrants on how to avoid detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ²

Background and Activity

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) was founded in 1965 and today identifies itself as the largest Asian-American services organization in the United States. The group divides its programming into three broad categories: education, family support, and community and economic empowerment. The education division includes early childhood services, youth development, afterschool programming, and adult literacy. Family support initiatives range from Meals on Wheels and case management for seniors to child abuse prevention services and counseling for families with developmental disabilities. Community and economic programs include workforce development, civic engagement workshops, small business assistance, and legal navigation services. CPC also operates multiple senior centers and after-school programs in all five boroughs of New York City. ^{3 4 1}

CPC’s 2022 annual report claims that the group helped 7,113 individuals enroll in benefits, served over 3,100 seniors through its home attendant program, and distributed thousands of meals to older adults. The organization also reported that it facilitated more than 200,000 connections to COVID-19 testing sites during the pandemic and logged over 120,000 program visits across all divisions. ⁵

Subsidiaries

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is a standalone nonprofit organization that generates over $80 million in annual revenue. The group operates two subsidiary organizations that operate programs on behalf of the organization. ¹

The larger of the CPC’s two subsidiaries is the Chinese American Planning Council Home Attendant Program, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization that generates over $200 million in annual revenue and operates the CPC home attendant program, the group’s largest and most visible program. The program’s expenses in 2023 were approximately the same as its $203 million in revenue and the group reported serving 3,000 individuals annually. ⁶

The other subsidiary of the CPC is CPC Tenant and Building Services Inc., which provides facility management services for the Chinese-American Planning Council’s dozens of offices and program centers and reports $6 million in annual revenue. ⁷

Funding and Support

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) receives a combination of public and private support. In 2023, the group reported that over half of its revenue, $44 million out of $81 million, came from government grants. The organization’s governmental funders include city and state agencies such as the New York State Department of Health and the New York City Department for the Aging. ⁸ As of 2025, it was reported by the House Homeland Security Committee that up to 55% of total revenue for the CPC comes from federal and New York-state government grants, with it receiving over $1.4 million in federal grants between 2022 and 2025. ⁹

It also lists major private corporations and grant makers as contributors, including American Express, Robin Hood, The Brooke Astor Fund for New York City Education, the Pinkerton Foundation, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the National Immigration Law Center, the New York Immigration Coalition, No Kid Hungry, and the New York Community Trust. ¹⁰

Support from CCP-linked entities

A May 2025 story published by the Daily Caller alleged that internal documents showed taht between 2018 and 2025, the Chinese-American Planning Commission (CPC) has received roughly $445,969 in donations from state-owned entities linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Such entities listed included the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the Bank of China, the Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia, the NYC-based Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, and nonprofit group Committee of 100 (C100). ¹¹

Policy Positions

The Chinese-American Planning Commission (CPC) engages in left-of-center public policy advocacy at the city and state level in New York. In its 2024 to 2025 policy platform, CPC advocated for raising the minimum wage for human services workers to $21 per hour and for annual cost-of-living adjustments for such employees. The organization also called for over $54 million in state funding to be directed to private Asian American and Pacific Islander service and advocacy organizations, universal childcare, and additional funding for dozens of housing and welfare programs. The group also promoted several far-left stances on immigration and environmental issues, including supporting the New York “People’s Climate Justice Budget that calls for $1 billion in critical funding for shovel ready, environmental justice projects” and “an additional $150 million in legal services funding for immigrant families including the Liberty Defense Fund and enhancing the Office of New American Opportunity Centers funding and reinstating the ESOL gateway model.” ⁹

Controversy

Wage-theft Claims

In early 2025, home health aides employed through the Chinese-American Planning Council’s (CPS) Home Attendant Program filed wage theft claims alleging that the organization mandated 24-hour shifts without appropriate compensation. The claims, initially dismissed by the U.S. Department of Labor, were later ordered to be reopened by the New York State courts. The wage dispute included protests during CPC’s 60th anniversary gala in February 2025, organized by the Ain’t I a Woman Coalition, in which seven to 14 protestors were reportedly arrested. ¹²

