COMMUNITY-COLLEGE GIFT

Two Vietnamese immigrants have pledged $1-million to a community college near the Little Saigon neighborhood of Orange County, Calif., a gift that philanthropy experts say demonstrates the growing commitment to charitable giving among the state’s Vietnamese population, reports the Los Angeles Times. Vietnamese people in Orange County have a record of giving to help people hurt by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the tsunamis in Asia, but big gifts from individuals are still relatively unusual, according to Thu-huong Nguyen-vo of the University of California at Los Angeles’ Department of Asian American Studies. Coastline Community College will use the money donated by the restaurateur Chieu Le and the developer Frank Jao for numerous programs, including biotechnology and English-as-a-second-language courses.