Mission and Vision

MVMA’s mission is to serve, support, and advance the Vietnamese American community. While MVMA's special commitment is to advocate for the cause of Vietnamese Americans, it serves all immigrant communities.  Our vision is to build a strong, unified, and caring Vietnamese American community, where young people, adults and elders are engaging and contributing citizens through continuing educational, social and economic advancement, while maintaining our cultural heritage.

Our History

Officially incorporated in 1982 as a 501(c)(3), the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association, Inc. (MVMA) is the oldest Vietnamese American community based organization in Maryland.  MVMA was founded to help resettle immigrants and refugees in Maryland. The organization helped people secure housing, furniture, find jobs, study for U.S citizenship tests, and hosted U.S. Naturalization Ceremonies. MVMA also has organized annual cultural and community events such as the Lunar New Year’s Festival known as Tet, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Annual Health Fair.

Current Services

Today, we continue to provide assistance to immigrants and refugees through our New Americans Advocacy Services (NAAS). MVMA is the first and only Vietnamese community organization in the nation recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals authorized to provide legal immigration assistance such as help with applications for green cards, U.S citizenship, and family sponsorship. 

We also have expanded our direct services to include education and senior care to response to the growing and complex needs of our community members. Current programs are the Vietnamese Parenting Enrichment Project (VPEP) , and the Golden Age Project for Seniors (GAPS) . Outside of these three direct service programs, we also host three annual events: Tet Lunar New Year’s Festival, Health Fair, and Academic Awards Picnic.

Our Successes

For over 25 years, MVMA has provided culturally and linguistically appropriate direct services to the Vietnamese and other immigrant communities. MVMA has also served as a liaison for many agencies to ensure that necessary information reaches our population.  We attribute our success to our ability to anticipate the changing needs in the community and responding appropriately to these needs.  MVMA was selected by the Harmon Foundation’s 2007-2008 Catalogue for Philanthropy as “one of the best small charities in the greater Washington Region.”