Coaching on Anti-ICE activities

In April 2025, Republican members of the U.S House Homeland Security Committee began an investigation into the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) when a video released allegedly showed CPC staff, including CPC chief policy officer Carlyn Cower, instructing illegal migrants how to avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehension during a March seminar for the group. According to the video, tips provided by the seminar included, “hardening your physical space,” “identifying a list of individuals authorized to respond if ICE comes to the door,” “training everybody who’s going to be involved,” and “not open the door at all.” ¹¹

Immigration Assistance Under Biden Administration

In June 2025, the CPC was one of 215 non-governmental organizations (NGO) the U.S House of Homeland Security Committee noted as having received federal funding during the Biden Administration to settle undocumented migrants in the United Stated while helping “fuel the worst border crisis in our nation’s history.” ¹³ House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and Subcommittee Chairman Josh Brecheen (R-OK) sent letters to the over 200 organizations demanding the full amount in “federal grants, contracts or payments” they received  “between Jan. 19, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025” as well as additional information on potential legal action they might have taken against the Federal Government and all services they provided to undocumented migrants during that period of time. The letters further read “[t]he Committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration, and stand ready to do so under future Democrat administrations.” ^{13 14}

Leadership

The Chinese-American Planning Council is led by Wayne Ho, who has worked as the president and CEO since 2017. Ho previously worked for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. ¹⁵ He earned $261,000 in compensation from CPC in 2023. ⁸

1. “About Us.” Chinese-American Planning Council. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.cpc-nyc.org/about-us
2. “x.com Post.” Oversight Project. April 3, 2025. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://x.com/ItsYourGov/status/1907794060141609216
3. “Programs.” Chinese-American Planning Council. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.cpc-nyc.org/programs
4. “Family Support.” Chinese-American Planning Council. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.cpc-nyc.org/programs/family-support
5. “CPC Presents Our 2022 Annual Report.” Chinese-American Planning Council. April 28, 2023. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.cpc-nyc.org/news/4147/cpc-presents-our-2022-annual-report
6. Return of an Organization Exempt from Income Tax (form 990). Chinese American Planning Council Home Attendant Program Inc. 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133203211/202411369349309851/full
7. CPC TENANT AND BUILDING SERVICES INC. 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/830994791/202411369349305321/full
8. Return of an Organization Exempt from Income Tax (form 990). Chinese American Planning Council. 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/136202692/202401359349305260/full
9. “CPC State Policy and Advocacy Priorities FY24-25.” Chinese-American Planning Council. March 21, 2024. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.cpc-nyc.org/news/4582/cpc-state-policy-and-advocacy-priorities-fy24-25
10. “Supporters.” Chinese-American Planning Council. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.cpc-nyc.org/supporters
11. Hopkins, Jason and Philip Lenczycki. “EXCLUSIVE: Cash Flowing Into Anti-ICE Group’s Coffers Came From Chinese Gov’t-Linked Sources.” The Daily Caller, May 20, 2025. https://dailycaller.com/2025/05/20/cpc-bankrolled-by-chinese-government-linked-sources/
12. Lee, Raymond. “24-Hour Workday and Stolen Wages Alleged by Senior Home Health Workers.” AsAmNews. March 3, 2025. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://asamnews.com/2025/03/03/24-hour-workday-stolen-wages-accusations-senior-home-health-care/
13. Christenson, Josh. “House panel demands records of more than 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel’ border crisis.” New York Post, June 10, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/06/10/us-news/house-panel-demands-records-of-over-200-ngos-that-nabbed-billions-of-taxpayer-dollars-to-fuel-border-crisis/
14. “Chairmen Green, Brecheen Launch Probe into 200+ Ngos over Their Use of Taxpayer Dollars during the Biden-Harris Border Crisis.” Committee on Homeland Security, June 11, 2025. https://homeland.house.gov/2025/06/11/chairmen-green-brecheen-launch-probe-into-200-ngos-over-their-use-of-taxpayer-dollars-during-the-biden-harris-border-crisis/.
15.  “Wayne Ho.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 15, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-ho-075a894/